thumbnails appear but photos are missing

Report · Dec 29, 2018

I upgraded from PSE 2018 to PSE 2019. My media and albums appeared ok after the upgrade, but double clicking any photo just show a "?" mark.

I tried creating a new catalog and importing photos. Again, the thumbnails show up, but the photos just show a "?" mark. I didn't change any files and the actual files are still in the same directory as always.

Has anyone else experienced this? There is no apparent way to ask a question of adobe. Of course, I can't use PSE 2018 now so I'm unable to do anything with either product since the catalog is converted to 2019. Everything worked fine in 2018, but the map feature was the only reason I upgraded.

Thanks for any suggestions on resolving this.

Report · Dec 30, 2018

desertmountain wrote
I upgraded from PSE 2018 to PSE 2019. My media and albums appeared ok after the upgrade, but double clicking any photo just show a "?" mark.

My understanding is that you installed PSE2019 on the same computer. It does not matter if PSE2018 is still installed or not. At the end of the installation process, you were prompted to 'convert' your PSE2018 catalog (which is still present even if PSE2018 was uninstalled), and obviously, the process worked because you are able to see the thumbnails and tags. The conversion has renamed the old catalog in the 2018 format with a -1 suffix, and you have an updated copy with the old catalog name for PSE2019. If all your files are shown as 'missing' or 'disconnected', that generally means that the files have been moved or that the drive they are in is no longer recognized (such as a changed drive letter).

Now, what is more mysterious is the fact that :

I tried creating a new catalog and importing photos. Again, the thumbnails show up, but the photos just show a "?" mark. I didn't change any files and the actual files are still in the same directory as always.

I have never seen disconnected files just after a fresh import. That also means that it is probably useless to convert the old catalog (with the -1 suffix) manually again. It's easy to do, so may be worth trying.

Could you give more info about your OS and drive(s)? Mac or Win, version?

Of course, I can't use PSE 2018 now

Yes, you can still use PSE2018 which should recognize the old renamed catalog automatically. If you have uninstalled it, you can reinstall it and it should work as before. In your situation, that may be necessary to troubleshoot the issue.

Report · Dec 30, 2018

Thank you for the reply. First, I’m running OS 10.13.6 High Sierra on a 2017 iMac. I was using PSE 2018 installed from a DVD about a year ago without problem (I have external DVD, etc). I only upgraded because the map feature didn’t work and Adobe said they wouldn’t be fixing it and to upgrade to PSE 2019. The download install to PSE 2019 from Adobe’s website is painful to say the least, but it did complete without any noticeable error.

Just to be sure, I’ve run repair on the boot drive (nothing found); I’ve even restored the catalog from a backup. I’ve looked at backups to determine that the directory and files are in precisely the same location (of course they are!). I even restored some files just to check that it doesn’t make any difference.

If I import new files, the behavior persists. The catalog builds the thumbnails (so it must have access to the correct files) but won’t display the photo when double clicked just “?”.

However, if you then click “edit”, the photo appears fine in the PSE 2019 editor. This occurs with the pre-conversion files as well as the newly imported ones. This is truly bizarre behavior which I’m not sure I’d believe without experiencing it.

So far, I’ve spent probably 8 or so hours trying various actions, but without finding any likely reason for PSE 2019 Organizer not to work as it should. So, for the moment, this appears to be a pure 2019 PSE issue and not a conversion/update issue per se.