Can’t reconnect missing files in pse11 after importing photos from downloads.

[beth1017]

• Hi MichelbParis you’ve helped me in the past!

I have pse11 and only use it and this pc for the organizer. On May 17 I had to email about 40 pics to myself and put them into the download folder then bring into organizer because for some reason organizer wasn’t picking up pics from my iPhone. My daughter had me move pics from download folder into “my pictures” folder in Windows.i just looked and the 38 pics are in the windows “download” folder and didn’t get moved to pictures as I thought.  Today I went to do an incremental backup and now 6744 photos seem to be disconnected. When I search for them in windows file folder “pictures” I can “see/find”  them by IMG_ number but not connected to the photos in organizer. And I can’t save  metadata because of this. 

I saw the empty downloads folder at bottom of  folder tree with a pictures folder underneath it  which seems to have 2744 items in it. I moved the 40 photos I downloaded on 5/17 from picture folder  back to the empty download folder above it.  Still disconnected images.  Can I restore the catalog to the day before we imported those images?  I reconnected some images but the disconnected photos were all connected last month and have been in organizer and tagged for years. I didn’t move any media files last month at least knowingly. 

The only thing that occurred at the same time as working in photoshop organizer on 5/17 was my pc was updated. I primarily use the pc for photo organization and am not tech savvy. My daughter has a MAC so no help there! Help

Dont want to do the incremental backup until this is resolved and then I think I need something easier for me to use. Any suggestions. Thanks 

[Bob_Ganz]

Hi beth1017. I perhaps don't have the expertise that MichelbParis has but I'll do my best. But before I do, you mentioned 'Photoshop Organizer'. I am not familiar with the 'real' Photoshop so I don't know if it has it's own organizer. Do you mean Elements Organizer (EO)? The following assumes that you are referring to EO.

I don't completely understand the steps you have taken but bottom line is that it seems like you have a bunch of pics that aren't showing up in EO. I would guess that the ones that aren't showing up were moved outside of Elements but frankly I don't understand why, so as a start, lets get you back to where you were on 5/17. Since you talk about restoring your old catalog, I assume you have a copy or backup of that older catalog that wasn't created as part of the Elements backup process. If that is all true, I think that going back to your last catalog is a good first step.

Following are the detailed steps I suggest.

1. From within EO, go to Files > Manage Catalogs and rename your current catalog. For the purpose of this exercise I'll name it 'Current Working Catalog before Restore'. This will insure that if you and I mess up, you can easily go back.
2. Using File Explorer, move the 40 pics you downloaded 5/17 to a single folder. The easiest place to move them would be to their final resting place but my own personal process is to move them to a temporary, empty folder for reasons I can explain if you are interested.
3. Restore your previous catalog to your catalog folder. Don't use the EO restore - use whatever app you originally used to backup or copy the 5/17 catalog. Be sure that you copy or restore all of the subdirectories and files from the previous catalog. For the purposes of this discussion, I'll call the catalog folder 'Restored Catalog'.
4. Start EO and open 'Restored Catalog'
5. Check for missing files. There should be none. If there are still a bunch, stop here and lets discuss further.
6. Import the 40 files from the location you put them in.

It is easy to create 'missing files' if you do a lot of file work outside of EO. Personally, I think EO's file and folder capabilities need a significant overhaul but as a general suggestion, I recommend that for a file or folder that has already been imported into EO, you never move it outside of EO. If you do, it becomes a missing file as far as EO is concerned.

Let me know how this works. I am perplexed as to how all of those files somehow got 'lost' by EO but going back to the earlier version of your catalog should take care of that. If you inadvertently moved them outside of EO, they will still show up as missing but lets try the easy possible fix first and see if it works.

Bob

[beth1017]

Hi Bob-

sorry yes it’s Photoshop  Elements 11 organizer. I did a full backup on an external HD in 2016. Two subsequent incremental backups in 2017 and 2018. Those are the total backups I have all on the one external hard drive.  There have been no disconnected files until today when I went to do another incremental back up. I don’t delete any photos outside of photoshop! I learned the hard way years ago. Two weeks ago I downloaded the 40 photos into the download folder on my pc. My daughter dragged and dropped them into elements and they’re all there.  I went into Organizer today and found any untagged photos and tagged them all. Then when I clicked to backup catalog that’s when all these photos showed up disconnected. Is that clearer? So I’m not sure what you’ve told me to do still applies or if I’ll do more damage. I know all my images are on the computer because I just went thru every folder to find any pics and make it easy to find them outside of PSE11 in case I have to start over and just not use organizer anymore. I’ve been using it since version PSE4. Yes it needs an overhaul! Thanks