Pictures directory a mess after using PSE Organizer!!

[fotografffic]

I organized photos in Photoshop Elements Organizer 2018 in Tree View.

Then I checked my Pictures directory (Windows 10) and it is an absolute mess!!!!!!!! I had about 30 folders (not counting subfolders) before using Organizer. Now there are 314 folders!!! I've used a few other organizers before and when I changed something in the organizer, the same changes took place in the Pictures directory (eg. moving, renaming)...and visa versa,

Questions: Why did this happen, and what can I do? Is it a glitch? What am I missing? If I reorganize everything in the Pictures directory, which will take hours, what can I expect to happen in Organizer?

What a mess!!!!

[MichelBParis]

fotografffic  wrote

Yesterday, Organizer duplicated a subfolder that appeared in my Pictures folder. At least it made only one and not close to 300!

Another strange folder appeared: PictIQ. I assume, maybe erroneously, that it was created by Organizer?

Never seen such a folder in Elements context.

A Google search shows this:

W10 - I delete duplicate photos & they all reappear: PC Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Do you or did you use the Google Photos App with syncing enabled?

[fotografffic]

Forgot about that thread, but remember reading it.

Do you or did you use the Google Photos App with syncing enabled?

I have Google photos on my smartphone, but not my notebook. I'm wondering if it's a remnant from when I made some a few collages in Picasa (I only use it for collages). Or maybe from the trial versions of other editing software I tried (Affinity; PS Pro 2108). I deleted it but recall a number of photos in it (however, none related to the collages).

I'll assume it's harmless.

[fotografffic]

I don't mean to belabor the point, but I've started using only organizer for several weeks to access and order my Pictures folder; and make stacks.

I reset Windows today and am starting from scratch reinstalling programs, files and photos.

Before I did the Windows reset and backed up my photos I checked some of the folders in Pictures. It appears that Organizer has changed the original names of subfolders to numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. This doesn't occur in every folder but enough to make me concerned. So I no longer know the contents of certain subfolders without opening each one.

Is this a common occurrence and, if so, how do I prevent it. I'm about to install PSE and wondering if I should continue to use Organizer. While I won't rule our user error, I really don't think it is unless I'm not supposed to move photos around in Organizer. To me, it's been acting strange from the get go but, then again, whatever caused problems to my OS could cause PSE Problems, or could it be the other way around?

As an aside, I backed up the catalog but I'm not going to use it to prevent related errors. I'll start from scratch. I think I'm going to install Organizer first before I let it import any photos so I can shut off things like face recognition. I'm not planning to put any photos in the my Pictures folder yet to mimimize possible problems.

Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks again.

[MichelBParis]

fotografffic  wrote

Before I did the Windows reset and backed up my photos I checked some of the folders in Pictures. It appears that Organizer has changed the original names of subfolders to numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. This doesn't occur in every folder but enough to make me concerned. So I no longer know the contents of certain subfolders without opening each one.

Is this a common occurrence and, if so, how do I prevent it. I'm about to install PSE and wondering if I should continue to use Organizer.

My opinion is that there is no way that the organizer could have renamed your folders. As discussed previously, the only feature which can create folder names (not change them) is the advanced downloader feature allowing creating a hierarchy of date based subfolders when importing from camera or card reader.

As an aside, I backed up the catalog

Good, but how did you backup? From an external tool, from the  Explorer... or from the Backup feature of the organizer? Did you backup both your photo files library and your catalog folder?

If you have used the organizer feature, both are saved and ready to be restored where you want... but with the same present folder tree structure, which does not solve your problem.

I'll start from scratch. I think I'm going to install Organizer first before I let it import any photos so I can shut off things like face recognition

Yes.

I'll start from scratch. I think I'm going to install Organizer first before I let it import any photos so I can shut off things like face recognition

I never put my photo files in the 'Pictures' folder. I create a new master folder like 'My_ photos' with all due permissions. Preferably on a different partition or drive.

How are you going to import 'from scratch'?

