Start Over Organizer

[MrTerry]

How do I start over using Organizer?  Just delete the Catolog?

Is there a proceedure?

I like using it but want to organize My Pictures not the whole drive.  I realize I set it up this way in the begining but now want a do over!  Thanks

Elements Organizer 18.0.0.0
Core Version: 18.0 (20201207.m.154403)
Language Version: 18.0 (20201207.m.154403)

Current Catalog:
Catalog Name: My Catalog
Catalog Location: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs\My Catalog\
Catalog Size: 347.1MB
Catalog Cache Size: 3.2GB

System:
Operating System Name: Windows 10
Operating System Version: 10.0
System Architecture: Intel CPU Family:6 Model:12 Stepping:3 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP, SSE2
Built-in Memory: 7.9GB
Free Memory: 3.3GB

[Greg_S. · Accepted solution]

If you start a new catalog, you will lose any face recognition, People, Places, Events tagging, Albums and maybe some other stuff.  Do you really want to do that?  You could simply delete or hide any photos in your current catalog that you don't want available.  (The files will remain on your hard drive unless you choose to also delete them.)

If you want to start afresh, simply go to File>Manage Catalogs and use the Create button to create a new catalog.  A catalog folder does not take up much room on your hard drive, so you can safely choose not to delete it.  Just give your new catalog a new name,.

[MrTerry]

Thank You!!

[Greg_S.]

. . .  and if you want to start a new catalog, there are ways to transfer your tag and Album hierarchy and to import any existing tags to the new catalog.  I can give you some more advice about that if that's what you want to do.

[virgilh70]

Could you please share the ways to transfer and preserve tags and albums.  I'm new to Elements Organizer and made a number of mistakes in setting up my system.  My pictures are scattered over my system and in MS OneDrive.  The pictures are uploaded from iPhones and Android phones.  There are a large number of scanned slides and negatives.  Now that I have a better idea of how to use the Organizer, I would like to make a clean start without losing most of the work I've done.  Thanks

[Greg_S.]

@virgilh70, if the problem you wish to solve is having photos scattered in various folders, then I recommend that you use the Backup and Restore tool.  First, let me say that the Organizer doesn't care where your photos are stored.  But if you wish to tidy up, without losing any of your organizational work, then here is one way to go:

• Make sure that the Organizer's My Folders Panel is in Tree View, not List View.
• Go to Find>All Missing Files and see if you have any missing files in your catalog.  If you do, either reconnect them or delete them from the catalog.  (Be patient.  Depending on the size of your catalog, the search may take a while.)
• Go to File>Backup Catalog and create a full backup.  See this HelpX article for more detailed instructions.
• Create a new parent folder, either on your C drive or preferably on another hard drive (internal or external).
• Restore the backup you have created.  (See the linked HelpX article for more details.)
• In the Restore Catalog dialog, choose the option to restore to a new location.
• Browse to and select the new parent folder that you have created.
• Uncheck the box to restore to the original folder structure.  If you keep the box checked, you will probably end up with the same mess that you have now.  Instead, you will have a flat folder structure with each folder containing catalog folders under the parent folder, in alpha-numeric order. 

• If you want to restructure the folder structure later, you can do so by click and dragging folders in the Organizer's My Folders panel.  Do not perform any file or folder organization outside of the Organizer.
• Once you are satisfied that the catalog has been restored to your liking, you can delete the original messed up folders.  You should also do this within the catalog.  But first, you will have to right click on the drive where the folders are located and select to Show all sub folders.  The full File Explorer hierarchy will be displayed.  You can select a folder to confirm whether or not any catalog photos are contained within.  If not, you can delete the folder by right-clicking on it and selecting to delete it.  This will remove the folder from your hard drive.

[virgilh70]

Thanks.  This will probably take several months for me to clean up.  I have over 20 years of pictures from backups of various obsolete computers and laptops.  Of course that leads to lots of duplicate images.  Your instructions help me understand how to use the Organizer.  Most of the instructions I have found are for beginners with a clean file system.