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Question

Upgrade from PSE ver10 to ver2023

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
November 27, 2022
4 replies
1438 views

I am currently using Photoshop Elements 10 on my 8-year old desktop. I would like to upgrade to the new 2023 version but my computer does not meet the minimum requirements so I have purchased a new Dell.

Procedurally, I would like to install ver 10 on the new computer (I still have the install CD). After it is in place and working with my photo files, I want to download the 2023 version and test it out.

So, my question what is the best order to do the following:
- Copy the photo libraries to the new computer.
- Copy C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs\ to the new computer.
- Install PSE 10 (Q: Will the new install overwrite the catalogs?)
- Then, after I've verified ver 10 is stable, download 2023 and test it.

Am I missing anything? Thanks for any thoughts.
Jim

This topic has been closed for replies.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

So, the problem with the Backup of Elements 10 catalog seems to be the Breezedata .xml files. I believe that folder contains face recognition information from earlier versions and so it has to be converted to the newer version catalog. Part of the problem also seems to be that version 10 was a 32 bit program whereas later versions are 64 bit. What I think needs to be done in your situation is to delete the whole Breeze folder. Obviously, you will lose all face recognition data, but Elements 2023 does face recognition a whole lot better than Elements 10 and is much faster to attach names to faces. Also, I'm guessing that any keyword name tags will still be available in the converted catalog. However they may need to be converted to the new system People tags. I suggest copying the Breezedata folder to a safe location and then attempt the Organizer backup again with your smaller catalog.

J

Jim50Author

Known Participant

I deleted the breeze folder and reran the backup. It did get the process beyond the point that it was using the breeze folder but I then started getting errors on specific photographs. Inspecting some of the photos in PE, I failed to see any obvious deficiencies so I just deleted the particular sub folder that appeared to include the errant photos. I did try reimporting one but that didn's make any difference to the backup - it just failed again on the photo that I reimported.
So, I cleaned out the last of those errant photos and ran it again. It appeared to go 100% but just when I was expecting the 'Backup completed successfully' message, I got one that said 'Error encountered while writing files'. Ugh!
Since this is only about 500 photos, I am just going to trash the catalog and reimport them on the new computer to a new catalog and see how it goes.
This whole issue did bring up one question. Since I have folders of photos, some of which are in catalogs and some have not been imported to PE, I am wondering which would be better a) copy all my photo folders in their entirety to the new computer and then install ver10 and do the restore of my large catalog (assuming that it will not create a problem if it goes to write a photo and finds that a copy is already in place) or b) do the setup of ver10, then do the restore of the big catalog and then copy all my photo folders in their entirety (which would probably overwrite the restored photos with what should be an exact copy of what was backed up) as well as it would add the non cataloged photos to the new PC.

It may not make any difference.

Oh, and BTW, I manually tag all of my photos and do not rely on auto tagging. I just want the tree of defining tags to be in the catalog when it is restored.

Thanks again.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

@Jim50 said:

My hope had been that if I copied my photo libraries from the old computer to the new (using a direct link) and maintained the same file structure, as well as copy the contents of the ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs\ to the same location in the new computer, the v10 program would have been happy to use them.

I believe your plan should work, but it is not the preferred method. And if your new computer has Windows 11, I don't know if there are any OS quirks that may create a problem. Before doing anything, I would recommend making a full backup of your old computer's catalog(s) to an external drive.

There should be no problem using your original CD to install on the new computer. You are entitled to activate the program on two computers (but only use one at a time). If for some reason you run into an error that you have exceeded the number of activations, you can always contact Adobe Support and have them reset the license activations.

J

Jim50Author

Known Participant

Thank you, Greg, this is very helpful.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

I should also mention that the Organizer and its catalog tag scheme for People, Places and Events is very different in Elements 2023 than Elements 10. You may see some unfamiliar tag conversions.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

I'm not sure what you have in mind for copying the photo libraries to the new computer. The best method for transferring your Organizer Catalog to the new computer is to do a Backup and Restore. See this article for more details.

Once you have everything working OK with Elements 10 on the new computer, you can install Elements 2023. The first time that you open the Organizer, it will ask you whether your want your old catalog to be converted to the new one. Respond yes, and the program will make a copy of the old catalog and attach a -1 suffix to the name. That catalog can continue to be used in Elements 10. A new catalog with the old original name will then be available for use in Elements 2023. However, if you intend to use both old and new programs, you have to be careful which one you are working on as they will not stay in synch without additional effort on your part. If you are satisfied with Elements 2023 and buy it, I recommend only working with the new catalog. However, you may find it worthwhile to keep the older version installed since many users prefer its slideshow feature rather than the new one. There are also one or two features that have been removed from the Elements Editor since version 10, and you may wonder what happened to them.

If you have more than one Elements 10 catalog, Elements 2023 will only convert automatically, the one that was last used in the older version. You can convert the other catalogs using the File>Manage Catalogs>Convert tool. If you restore the original photos in the same hierarchy on the new computer as on the old, then it should work OK for you to copy the Catalogs folder over. The old catalogs will show up in the Convert dialog and can be converted. See my post here for some additional details.

J

Jim50Author

Known Participant

Greg, you have provided me with a wealth of informations Thank you for all your work in the Community to help users address these issues.
After reading your information, I am thinking that if I can just get v10 working on the new computer, it will be a major accomplishment. I will defer v2023 to a much later date.
My hope had been that if I copied my photo libraries from the old computer to the new (using a direct link) and maintained the same file structure, as well as copy the contents of the ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs\ to the same location in the new computer, the v10 program would have been happy to use them. My photo library contains about 50,000 photos in over 2000 folders, Most of the photos are in the v10 catalog, but not all. Thus, restoring photos from a tly backup file will become a complicated process as I also restore photos that are not in the v10 catalog. The time it will take to move this data around (I will need to buy an external drive for this) is likely to be considerable.
Would it make sense to try my plan or is there a high probability it is destined to fail?
Oh, and one other question, when I try to install the v10 program from the install CDs, will I run into a roadblock with Adobe on having already used the serial number on the old computer?
Thanks for your thoughts, Greg.

-jim

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