Installation of PS 2020 on top of PS 2014

[jean-yvesr77231667]

Just purchase PS 2020. I have benn running  PS 2014 for years. Do I have to remove 2014 before installing 2020? What happens to the catalog?

thanks

[Peru Bob]

Each version is independent and has its own catalog.  You can have more than one version installed.

I don't use the Organizer, but see here:

https://www.digitalscrapper.com/blog/new-organizer/

"The first time you open the upgraded version of the Organizer it will ask you if you want to port over your old catalog to the new one. Say yes! This will import all your photos, files, and tags. If you say no, you will have to manually import your files, which isn’t the end of the world, but it will probably take a little while, depending on how many files you have."

[MichelBParis · Accepted solution]

Some more information about catalogs:

Yes, for each new Elements version, the format of the catalog version is slightly changed to take into account new features. A format conversion is necessary and it is prompted automatically as explained in the previous post by Peru_Bob. If you skip that conversion, it's never too late to start it manually afterwards when you are ready. The old catalog is kept and stays available for the old PSE version, a new one is created with the same name while the old catalog is renamed with a -1 suffix. The renamed old catalog works automatically with the old PSE version if you want.

It's a very bad idea to 'import' your files into a new catalog instead of converting.

- it's much longer to process

- You only recover tags if you have previously 'written metadata to files'

- You never recover stacks, version sets, creations or albums even if you recover tags, captions and ratings.

[Greg_S.]

MichelBParis said:

The old catalog is kept and stays available for the old PSE version, a new one is created with the same name while the old catalog is renamed with a -1 suffix. The renamed old catalog works automatically with the old PSE version if you want.

It's not quite automatic.  Because the catalog has been renamed as Michel says, the next time you open the old version of Elements, it will tell you that it can't find the catalog.  You have to go to the Catalog Manager to find the renamed catalog and open it.

[MichelBParis]

It's not quite automatic.  Because the catalog has been renamed as Michel says, the next time you open the old version of Elements, it will tell you that it can't find the catalog.  You have to go to the Catalog Manager to find the renamed catalog and open it.

Greg,

Can you check that?

The renamed old catalog has always been available for me without searching. Could you suggest a workflow to test that?

[Greg_S.]

Michel, I have conducted a couple of tests but have been unable to reproduce the issue.  So, evidently, I was wrong about the current default behavior.  I convert catalogs many times a year for testing purposes, and I assure you that over the past few years, I have had to search for a converted catalog when opening a version from which the original catalog was converted.  I will keep any eye out for this in the future.  Thanks for correcting my misinformation.

[MichelBParis]

Greg,

My problem is that I don't know exactly how the renamed catalog can be opened by the old organizer version without having to search. There must be a special update in the old catalog, perhaps an update of the 'last opened catalog' which takes place after the renaming. I am not surprised that you really met situations in which that did not work.

We have enough mysteries with things that don't work as expected, I don't think it's worth wasting our time for things wich work mysteriously!

[jean-yvesr77231667]

Thnak you very much for the tip to convert instead of import. Just completed the process and it worked like a charm. All my tags are still there.

To help others, here are the steps I followed:

-Install PS2020.

-Exit PS2020

-Start PS2014, File, Manage  Catalog, Full backup (just in case I have to back track in the Process)

-Locate path for Catalog using File Manager (Just in case it is difficult to retrieve later)

-Exit PS2014

-Start PS2020, Organizer

-File Manage Catalog. It did showed the PS2014 Catalog under Custom Catalog witout having to browse forr (???)

-Convert Catalog, Success. Also displayed a message saying that the old Catalog had been renamed from xyz to xyz 2. However I cannot locate this file using File Manager. Not a big deal for me since PS2020 Organizer has all my pictures with relevant tags.

-Currently backing up the PS2020 Catalog.Will keep looking for the old Catalog and report any findings.

Thanks again for your tips guys. I guess it saves me a lot of troubles.

P.S. Although I purchase PS2020, I don't see any indication of it in the directory structure. I see all my previous versions, and this one shows as 18.0. Adobe selling 18.0 as 20.0??

[Tailwind9]

I've noticed several statements in this thread suggesting a search for the proper catalog file.  I've just been through this exercise after installing PSE-20 and finally found the catalogs in what appears to be the Adobe default directory of "C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs".  Within that directory is a file structure with the same name as is shown in the "Catalog Manager" pane in PSE, i.e. Primary Catalog, My Catalog, etc.  If you have used more than one catalog in previous versions of PSE and wish to convert them to your current version you can use the "Catalog Manager" to search for them in the above mentioned directory.  Of course, if you have created catalogs in directories other than the default you'll have to either remember where they are or search for them using the filename that appears in Catalog Manager.

[MichelBParis]

"P.S. Although I purchase PS2020, I don't see any indication of it in the directory structure. I see all my previous versions, and this one shows as 18.0. Adobe selling 18.0 as 20.0??"

Yes, the Adobe marketing department has decided to rename the various versions of PS, LR and PSE based on the year.

If you look at the menu system information you find that:

PSE15 is version 15

PSE2018 is version 16

PSE2019 is version 17

PSE2020 is version 18.