PSE 2020 Camera Raw overwrites my original photos

[Amma963]

I have  PSE 2020 on an HP Laptop running Windows 10 64 --- I bought a course to learn to edit using Camera Raw in PSE 2020 but find Camera Raw overwrites the original photo destroying my ability to ever use the original photo in a different way - I can "see" the original photo with a Windows Photo Viewer but when I try to open the original photo in PSE 2020 Editor (not Camera Raw), it will only open in Camera Raw and it will only be the edited version of the photo that I edited in Camera Raw and had saved with a different name - It also shows the unedited photo name under the edited photo not the "Save As" name I gave the Camera Raw edited version.  Do I have something set wrong in PSE 2020 or PSE Camera Raw causing the overwriting?  This is not happening to others in the class that are using PSE 2020.  I want to definitely keep my unedited original photos and want to be able to open them in PSE Editor NOT Camera Raw as unedited  photos!  Why?  Because I want be able to open the original and edit it another way (crop differently or use other options) but the Camera Raw photos edits deny me the ability to "start over from scratch".   

[MichelBParis]

Just to be sure, are you editing raw pictures or jpegs?

Your description correspnds to the second case.

Raw files can't be overwritten. Editing in a conversion software like Adobe Camera Raw means saving the edit parameters (the slider settings) as small sidecar xmp sidecar files.

With jpegs (or tiffs, psds...) those settings are saved in the metadata header of the files without overwriting anything from the pixels values.

So, what happens when you use ACR to edit a jpeg? You have the choice to use either the 'Done' button or the 'Open' one. Both options do write your edit settings in the metadata header of the file, which means the file itself is 'overwritten' without changing anything to the pixels.

Let's start with the 'Done' option which is the simple parametric edit enabling you to change or to completely ignore the previous edits. If you open a jpeg you have already edited in ACR (from the editor or the organizer) it will automatically open in the ACR plugin, where you have the choice to ignore the previous edits. If you edit in any other third party editor, it will open ignoring the ACR settings.

Now, if you you click 'Open', the settings are saved as above, then the converted result is opened in the normal pixel editor of Elements. You can further edit, print or 'save as' in any photo format of your choice, which requires creating a new copy or version set (with a new name).

To get back to the original unedited version, click on 'Default' beside 'Auto' on top of the main sliders. That sets all your sliders in the midlle position.

[Amma963]

Thank you for your quick response and help!  Yes, I'm editing JPG (or PNG, TIF, PSD, any file format used for digital scrapbooking).  If I understand your instructions, only the slider settings can be reset to the "original" photo - but what I want to do is be able to open the original JPG photo (or any other file format) in PSE 2020 EDITOR as if I had never done anything to the photo/file - ever. 

Following your instructions as I understood them:  I tried editing AND cropping a JPG photo then chose OPEN IMAGE and added type to the photo in PSE Editor.  I then chose FILE>SAVE AS, navigated to a new file folder and saved the edited JPG with a different name. 

Then, I opened PSE 2020 Editor, chose FILE>OPEN navigated to the original photo and clicked OPEN - it opened in PSE 2020 Camera Raw with the slider edits and the crop edits but without the type I added in PSE 2020 Editor.  I clicked on DEFAULT and the slider edits were, seemingly, removed - but the photo was still cropped so not all of the Adobe Camera Raw edits were reversed.  And, because of that, I do not have access to the original, totally unedited photo.  

My goal is to be able to edit a JPG (or any file format ACR handles) but ALWAYS be able to open the original completely unedited file - like it came out of the camera (or off the web, etc.).  If this is not an option in PSE 2020 or even PSE 2021 (getting that for Christmas) if I use Camera Raw to edit, I will not be able to use Camera Raw at all.  I simply cannot justify limiting myself to edits I make as I learn to use photo editing software to digital scrapbook.  I'm just not good enough to destroy the original then learn "what I should have done" - or find out my monitor was not WYSIWYG.  

Could my PSE 2020, PSE Editor or PSE 2020 Camera Raw program settings be out of whack?  I do notice that "Save image settings in: Sidecar .xmp files" and "Apply sharpening to: All images" are the default settings for the PSE 2020 Camera Raw - non of the other options are checked.

Thank you, again, for trying to help.

[MichelBParis]

I am afraid you'll have to realize that the ACR plugin can't do what no other editing software can do:  keep the original state and all detailed edits you have made in a pixel editor like the one in Elements.

The ACR plugin or Lightroom do offer the parametric editing mentioned above for the changes they have made themselves, including cropping. But it does not work on layered files like psd or tiff, it does work on a 'flattened' version of those layered files. That will never save the layers, that will never save text, shapes or vector layers.

So, since your purpose is to work on scrapbooking, forget the ACR plugin for a moment.

As stated above:

"what no other editing software can do:  keep the original state and all detailed edits you have made in a pixel editor like the one in Elements."

So, what are scrapbookers doing themselves to keep the original files and to save as much of the editing stages of layered file? That's what should be made clear in tutorials. Here are a few tips.

- Always keep your original files without overwriting them.

- create 'versions sets' to keep your various tries

- Save your components (assets) in projects, in albums and/or tag them according to your purpose

- With layered files (tiff or psd) be sure to give the layers descriptive names

- keep intermediate layers for the different editing stages. You can hide them just to keep a record of those stages.

- If you edit original single jpegs, keep the background layer unchanged and save your edits in a layered, non destructive format like tiff or psd.