OneDrive Backup Changed Photos Folder

[Martin Slack]

Good morning,

I have Elements 2021 on a Windows 10 PC.

I switched on OneDrive backup for Pictures, and this resulted in my photos moving from folders starting with C:\Users\Martin\Pictures to folders starting with C:\Users\Martin\OneDrive\Pictures - so each time I open a photo Elements Organiser searches for the missing file.

My 60,000 photos are in over 3,600 libraries.

What is the best way for me to update Elements to find the photos in their OneDrive folder?

Thank-you, and best regards,

Martin.

[Greg_S.]

There is no easy way to do it.  But try this:

• Go to your catalog folder.  The default location is C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs.  You can also find the catalog folder listed by going to Help>Sys Info . . . 
• In the catalog folder, you will find a file named rmf.3.cache
• Open this file in a text editor like Notepad
• Replace whatever you find there with C:\Users\Martin\OneDrive\Pictures
• Save the file with the same name.  (Make sure that Notepad doesn't try to change the file extension to .txt

When Elements starts to search for a missing file, it should start the search in the OneDrive Pictures folder and will hopefully find it quickly. 

Now, if you want to reconnect all of the missing files, try the following:

• Click on File>Reconnect>All Missing Files
• A dialog will appear with a list of the missing files
• Select a file.  It will show the original location.  Hopefully, the OneDrive folder has kept the same structure. 
• Use the navigation tool to navigate to the new location.  
• The selected file should be displayed on the right side.
• Click the Reconnect button.  All of the files in the same folder should reconnect automatically.
• You will probably need to do the same for each folder, but some may reconnect automatically.

Let me know if this works for you.  There are some other techniques available that may make it easier for you.

[Martin Slack]

Thank-you very much Greg!

However, things have moved on a bit for me now.  Let me explain.

In 2018 I bought a download verison of Elements 2018 direct from Adobe for my PC

In 2021 I bought a physical (DVD) upgrade edition of Elements 2021 from Amazon for my PC.

Then, a few days later, so that we could have the same photo catalogue on my wife's PC as well, I bought a download version of Elements 2021 for my wife's PC.  About once a month I do a full backup to a hard drive on my PC and load it to my wife's PC, which works well as a process.

Last year we changed my wife's PC to a new Windows 11 laptop, and bought a one-person subscription to Microsoft 365.

10 days ago I decided to replace my 12-year-old Windows 10 PC with a new Windows 11 PC.  I arranged to buy the PC from a small business, and they would also set it up for me on Friday.

After that we upgraded my wife's Microsoft 365 to a family licence and I made a full Photoshop backup on my old PC before I switched on backing up photos, documents etc. to OneDrive (to make it easier to get them onto my new PC).  I didn't realise that it would change the library that my photos were in.  Then I made the post above.

You kindly replied, but at that point it was too late for me to do what you had suggested before the transfer from my old PC to my new one the following day.

I will hopefully be able to try your suggestion on my new PC, but right now I have a problem as how to load Elements 2021 on my new PC.  My old PC is no longer connected to the internet (I don't want it to start syncing anything and upset what is on the new PC).  So I don't think I can deactivate Elements on the old PC.

What do you think is the best way to get Elements on my new PC?  And does it need to be 2021 as this is what is on my wife's PC?

Best regards,

Martin.

[Martin Slack]

Hi again Greg.

Within my overall photo folder I have a structure of year/month/day/photos.

In the end I bought Elements 2025 for my new PC, then restored my full catalogue backup from my old PC onto the new PC in a new temporary folder that wasn't linked to OneDrive (so at that point I had two copies of each photo and photo folder on the new PC).  I deleted the photos in Elements (in the new, temporary folder) from a very small year (a year with only a few scanned photos in it), then imported them from the OneDrive library into Elements.  They all retained their original tags, and that put the OneDrive photos folder in my list of folders in Elements.  Then, for each year, I deleted the OneDrive folder using File Explorer, and in teh Elements folder list I moved the year from the temporary folder to the OneDrive folder.

This all worked well.

[Greg_S.]

All's well that ends well!😊