viewing saved images

One other suggestion I have for you is to use the Elements Organizer to view your photos and send them to the Editor for editing.  Obviously, the Organizer allows you to view all formats of images and once you edit a photo in the Editor, the edited photo can be automatically imported into the Organizer.  You can arrange things so that only the edited photo appears in view, but you always have the option to open the unedited version which will appear below the edited version in what is called a version set.

I make this suggestion because your current workflow, copying files to a memory stick in order to edit them, has many opportunities for something to go wrong.

Sorry, I didn't see your other response and questions when posting my last reply.  So, let me add the following.

John said:

When the memory stick opens in Photos on my laptop, if I start to view the images, a JPG or NEF file will open with no problem, whereas it will skip past an XMP or 'Adobe photoshop elements image' and move on to the next JPG or NEF.

An XMP file is not an image file.  It is what is known as a "sidecar" file.  Your NEF files are raw images  that do not change when you edit the file in an editor.  Any editing changes are contained in the XMP sidecar file which will have the same name as the raw NEF file.  In order to view the edited image you need to open the NEF file in an editor that can read the file together with the changes made in the editor.  (I don't know whether the Windows Photos app, which is what I assume you are referring to, can read the XMP file.)  Elements will actually open the raw NEF file in the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) plug-in.  You can make your edits in the ACR and save them from there, or else open the raw image in the main Photoshop Elements Editor.

I believe the Adobe photoshop elements image is actually the name given by Windows to an Adobe PSD file.  All files are converted to the PSD format when they are opened in the Editor.  When the edited file is saved, it will be saved in a format that you can choose - either the original format, a new format or the PSD format.  All of the options are available in the File>Save or Save As dialogs.  I may be wrong, but I don't think the Windows Photos app can view a PSD file - I can't check this right now.

John said:

I think the key to this, is to save evErything as JPG or NEF ? and if so how /where do I select this option after editing?

In the Save or Save As dialog, you can select your desired format by choosing from the Save as type dropdown menu:

I also recommend that you save your edited files as a copy of the original.  There is a checkbox for that and the file will be automatically renamed.

OK, now I understand your problem.  Windows 10 does not provide a file viewer for PSD files.  The only way you can see a thumbnail of them is to use an add-on file viewer.  I use a free utility called SageThumbs.  I have not had any problems using it on a Win 10 machine, but I have seen some old complaints about it.  So, use it at your own discretion. 

When you say, "The only way I can actually view the edited picture is to open PSE," are you talking about the Elements Organizer?  If so, if you look in the information panel on the right hand side of the Organizer, you will find a link to where the edited file is actually stored on your computer.  I suspect that the edited file has not been stored on your memory stick.

When you save (Save>as) after editing in PSE, what is the file type (JPEG, PNG, PSD)?

I assume that you are saving the edited picture files initially on your hard drive, then  backing up on the thumb drive.

Are you on Windows or Mac?