Windows 10 Creators update - lost album structure

Report · Jun 11, 2017

Please help - I have lost the album structure after this latest update and now have thousands of photos in the Organizer but not in their albums. Do I really have to start all over again? Sorry if this is basic but I really have very limited IT understanding. Thanks in advance.

Report · Jun 11, 2017

martinlane wrote
Please help - I have lost the album structure after this latest update and now have thousands of photos in the Organizer but not in their albums. Do I really have to start all over again? Sorry if this is basic but I really have very limited IT understanding. Thanks in advance.

What is your Elements version? The current one is PSE15.

A Windows Creator update can create unwanted results, especially for for certain functions of older versions, but it should not change anything to your image folder tree nor to your catalogs.

Your images are certainly on the same location as before and your catalog folder (which does not contain any image file, only a database to index them) should be unchanged.

You ask about 'albums'. In the Organizer, albums are just lists of file (just like playlists for audio files) stored in your catalog.

Do you mean you can use the organizer (tags, captions etc) but you can't see the 'albums' tree?

Report · Jun 11, 2017

I am using PSE 14. Yes, I can use the Organizer but can't see the Albums tree. Not sure if these are "lost forever" or if there is a way to restore them?

Report · Jun 11, 2017

martinlane wrote
I am using PSE 14. Yes, I can use the Organizer but can't see the Albums tree. Not sure if these are "lost forever" or if there is a way to restore them?

If the other functions of the organizer do work, I can't imagine that an OS update deleted the albums. The organizer would not work at all.

It's possible there has been a change in the preferences of the Organizer.

You can use the menu Edit >> Preferences >> General, and click the button to reset default settings.

Do you get a message when you select albums rather than folders?

A screenshot may help.

Report · Dec 30, 2017

Screenshot below. There's no message when I select albums, just nothing there apart from a new recently created one. My whole album structure seems to have been replaced by a folder tree.