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J
jeff111111370342
Participant
November 25, 2020
Question

Organizer bulk import

  • November 25, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 427 views

At first launch of Organizer 2021, I accidentally began bulk import. I stopped it after 30,000 images had been imported (of 87,000). I don't want or need all these things in Organizer. Can I safely delete all the folders and their assets and be sure that the original files (in Dropbox, for example), will remain intact? What is the easiest and safest way to delete all? Probably dumb questions, but I am nervous deleting 30,000 images from Organizer. 

 

Thank you!

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2 replies

J
jeff111111370342Author
Participant
November 26, 2020

Here is the easiest way to deal with this situation.

1. In folder view, choose "View as Tree"

2. Delete top level folders (which will delete subfolders)

3. IMPORTANT: Be sure NOT to check the box: "Also, delete the files and folders from the hard disk" which appears in the dialog box when deleting a folder. 

MichelBParis
MichelBParis
Legend
November 26, 2020

@jeff111111370342 

Keep in mind that deleting a big number of files at the same time from the organizer is slow, very slow. And if the batch is too big, the process will fail depending on your available RAM size (even if you only remove from catalog, not from disk).

If you know which folder trees to delete, it's so much quicker to delete from the Explorer and then the bad catalog folder.

MichelBParis
MichelBParis
Legend
November 25, 2020

Bulk import  works as the 'Import from files and folders', not as the 'Import from camera and card reader', so it should not create duplicates, it only  scans your computer and creates links and indexes your existing files without creating duplicates.

So, it should be enough to verify that and start a new catalog for selective import of folders.

Once you have created that catalog, you can delete the previous bulk catalog from the catalog manager.

    J
    jeff111111370342Author
    Participant
    November 25, 2020

    Thank you. So there is nothing copied or moved into an Adobe photo library? There are only links? I'm just noticing right now that my Time Machine is making an unusually large backup--over 10 Gb.

    MichelBParis
    MichelBParis
    Legend
    November 25, 2020

    I am not a Mac users, but Time Machine is not reported as compatible with  Elements. There has been posts about it creating many duplicates.

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