PSE18 Catalog - errors when I attempt any type of update

[cgarski]

I am running Photoshop Elements 2018 version 16.0 (20170902.m.113423). My laptop is running Windows 10 (version 1802 OS Build 17134.81).  I mostly use Elements Organizer to catalog my photos. I have a single catalog with about 50,000 photos in it.

Recently I have been encountering errors whenever I attempt ANY action that involves making a change to the catalog. For example:

- attempt to apply a keyword tag, get "Error applying keyword tag(s)"

- attempt to create a new keyword tag, get "Error creating new keyword tag"

- automatic import of new photos in my watch folders appears to complete successfully but no photos are imported

- attempt to delete a photo from the catalog, "Error deleting media"

- attempt to rename a keyword tag, get "Error editing name"

- attempt to change the date/time on a photo, get "Error changing date/time"

etc.

I have attempted many changes, each time I get an message saying Error doing whatever action I was attempting.

I use organizer a LOT; cannot pinpoint exactly when this started happening (maybe a week or two), or what might have changed.

I AM, however, able to open my catalog, view my photos, etc.  It's almost as if I don't have permission to save changes to the catalog.pse16db file (I have verified that I do).

I've attempted repairing and optimizing the catalog several times. Those actions say they are completed successfully, but do not solve the problem. I use Norton 360 as my anti-virus software; that software is up to date, and I have done a scan - no problems reported.

I have not yet tried:

- uninstalling and reinstalling Photoshop Elements (before I try that I wanted to make sure that it won't make matters worse)

- restoring the catalog from backup (my most recent backup was after this problem started happening, that one before that is older and if I have to go back to that one I will lose a lot of work ... so that is a last resort).

Has anyone encountered a similar problem to what's happening to me?  I am grateful for any suggestions!

Thank you!

[MichelBParis]

Has anyone encountered a similar problem to what's happening to me?  ​

I have never seen that in this or any other forum.

However:

My laptop is running Windows 10 (version 1802 OS Build 17134.81)

That update has triggered a number of issues with various error messages, all linked with the way Elements knows your avaible RAM size.

Error: An integer between 50 and 8 is required | Elements | Windows 10

So, check if you get an error message in the editor with the menu Edit >> Preferences >> Performance.

Anyway, try the registry edit detailed in that paper, there are plenty of other posts in this forum which shows that the workaround works whan correctly applied (requires less than two minutes...) No bad consequence if it is not; you can delete the line.

To be sure the edit has been correctly applied, look into the info displayed from the menu Help >> System Info of the editor. The available RAM amount for Elements will be increased after the edited.

[philipm68297559]

I had the same thing happen yesterday running PSE2018 v.16 on a desktop with Windows 10. It was working fine until midway through my editing when I received the message "Error attaching tags." Also, when I try to add a caption or edit info on a previous photo, or deleting a photo. I decided to try and split my catalog into separate catalogs thinking that perhaps my catalog had gotten too large. However, I can't see how to capture the tags and captions without re-entering the info. Also, I can't delete any images so that doesn't help in adding captions to the photos that I choose to leave in the original catalog.

[MichelBParis]

philipm68297559  wrote

I had the same thing happen yesterday running PSE2018 v.16 on a desktop with Windows 10. It was working fine until midway through my editing when I received the message "Error attaching tags." Also, when I try to add a caption or edit info on a previous photo, or deleting a photo. I decided to try and split my catalog into separate catalogs thinking that perhaps my catalog had gotten too large. However, I can't see how to capture the tags and captions without re-entering the info. Also, I can't delete any images so that doesn't help in adding captions to the photos that I choose to leave in the original catalog.

It's quite possible that you have the same RAM issue after the latest Windows 10 (1803) update;

Check first in your menu Edit >> Preferences >> Performance if you get the error message.

In any case, applying the registry edit won't hurt.

Generally, splitting a catalog if you hope better performance is a very bad choice. With people recognition (that I don't use) and older Elements versions, I am not so sure.

[philipm68297559]

No error message. It shows that I have 3107 MB of RAM available and Elements is using 70% (2107).

[cgarski]

Thank you for your reply MichelBParis!

I primarily use Organizer; don't use Editor very much, and when I do I was not getting the "Integer between 50 and 8" message. Nevertheless I did try the registry edit workaround. I was successful in applying that change, however it has not resolved my problem.

I fear that my catalog has become corrupted. I do have a backup that I can restore to, and then re-import new images ... but if I do that I will lose a few months of work ... so that is a last resort. Can you suggest any other options to try?

Thanks again for any help!

[MichelBParis]

You may have a look at my suggestion in that other post:

PSE Full backup Error message...!

A catalog corruption may concern the main database file (catalog.pseXXdb) or any other components including face recognition. The 'repair' command does only repair the main database.

Creating a 'light' catalog will keep the most important info (keywords, structure, albums, stacks and version sets) and lose face recognition and secondary info. Better than having to reimport everything anyway.

For the Windows update issue, a reminder:

- before and after you apply the edit of the registry, use the menu Help >> System Information of the editor.

Adobe Photoshop Elements Version: 16.0 (20170902.m.113423)  x64

Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit

Version: 10 or greater

System architecture: Intel CPU Family:6, Model:12, Stepping:3 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, HyperThreading

Physical processor count: 2

Logical processor count: 4

Processor speed: 3093 MHz

Built-in memory: 8131 MB

Free memory: 4168 MB

Memory available to Photoshop Elements: 7303 MB

Memory used by Photoshop Elements: 75 %

In my case, the 7303 MB value is double the size it was before the edit. If that value did not change, your registry edit is incorrectly applied, and you should remove it or correct it.

[cgarski]

Thanks MichelBParis and PhilipM for your helpful suggestions. In the end nothing seemed to be fixing my issues, so I decided to restore to my last catalog backup (which was a couple of months old), reimport all the photos I had added since then, and reapply any updates (new tags, etc).  It was a bit of a chore, but I am back in business now.  Moral of the story is to take backups more frequently.

Thanks again!

[philipm68297559]

After experiencing the same problem that you did on June 9, I just spent 3-1/2 hours on a chat with Adobe support with remote access granted. He concluded that the catalog was corrupted and that I needed to create a new catalog and import the photos again to be able to add tags and captions. I have 33,000 images in my catalog, and this is an impossible task! I'm going to try to use a back-up to see if that works. I am very disappointed to say the least.

[stenf77787472]

I experience the same problem this week. 

I am running Elements Organizer 2021 version 19.0 (20210807.m.158016) on my Computer running Windows 10.

I have been encountering errors whenever I attempt any action that involves making a change to the catalog, as when attempting to apply a keyword tag, a get "Error applying keyword tag(s)"

From the replies below I see I have to try and find the backup file....

[MichelBParis]

I experience the same problem this week. 

I am running Elements Organizer 2021 version 19.0 (20210807.m.158016) on my Computer running Windows 10.

I have been encountering errors whenever I attempt any action that involves making a change to the catalog, as when attempting to apply a keyword tag, a get "Error applying keyword tag(s)"

From the replies below I see I have to try and find the backup file....

By @stenf77787472

I don't think that the similar symptoms you are seeing are coming from the same reasons as with  PSE2018. Without more information on your setup and hardware, difficult to start troubleshooting. Does your computer meet the minimum requirements (especially RAM)? Is there any wrong settings in the 'performance' section of your preferences? How is configured your scratch disk?

Could you create a new test catalog and test if you get the same errors?