Photoshop Elements 23 Organiser problem.

[John273674100o9q]

Hi. I upgraded from PSE 15 to 23 successfully, and have used the editor and organiser. I have just incresed my laptop RAM from 4 to 20GB, all works well except I can't load the organiser.

I get the error message: 'Last attempt to open the catalog was unsuccessful. Do you wish to retry with the same catalog or open a different catalog? Options are RETRY or SWITCH CATALOG.

Retry leads to a blank screen and NOT RESPONDING message.

Switch catalog leads to the catalog manager dialog box. I've tried both OPTIMIZE and REPAIR options. Also I've tried to create a new catalog, import my photos in, but that won't load either.

I've totally uninstalled and reinstalled PSE23 twice to no avail.

Ca anyone help please? Laptop is Asus X555 running Windows 10. 1TB SSD memory (replacing factory hard drive), and 20GB RAM. Everything else works really speedily.

Thanks.

[Greg_S.]

Hi John.  Sorry you are having problems with your catalog.  I have a few questions:

When you upgraded to Elements 2023, did your old catalog automatically convert?  If so, did the Organizer open with the catalog at any point in time?  If not, did you wait a sufficient time for the catalog to convert?

How many photo/video files do you have in your catalog?

You said:  Also I've tried to create a new catalog, import my photos in, but that won't load either. 

Did it simply hang or did you get a new error message?

Do you still have Elements 15 loaded and does the old catalog still work?  If so, try repairing and optimising that catalog.  Also make sure you have no missing files in the catalog.  (Go to Find>All Missing Files.)  And then try to convert the old catalog again.

If you have a recent backup catalog (from Elements 15), you can also try using Elements 2023 to Restore it. 

[John273674100o9q]

Hi Greg

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. It's really appreciated.

When I upgraded from PSE 15 to 23 the catalog wouldn't load, so I carried on saving to the PSE 15 catalog. Eventually my wife (who's a bit cleverer than me) managed to convert the catalog to PSE 23, and all worked well for a while.

There are 32414 files in 6 folders. Size is showing in properties as 805MB (834MB on disc).

I tried to build a new catalog in the catalog manager, but I had no success in importing the photos as the Not Responding box displays whilst searching for photos to import. 

I've restored my old PSE 15 catalog, and converted it. Trying to open that in PSE 23 results in the same dark screen with the little waiting wheel spinning in the middle. Eventually the Not Responding box displays. I then tried repairing this catalog, but still no joy, I just get the 'Last Attempt Was Unsuccessful' box displaying.

Any more ideas? I'm really at a loss to know how to proceed!

Thanks again for your help

[John273674100o9q]

Can I just add that I'm UK based, and I'm looking at messages whilst getting on with some building work. Sorry if I don't respond straight away, but I'll keep a watch for anything.

[John273674100o9q]

Hi Greg

I've reinstalled PSE 15 and it will load my legacy PSE 15 catalog from an old back up. I can successfully add and delete photos to that catalog. If I try to convert the catalog in PSE 23 it says successfully converted, but gets stuck on opening as before.

[Greg_S.]

Hi John.  Just because you see the program not responding message pop up in Windows doesn't mean that nothing is going on.  If you go to the Windows Task Manager, look under the processes tab and see if there is any changing activity under the CPU and Memory columns for the Organizer:

If so, you need to be more patient, particularly if your laptop is as old as Elements 15.  😉  There are a number of things that could be going on in the background.  To prevent some of that activity interfering with the catalog loading, you can try going to File>Manage Catalogs and then create a new catalog.  If the empty catalog loads, go to Edit>Preferences>Media Analysis and uncheck all of the boxes.  Then try to reload your converted catalog.

If you are still having problems, try contacting Elements support. You can start a chat session by clicking on the blue Contact Us button under the Help & Support menu at Adobe.com. Or you can contact Support by telephone using the numbers listed here: https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/phone.html. Hours of operation outside of the United States are limited. See the phone link for details.

[John273674100o9q]

Thanks so much Greg. I'll have another try tomorrow, and if no joy will try the support team.

I'll let you know if I have solved it.