Copy catalog into catalog on another computer

[JenniferJ]

I have Photoshop elements 2018, and  run on Windows 10 on my desktop computer.  I am thinking about getting a laptop for travel that will have my second activation (assume it meets system requirements and has Windows10).  The idea, is each day I would upload images to the laptop and do my first pass at with the Organizer . What I want to be able to do is move files with the keyword tagging, captions, star ratings and editing to my main catolog on my desktop when I get home.  Is this possiable? What would it take? (cable, flash drive ??)? Thank you

[John Waller]

Moved from Community Help forum.

[Greg_S.]

What you are seeking to do is not quite possible.  You will have separate catalogs on each computer.  However, you will be able to transfer the files from your laptop to your desktop (or to a network connected drive) and then import the files into your desktop catalog.  But first, you must write the metadata to the files on your laptop by selecting the files and hitting Ctrl+W.

When you then import the new files into your desktop computer, you will be given the opportunity to transfer the keyword tags etc. to that catalog.

You will not be able to transfer facial recognition People tags.  However, there are easy workarounds for this if you are interested.  Your best bet is probably to wait until you get home to perform any facial recongition. 

I'm also not sure if captions will be transferred to the catalog, but if you write the metadata to the file, it should be easy to find.

[MichelBParis]

Here is what you have to do:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/backup-restore-move-catalog-photoshop.html

The usual way is to create a full backup on an external USB drive and to restore on your target computer (or disk drive).

[Greg_S.]

Michel's suggestion is what you should do if you want to transfer the entire catalog between computers to keep a single catalog in synch.  However, each time you use your laptop to download your travel files, you will have to load it up with the catalog on your desktop.  This is certainly doable if you have a small catalog.  But if you have a large catalog, it may take a lot of time. 

[MichelBParis]

Technically, what you are after is what is available in Lightroom Classic. You can create a temporary catalog on the laptop and add all needed advanced tagging and organizing. Then you can merge the catalogs when getting home. Note that in Lightroom, moving and merging catalogs does not move the media files... Merging catalogs is not available in PSE and I believe it will never be.

So you are left with two or three solutions:

- 1 - the backup and restore solution

- 2 - the solution to 'import' files after adding tags and captions, then writing metadata to tags. You won't recover stacks, albums or version sets (very annoying if you shoot raw or create edited versions)

- 3 - Consider doing like me and many others: simply store your catalog and media files on an external drive which you plug in alternatively to each computer. It's easy to do a full backup once and to restore on a final USB drive. The performance is absolutely ok for me with an USB3 connexion.

The solution 1 is perfectly ok if it's not a daily task, for instance a travel away for a few weeks.

Solution 2 in my view is easy ok if you only want to organize (tags and captions) but you don't want to create version sets nor albums.

I have chosen solution 3 ...