You don't import from cards, so you have to import from files and folders. Getting files means simply 'indexing' the present location and contents of your files. Will you copy the backup files somewhere before importing?

What kind of folder structure do you want? By Events, by Date, by subjects?

The most used structure used with catalogs in the Organizer like in Lightroom is a simple date-based structure, since you can organize your tags and tags categories according to several different ways, and change the organization easily.

[fotografffic]

My opinion is that there is no way that the organizer could have renamed your folders. As discussed previously, the only feature which can create folder names (not change them) is the advanced downloader feature allowing creating a hierarchy of date based subfolders when importing from camera or card reader.

Something did. I have no idea why but I've spent several hours a day for the past week+ getting my photos back in order. Deleting 200+ subfolders that were duplicated; removing duplicate photos, changing file names it. Maybe Organizer was corrupted. Remember, I had to ask Adobe to remotely uninstall and reinstall it. In sorting through my images, I turned on the See Hidden Files setting and deleted all files associated with Canon ZoomBrowser and Picasa. I don't intend to reinstall either program.

Good, but how did you backup? From an external tool, from the  Explorer... or from the Backup feature of the organizer? Did you backup both your photo files library and your catalog folder?

I backed up using Organizer. I've pretty much decided that I'm not going to use the backup in case it's been corrupted. IF, and it's a big IF at this time, I use the Organizer, I'm going to start from scratch. I've been researching these problems the best I can, and some have said they just use Elements and not the Organizer.

How are you going to import 'from scratch'?

All the photos and folders I'm rehabilitating are in a directory on my desktop; not in the Pictures folder. I've shut just about everything auto off in Organizer (eg Face recognition, key words, tags).

Will you copy the backup files somewhere before importing?

After I clean up my image photos and files (and back them up to an external drive), I was going to put them back into My Pictures and "Import (via Organizer) From Files and Folders."

What kind of folder structure do you want? By Events, by Date, by subjects?

Date and subject. My main directories are labeled by year: 2010, 2011, 2012, etc.

The most used structure used with catalogs in the Organizer like in Lightroom is a simple date-based structure, since you can organize your tags and tags categories according to several different ways, and change the organization easily.

I've never used tags and don't know if I'm going to begin doing so. The only thing I've done is rated photos (stars).

Because of my age and limitations in movement, I don't take many photos any more. All I want to do is edit my photos after deleting the "bad" ones, and be able to locate images. Media view and the View modes are sufficient for that task.

[fotografffic]

Now that I have my photo files and folders corrected, and backed up to an external drive, here's what I plan to do.

1. Import all of them into Organizer using Import from Files and Folders.
2. I have every auto setting turned off such as face recognition, auto curate, smart tags. Everything else is set to Manual where permitted in the Preferences Menu.
3. When I take a new batch of photos, I will click and drag the folder from my SD card to the desktop. I will scroll through the images and delete the ones I don't want.
4. Next, I will rename then put the new folder and it's contents in the my Pictures directory, and import to Organizer as mentioned in item 1.
5. I will view the photos in Organizer, and edit in PSE from there.

Does everything sound right?

A few questions: is it okay to move, rename and make new folders, and to move photos around in the Organizer? If so, will the changes be reflected in the my Pictures directory including file and folder locations and new names? Should I expect any remnants to be created (eg. empty folders; changed file names).

After resetting my computer and a fresh install of PSE, I trust everything will work smoothly.

[MichelBParis]

fotografffic  wrote

Now that I have my photo files and folders corrected, and backed up to an external drive, here's what I plan to do.

1. Import all of them into Organizer using Import from Files and Folders.

Ok

1. I have every auto setting turned off such as face recognition, auto curate, smart tags. Everything else is set to Manual where permitted in the Preferences Menu.

Yes, and you can disable 'watched folders' in the File menu too.

1. When I take a new batch of photos, I will click and drag the folder from my SD card to the desktop. I will scroll through the images and delete the ones I don't want.

