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Restore catalogue in Photoshop Elements 2023

Community Beginner ,
Dec 14, 2022 Dec 14, 2022

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Hi,

I just bought a new laptop with Windows 11, version 22H2 for x64.

On my old laptop I had Photoshop Elements 2018. I bought an upgrade to PE 2023 from Adobe and installed it on my new laptop which worked fine.

I then wanted to restore my catalogue but I can`t get it to work. I have the backup on an external hard drive. I clicked on restore from hard drive and chose backup.tly. I then clicked on restore files and catalogue to original location. I am not sure if it should be restored to Elements 2023 Organizer or Photoshop Elements 2023. I have tried both and both times a window comes up saying ”You have no write permissions or write access (it is in Swedish so I don`t know which translation is correct) to the file you marked. Mark another file.”

What in the world is wrong?? What shall I do?

Hope to get some help.

Sture Persson

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Adobe Employee ,
Dec 15, 2022 Dec 15, 2022

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Hi,

 

What destination did you choose in 'Restore To'? This is the location where your catalog database and media files will be copied to, and it needs to be a location on your computer you have write access to.

 

Thanks!

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 16, 2022 Dec 16, 2022

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Hi Somya,

I restored to C: /Program/ Adobe/ and then tried both Elements 2023 Organizer and Photoshop Elements 2023  and both times a window came up saying ”You have no write access  to the file you marked. Mark another file.” 

I don`t know what other file I could mark?

Hope you can figure out what I shall do.

Thank you.

Sture Persson

 

 

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 19, 2022 Dec 19, 2022

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Hi,

I don`t seem to get anywhere. Can someone PLEASE help me with my problem!

Sture Persson

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Adobe Employee ,
Dec 21, 2022 Dec 21, 2022

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Hi,

 

In the 'Restore To' location, please create a folder on your system you woul dlike to have your catalog and data. You don't have to choose Organizer or Photoshop Elements here, just a folder in your file system.

 

Thanks,

Somya

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 23, 2022 Dec 23, 2022

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Hi,

As I said I had an online chat with an Adobe employee and he or she told me to restore my catalogue to Elements Organizer and it worked fine. Later on I downloaded som new holiday pictures and that also went fine. I then edited a picture and after that I couldn`t access my catalogue!! I started Phtoshop Elements on my laptop (not this computer) just now and a  window says: "Catalogue cannot be opened. An internal programming error has occurred". I clicked OK and a window, "Catalogue Manager" comes up. It says I can have more than one catalogue. I see no reason to have more than one catalogue since I am the only one using Photoshop. It says catalogues: □ available for all users,  □ available for present user and □ own location, C:\ program filse\ ..... 2023 Organizer and Browse.

In a square below it says: My catalogue 1  1 (current).

I don`t know what to do.

Hope you can help me.

Best regards,

Sture Persson

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 27, 2022 Dec 27, 2022

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Hi, 

I haven`t heard from anyone so I hope someone will come and help me soon.

Best regards, 

Sture Persson

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Community Expert ,
Dec 27, 2022 Dec 27, 2022

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quote

Hi, 

I haven`t heard from anyone so I hope someone will come and help me soon.

Best regards, 

Sture Persson


By @swedish birdwatcher

Hi Sture,

Re-reading your posts, I think that there is something which could be a good start to restore your backup. Maybe a few questions first to be sure I have understood your situation, sorry if they have been answered in different posts, but it seems that we can agree on the following:

You have your desktop with PSE2018 (or is it PSE2020, which is version 18? ) Not a problem anyway to upgrade to PSE 2023 - version 21)

You have created a full backup from the backup function of the Organizer. This backup is a folder on an external drive, and it does contain a file named 'backup.tly'. Very good. This folder should also contain a database file named catalog.buc. This is a renamed copy of the database file in the catalog folder:  either catalog.pse16db if your desktop PSE is PSE2018, or catalog.pse18db if it is PSE2020. That's not important for the restore, but it may help to understand the process. So, I believe everything is good at that stage. 

 

The misunderstandings seem to be concentrated on WHERE you want to restore, which is obviously somewhere on your new laptop. Good practice with computers is to store programs (Operating system  = Windows and your programs) somewhere and your data files elsewhere. So anyway, you don't have to choose between organizer or editor, you have to choose either a  sytem folder like the 'Pictures' folder which is created for this purpose by Microsoft and selected by default by the organizer, or any other folder, preferably created by yourself. That 'master' folder which will contain all your media folder tree(s) can be created in your laptop. I recommend creating it just under the C : root drive;  for instance 'My PSE Library'.

You'll just have to test that there is no restriction for reading or writing in this folder, there should be no problem.

Also important, you can choose to store your photos on your new laptop, or on an external drive (other than the backup drive). There are advantages for each option.

 

Now, when you restart the 'restore' process from your laptop, you select the catalog folder, not the backup.tly file which I think is only necessary on Macs ???) and you should point to that newly created folder as the destination.

The restore process first restores the media files tree(s) exactly as the original. Then it restores the original catalog folder itself and stores it under the 'My PSE Library'' folder beside the media subfolders trees.

