PSE 14 Organizer: False duplicate import errors. Then everything disappears

[gfbugaboo]

I recently started using the PSE 14 Organizer and I guess I don't understand its nuances. Today I encountered two problems. I tried to import files from a folder from outside of the Organizer, a location where I download photos from my camera. In the Organizer, I created a subfolder of a folder that is in its catalog. Then I imported files from the outside folder by dragging and dropping them from Windows Explorer (Windows 7). It imported many, but I also received many error messages saying that a file already existed in the catalog, so was not imported. The messages were false: those files were not in the catalog, but files with a similar name were. For example, of the following JPEG files:

      Green on bark_60186

      Green on bark_60190

      Green on bark_60194

It failed to import the _60186 file, but did import the other two. If it had only imported one and rejected the other two, I can't figure out why.

Then things got worse. I switched to the editor to do something, and when I switched back to the Organizer, the subfolder that I had created and imported files into was gone. I right-clicked on the parent folder and selected Show All Subfolders, and the folder appeared--but it was empty. I tried importing again, and Photoshop told me that the files were already there--but didn't show them. I'm completely flummoxed. Help!

[MichelBParis]

There is a widespread misunderstanding about the 'already in catalog' message.

The downloader module filters all the files to register in the catalog to avoid exactly similar duplicates.

The main criteria for downloading photos from card or camera as well as registering (importing) files already on your computer are:

- Files with the same size in kilobytes

- Files with the same date_taken exif data

The same name is NOT a valid criteria.

So, those criteria are compared to the same criteria for all the files in the catalog and the file is not downloaded nor included in the catalog it a file matching both criteria is found.

You can do the test with a rejected file.

Take a note of both criteria and create a search (by metadata) for files already in the catalog. You'll find the alreay present files and see that they are really the same shot.

If you 'import' from another folder with renamed files, the duplicates will be caught as well.

On the other hand, If your camera picture count has been reset, you'll have files with the same file name. Since they are different in size and date_taken they will be accepted.

Also keep in mind that the OS does not allow downloading files with the same name in the same subfolder. In such cases the downloader may add a -1 suffix to the filename to distinguish two different shots.

[gfbugaboo]

What you say makes sense, but as far as I can tell, it does not account for the error I'm receiving. I cannot tell for sure, because PSE 14 does not allow me to search for an exact filesize; I can only specify greater than or less than in the search. So I can't match using the Elements metadata search. But in the folder I am copying from, I sorted by filesize and checked two of the rejected files, and there are no files of matching size in that folder. And those photos are new; they cannot have been imported to Elements previously. So I'm still looking for the answer.

And does anyone want to comment on the disappearance of the files I imported? I suspect that's a user error, and will do more research on my own about that.

[gfbugaboo]

Mea Culpa--of sorts. Those "rejected" files are in the catalog. They don't appear in the Folders list (as I noted, the folder no longer appears in the folder list), but when I scroll through the entire set of Media files, those photos are there. (Why I received the error message for 12 of the 58 files I tried to import--all for the first time--is another question.) That means the disappearing folder is more of an issue for me at this point, since it's the only way I can quickly tell if something was imported to the catalog successfully.

Since I have thousands and thousands of photos taken before I ever installed PSE, might I be better off with a different too to catalog  them? Any suggestions?

[gfbugaboo]

I was able to get the folder and files in the catalog. I'm not sure what I did the first time, but one thing I know I did wrong is that, after creating the folder in PSE, I did not then copy the files from the original folder into that one. I thought PSE would do that when I dragged and dropped them from Explorer. It didn't, so that folder remained empty. PSE added those files to its catalog, but they were not associated with the physical folder. Do I deleted all those files from the catalog, copied them to the new folder I created, right-clicked the folder in the Organizer, and selected Import Media. (I thought there would be a way to add tags to them upon Import, but wasn't presented with an option to.) I'm just not sure if this is the way to go for cataloging my photos.

The error messages will have to remain a mystery.