Yes, that's a common workflow. Files are download outside the organizer via your OS or some other apps (for instance FastStone viewer or similar, Bridge...). Many users find it faster to select and cull images with external browsers.

However using the downloader in the Organizer has an advantage: it can display .psd files thumbnails (the Windows Explorer can't) and the raw files thumbnails once the files are downloaded. Another advantage is that users who decide to automatically download into a simple date-based structure (YYYY MM DD for me) don't have to move anything from a temporary import batch folder to a final one. Worth mentioning even if that's not your choice. Many users don't like to have to import everything in the catalog before culling the reject images, so using the downloader or not will depend on your own choices.

Another important criteria is to avoid duplicates when importing from your camera and card reader. If you wipe out your card after each shooting session, no problem. If you don't, the downloader will check if you already have the same files in the card and in the current catalog and only import new files.

1. Next, I will rename then put the new folder and it's contents in the my Pictures directory, and import to Organizer as mentioned in item 1.
2. I will view the photos in Organizer, and edit in PSE from there.

Does everything sound right?

Absolutely.

Just a note about renaming: the downloader has an advanced option to rename the files according to various templates, date, original name, camera identifier... But there is no automatic way to insert a bit of caption to identify a file by event or your own category.

Also, renaming may be important for users relying on a descriptive folders tree, but most users who rely on the tags and categories hierarchy and who tag and caption their files don't need it (like me).

A few questions: is it okay to move, rename and make new folders, and to move photos around in the Organizer? If so, will the changes be reflected in the my Pictures directory including file and folder locations and new names?

That works like this: the tree view of folders is very similar to the one in the Explorer. You can:

- use only the left panel to drag and drop to move folders with their subfolders to another folder or even other drive

- use the move tool (menu or right click contextual menu) in the thumbnails space to move files to given folders.

The organizer first calls the same routines (APIs) as the explorer to do the moving job in the drives. Same result... with same constraints, as you can't have similar file names in the destination folder. To overcome that OS restriction, the files will be renamed with a -1 suffix or you'll get a message telling you that the OS does not accept the move (same as when you move directly within the explorer). So keep in mind of that before moving things. Same OS restriction to renaming a folder to an already existing name under the same master folder.

Then, it updates the data in the catalog.

So, nothing really different from managing in the explorer only.

Note that if you move a folder from the explorer (outside of the organizer) or if you move it from the organizer in another catalog, the result will be 'missing' / 'disconnected' files. But for a single such operation, the 'reconnect' option of the organizer works fast and ok.

Should I expect any remnants to be created (eg. empty folders; changed file names).

If you move all files from folder A to folder B, folder A will stay empty...

Changed file names: no at that stage. Suffix added to avoid duplicates, possible at download.

After resetting my computer and a fresh install of PSE, I trust everything will work smoothly.

Yes, waiting for your feedback.

[Don26812]

This is probably way too late and not useful at this point given the length and actions undertaken during the months of activity on this thread. But I strongly suspect that somewhere along the way the Cardinal Rules of using the Organizer have been broken.

Cardinal Rules: Once an image has been imported into the Catalog using the Organizer, you must not MOVE, RENAME, or DELETE the file, unless you use the applicable Organizer command.

That is, you must not use Windows Explorer or the Mac File finder, Picasa, or any other similar program, or you will disconnect the photos in the Organizer. Like a library's card catalog, the Organizer's Catalog does not contain the photos, only pointers to which folder contains them.

From what I saw in the original post, it appears that initially the Cardinal Rule was not broken, because Tree Size Folders view was used. But here is what might have caused the problem. It is possible that while dragging/dropping images, figure/mouse coordination issues have  caused duplicates to be created somehow. Similar things have happened to me when I try to drag/drop in Windows Explorer.

I always use the Organizer's File > Move command when I reorganize physical locations. Slower, but for me far safer.

Also with all of the other actions tried throughout this long thread, I would not be surprised at all if the Cardinal rule was not broken somewhere along the way.

FWIW

https://don26812.wordpress.com/