 

That's not finished yet, the photo files are restored ok, but what about the catalog folder?  When users install a new PSE version, they are prompted to accept the 'conversion' of the current database folder to the new database format. Since you have installed PSE2023 on the laptop, you'll have to start the conversion process yourself from the catalog manager panel, click on 'Convert'. select the old catalog (on 'custom' location); the old catalog is read and a new catalog is created with the same name.  the old catalog is renamed with a -1 suffix. The restore process is then finished and you can try it.

 

You have a choice: leaving the catalog on that custom location, or you use the catalog manager to move it back to the default location on your C : drive.

 

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 28, 2022 Dec 28, 2022

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Hi Michel,

Thank you for your post. That was a lot and I don`t know if I understand all of that!!

On my old laptop I had PSE 2018, which is version 16. On my new laptop it is PSE 2023, version 21.

In the backup on my external drive I now found ”catalog.buc”

So you mean I should make a new folder just under C: and for exampel call it ”My PSE library”?

I started Photoshop Elements and a window came up saying ”Catalog cannot be opened. An internal programming error has occurred”. I clicked OK and Catalog Manager came up. In the top right corner there were two buttons, New and Convert. I clicked on New and wrote My PSE library?  Did I do right?

Organizer looks OK now but of course whithout pictures. It looks like I could I start Restore again. ( I opened This Computer on the desktop and open C:\ to check but there was no folder called My PSE Library. Should I create a new folder called My PSE Library there as well?)

I dare not do anything more now until I hear from you again.

Best regards,

Sture Persson

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Community Expert ,
Dec 28, 2022 Dec 28, 2022

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First, I am convinced your backup folder on your external drive is ok and you don't need to do a new backup.

 

"I started Photoshop Elements and a window came up saying ”Catalog cannot be opened. An internal programming error has occurred”. I clicked OK and Catalog Manager came up. In the top right corner there were two buttons, New and Convert. I clicked on New and wrote My PSE library? Did I do right?

Organizer looks OK now but of course whithout pictures."

OK, that is what happens when you install PSE on the laptop. The installer does not find a previous catalog and it does not know whether you are starting from scratch on the computer or if you already have a catalog somewhere on 'custom' location. So it must ask you. As there is no catalog on the laptop in the default location and as the organizer cannot work without a catalog, you should choose 'create a new catalog'. So no problem here, even if the new catalog is empty before any restore.

 

When you have created the new master folder under C : on the laptop, you can start the 'restore process' on the laptop, mentionning that folder. When the restore is finished, the media files tree is reconstructed under that master folder and the original catalog (in the old database format) is also reconstructed. I did not test the process but I am pretty sure that you would need the old PSE version to open it, so a conversion to the new format is what I suggested. That's much faster than the restore process.

So, you can easily check that the file folders trees are restored as expected from the Explorer, and that you have a new catalog folder beside the media folder tree. If you have not got a prompt to 'convert' the catalog (I don't think it's automatic) you should now proceed to the conversion from the catalog manager.

After the conversion, you should be ready to work as before on the laptop.

Then, you may want to keep the converted catalog folder on the same location, or to move it to the default location under C : (both options are valid).

 

Note: the 'empty' catalog created in the installation of PSE2023 can be deleted as soon as you are ready after the complete backup and conversion.

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 29, 2022 Dec 29, 2022

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Hi Michel,

Thank you for your quick reply.

I created a new catalogue just under C: \ which I call Min PSE katalog.

I started PSE and clicked on Restore and in the Restore window I browsed my external hard drive where I have my backup called Photoshop Kopia but the only file I can find is backup. tly.

I can`t find catalog.buc. I can only find it when I browse the external hard drive when Photoshop Elements is not started on my laptop.

Shall I restore from this after all or what shall I do??

Hope to hear from you soon again.

Best regards,

Sture Persson

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Community Expert ,
Dec 29, 2022 Dec 29, 2022

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Hi Michel,

Thank you for your quick reply.

I created a new catalogue just under C: \ which I call Min PSE katalog.

I started PSE and clicked on Restore and in the Restore window I browsed my external hard drive where I have my backup called Photoshop Kopia but the only file I can find is backup. tly.

I can`t find catalog.buc. I can only find it when I browse the external hard drive when Photoshop Elements is not started on my laptop.

Shall I restore from this after all or what shall I do??

Hope to hear from you soon again.

Best regards,

Sture Persson


By @swedish birdwatcher

 

Ok, I just tried a restore myself to be more accurate...

The dialog for the conversion is indeed to choose from 'Hard drive...' as you did, then you navigate on the left explorer panel to your backup folder on the external drive. If it's really a backup folder, you are shown in the right part of the explorer ONLY the backup.tly file, which you should choose. It is normal that you can't see other files like catalog.buc at that stage.

Next you have to browse to the newly created Min PSE katalog. Choose to keep the original folder structure.

Then, the dialog is complete and you can click on the 'restore' button.

Be patient, it takes some time before you can see the progress bar in action. For my 80 000 items, tthe restore may take 3 to 4 hours. Wait some time to be sure everything is complete. Many users abort too soon.

 

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 29, 2022 Dec 29, 2022

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Hi Michel,

Thank you for another quick reply. I restored the catalogue and when that was done it was automatically converted. I didn`t have to do anything. 

Everything looks fine now so I guess I don`t have to do anything more.

Many, many thanks for your help!

Best regards,

Sture Persson

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