Restore Catalog when Organizer won't open

[Grace Muskokan]

I am using Photoshop Elements 2020 on a Dell computer with Windows 11 Operating system.

I have created a terrible situation, so that Organizer will not open.

I started to try to use a Seagate Hard Drive Backup because I saw a notice that it had done a complete back up. I can not find that back up file. I changed the Drive name and that confused the Organizer. So I did a restore from that day's Organizer backup. I saw it all come back. But now I can not open the Organizer.

Would I be better off to delete Organizer and reinstall it.? Then I could ask it to restore from the Organizer backup files on the EHD.

[Greg_S.]

@Grace Muskokan, it's not entirely clear what you have done to get yourself into this state.

I suggest you start by performing a search of your computer for a file named catalog.pse18db.

Double-click on each file you find with that name and it should launch the Organizer and open the catalog associated with that file.

If the Organizer does not open, please give us a screenshot of any error message you receive.

[Grace Muskokan]

Thanks Greg,

I did find a file with the name you suggested but nothing happens when I click on it. I will attach a screen shot to show you. It did change from a file name with the 18db extension to the Organizer Icon. But when I selected Open With PSE Organizer nothing happens.

[Grace Muskokan]

Maybe it is not as bad as I thought. I do see the Organizer with the tags I created but a message to import all the photos. Is this the next step? My photos are all stored on a different EHD. So the folders that show on the left are the ones I had previously imported.

Is the next step to re import them all again? Sure hope all that "write metadata to files" has kept all the tags. this is me recreating a catalog after I lost my previous one in a crash .

[Greg_S. · Accepted solution]

Hi Grace.  I'm still not sure what you have done, so I'm going to ask a bunch more questions about statements you have made:

I am using Photoshop Elements 2020 on a Dell computer with Windows 11 Operating system.

Is this a new computer or have you used it in the past with Elements 2020 working properly?

I started to try to use a Seagate Hard Drive Backup because I saw a notice that it had done a complete back up.

What kind of backup message did you receive?

Was this an Elements backup message or was it a backup performed for your entire hard drive? 

What do you mean when you say you tried to use a Seagate Hard Drive Backup?  Were you trying to create a backup or restore a backup?  And what was your purpose for doing whatever it is you did?

I can not find that back up file.

If you are talking about a backup of your Organizer catalog, look for a folder that contains a file with the extension .tly. 

I changed the Drive name and that confused the Organizer.

Did you change the drive letter associated with the drive or did you simply give the drive a new common name?  And why did you make this change?

Do you have more than one external hard drive?

So I did a restore from that day's Organizer backup. I saw it all come back. But now I can not open the Organizer.

How many Catalog backups do you have?  Are they full backups or incremental backups?

(I assume you have now been able to open the Organizer.)

I do see the Organizer with the tags I created but a message to import all the photos. 

Please explain what you mean.  Has a catalog opened with all your tags showing in the Elements Organizer?  Or are you looking in Windows File Explorer?

My photos are all stored on a different EHD. So the folders that show on the left are the ones I had previously imported.

Please explain how many external drives you have and where are the photos stored exactly.  I assume you are talking about the folder panel on the left.  Are you in tree view which shows the organization of your computer with all the drives or are you in the list view which displays the folders in alpha-numeric order?   Here is a tree view:

Do you have folders with the icons shown in my screenshot?  If so, if you select a folder, do any photos dispaly in your grid?  And if they do, are they "missing" ?  (A yellow question mark will appear on the thumbnail or a dialog will pop up if you double-click on the thumbnail.)

Please be as detailed as you can be in responding to my questions.  And provide any further screenshots that you think may be helpful.

[Grace Muskokan]

Hi Greg,

Your solution worked. I guess I was not patient enough!

I am going to try to answer your questions though because I realize I really don't understand much about my PSE Organizer.

1. I have used this computer in the past with PSE 2020 working properly.

2 The message was for a complete backup of my computer by my EHD. I was trying to use the EHD Backup to do a complete Restore to that state/date/time of the computer. I hoped to Restore the computer and PSE Organizer to the state they were in before I changed anything.

3 With your assistance I did find the .tly file and it has now restored the catalog.

4 I do have more than one EHD both with the same brand, so I recorded the name and then changed the Drive name but not the letter, in order to clarify which one wwas used for each purpose. When i saw the Organizer was blank I changed it back to the original name.

5  I have now been able to open the Organizer. It looks great. And I can now open it. The photos are now visible in the Organizer.

6 i am in tree view.The photos are stored on the same EHD as the catalog. and then backed up on another EHD. The photos are now, thankfully, appearing as they should thanks to your assistance.

Going forward  is my actual catalog now the one shown on the tree view as Organizer Backup 30 April?

When I make a new backup of the Organizer I plan to use the second EHD under a folder for Backups. I always do complete backups.Should I have a catalog on the C Drive? Is there an advantage to having it on the C drive?

thank you for your help. It is such a relief to see my work restored. I am facing a vision loss so it is very important to me to get all my photos sorted so that someone else can easily locate a photo if required.

[Grace Muskokan]

The only thing that is awry now is that my tree view shows everything on the EHD. Before I had each days shooting folder under a year folder the same as they are organized in my Photo Backup file.

Will this current set up cause any problems?

Am I better off to leave well enough alone? I have a catalog back with all my tags and my birding tags shown?