HEIF support on Photoshop Elements 2020 for Mac

[adriangriff]

I have been using PE for many years and it's only limitation for me in recent years was it's lack of ability to recognise our iPhone pictures in HEIF format. I have upgraded to the PE 2020  because it is advertised as now recognising HEIF. So what am I doing wrong? When I try to set up Photos Library.photoslibrary as a folder to search on my Mac, PE2020 doesn't recognise it and it is grayed out.

(I am aware that there are a number of apps out there to convert HEIF to JPEG, but I would like the direct access to HEIF now being advertised.)

Any Mac users experiencing the same problem as me?

[adriangriff]

UPDATE

I have discovered that if the photos within Photos Library.photoslibrary are copied/exported to any other folder or attached device then PE2020 will "see" them and import and edit without any problems.

I have asked Adobe Support for advice on accessing Photos Library.photoslibrary directly from within Organizer.

[99jon]

You can’t reference the same files in both Organizer and the Apple Photos app without corrupting the Library. Apple has designed things so that you are able to revert to an original. That would not be possible if you start editing files with a third party application.

What I do is to connect my iPhone to the computer with a USB lead and copy the HEIC files into new folders and then import into Organizer.

On my iOS device I had to change a preference setting.   

Go to: Settings >> Photos >> Transfer to Mac or PC

Choose “Keep Originals”

This was previously set to automatic which results in conversion to jpeg. But after changing this phone setting files remain as HEIC.

[adriangriff]

Thank you, that clarifies things. At least I now understand why PE Organizer can't gain direct access to the Apple Library.

I have effectively done the same as you by exporting selected photos to an external drive and then importing into Organizer. 

Thanks!