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Photoshop Elements 2023 Organizer is creating duplicates of previously downloded pics

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
March 20, 2023
3 replies
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I have a new Dell PC Inspiron and newly purchased Photoshop Elements 2023. I find multiple copies of previously downloded .jpeg pics. After deleting the copies including removing them from the hard disk. they continue to come up as double and sometimes triple copies. Is there a fix for this. There 18 years worth of photos in the file. Currently reporting over 12,800 items. There is ample space on the PC to store the photos. Creating a backup that includes 2 or 3 unwanted copies makes no sense to me.

Does anyone have an answer?

Organizer

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Correct answer MichelBParis

Another thing that I've learned is that when I delete a photo from organizer and approve to remove it from the hard drive that the function does not work!

By @Michael289735070pq7

Generally, that means that the organizer did not find the correct folder location of the file you wanted to delete. Check the destination recorded in the catalog for the file and the real one you have found. That should not happen if you have run a search for all missing files and delete them from catalog before.

There is no magical "tag" linked to a given file name to tell it's a 'duplicate'. There must be an analysis scanning the files in the current catalog to find if a file with the same properties is already included in the catalog. The two most important criteria are the 'date_taken' and the file size in kilobytes. That works well with photos from cameras, not for scans. The organizer search does not search for duplicates outside of the catalog.

If you import the same file a second time in a different catalog, it will be imported. If you want it in the same folder, the Explorer will accept it and add a distinctive +1 sufix...

So, follow Greg's advice, and start with searching for all missing files.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

If all of the duplicate files are in one major parent folder, you could delete that parent folder or all of its sub-folders using Windows Explorer. Then, in the Organizer use the Find>All Missing Files menu command. This should display all of the photos that you have just deleted. Press Ctrl+A to select all of the missing files and hit delete to remove them from the Organizer's catalog. Since the files have already been deleted, there is no need to check the box to remove them from the hard drive.

I would also suggest that you find all missing files before deleting any. If there are no currently missing files in the catalog, this will confirm that any files you deleted intentionally will now be missing from the catalog. So you can safely delete this missing files.

I'm just trying to save you some time and effort. Frankly, I seem to have less time in the day as a retiree than when I was working. 😁

Greg_S.

Community Expert

So, it looks like a timecode has been added to the name of the file. This may have been added by an old feature that allowed online synch of catalog files. Unfortunately, it created duplicates such as you are seeing and never worked very well. I don't remember which versions of Elements used it, but it was abandoned several years ago. And, frankly, my recollection is that the added names were much more random. So maybe there is a different cause of the duplication.

If all of the duplicates follow the same pattern, I would suggest doing a file name search for UTC. In the Organizer, press Shift+Ctrl+K and type UTC into the box that appears. This should find all of the files with the added name and you can then delete them, if you are confident that they are true duplicates.

If you want to recover information such as keyword tags from your old catalogs, that is certainly possible. Let us know exactly what the goal of your question is, and we might be able to offer other suggestions.

M

Michael289735070pq7Author

Participant

I've discovered over the past two days, likely due to the number of upgrades that I've purchased over the years, that my photos were in two locations on the hard drive.

The paths look like this.

diana/pictures/xxxx

diana/pictures/adobe/digital camera photos/xxxx

After learning this, I've been going through folders one at a time to find and delete duplicates. Only 9,000 photo files to go through, but hey I'm retired with nothing better to do.

Another thing that I've learned is that when I delete a photo from organizer and approve to remove it from the hard drive that the function does not work! I've had to use file explorer and delete files from there to have any success.

Time and patience is something I have.

Once I'm done with the deletions can Organizer be repopulated in one move, or will that be a pain?

MichelBParisCorrect answer

Legend

Another thing that I've learned is that when I delete a photo from organizer and approve to remove it from the hard drive that the function does not work!

By @Michael289735070pq7

Generally, that means that the organizer did not find the correct folder location of the file you wanted to delete. Check the destination recorded in the catalog for the file and the real one you have found. That should not happen if you have run a search for all missing files and delete them from catalog before.

There is no magical "tag" linked to a given file name to tell it's a 'duplicate'. There must be an analysis scanning the files in the current catalog to find if a file with the same properties is already included in the catalog. The two most important criteria are the 'date_taken' and the file size in kilobytes. That works well with photos from cameras, not for scans. The organizer search does not search for duplicates outside of the catalog.

If you import the same file a second time in a different catalog, it will be imported. If you want it in the same folder, the Explorer will accept it and add a distinctive +1 sufix...

So, follow Greg's advice, and start with searching for all missing files.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

The Organizer does not just copy duplicate files without some action by you. So, we need to know more about your workflow process.

How did you import the photos into your current catalog? Did you convert an earlier version's catalog or start with a new catalog?

Are the duplicates stored on different drives, in different folders on the same drive, or have they been imported into your folders with different names, e.g., photo.jpg; photo-1.jpeg; photo-2.jpg?

Are the duplicates contained in Version Sets of files you have edited as copies?

Do the duplicates only appear when you import multiple times from the same memory card?

Have the duplicates been copied from backup folders?

M

Michael289735070pq7Author

Participant

Greg S,

Thanks for your response. I'll attempt to answer your questions.The catalog was imported from my old PC to the new PC using Dell Migrate. I used Photoshop Elements 2016 (I believe) on the old PC.

I installed Photoshop Elements 2023 on the new PC. During installation the program searched for and imported the photos into the new catalog. All photos are stored in the same main picture folder. I don't find copies elswhere on the PC.

Here is an example of what I found looking at the details. Each photo has .jpeg format. There no numbers indicating it as a duplicate.

"C:\Users\Diana Smith\Pictures\2011 01 22\IMG_0008 (2016_09_13 23_04_08 UTC).jpg"
"C:\Users\Diana Smith\Pictures\2011 01 22\IMG_0008.JPG"

I've not imported any new photos. They have all come from the old PC.

The photos were originally downloaded from the same Canon digital SLR camera over a number of years, using a few different versions of Photoshop.

We've not added any photos to the catalog in about 4 years. We started using an IPhone to take pictures and could find no easy to import them into PhotoShop.

I have not backed up this catalog yet for want to rid myself of the duplicates that DO seem to appear without any action on my part.

Any thoughts? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

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