Re-connecting albums with photos after re-installing PSE 2019

[donsnikon]

Recently, it was necessary to re-install the Windows 10 OS,  followed by re-installing all of the apps which once lived on my desktop.  PSE 2019 re-installed okay and appears to be working.  BUT, there is no longer a list of the albums I laboriously organized over the years, though all of my photos appear to be there.  So, how do I re-install the Albums?  Must I manually and laboriously repeat the compilation I once had?  Or is there a better way to make the Album names magically re-appear in the Organizer workspace?

Thank you for any pertinent suggestions you might have.

Don Neilson

San Diego

[Greg_S.]

Have you tried opening the catalog where all of your old albums are stored?  If you maintained your catalog in the default location, it should be found here:  C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs.  

Or did you reformat your drive in order to install Windows? 

[donsnikon]

The albums have always been stored wherever PSE put them, so I looked for them where you suggested. This is what I found using File Explorer: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Elemements 2019 Orgnizer\   There are many choices following, but Catalog is not one of them. I poked around some more, but could not find Catalog. I wonder if I should "drill down" farther.

Because I am nearly computer illiterate, I usually take my machine to the shop when it baffles me. Such was the case this time. I will call them tomorrow to ask the question, though all I heard the tech say was that he would re-install the OS after first backing up the computor. To my mind that does not include re-formatting.

[Greg_S.]

I'm afraid you looked in the wrong folder (but it may not have been your fault).  You need to go to the program data folder, not the program files folder.  It may be that the folder is hidden.  If this is the case, you need to unhide it. In Windows File Explorer, click on the View tab and check the Hidden Items box. 

Once you do this, the Program Data folder should appear on your C drive.  Try looking again.  If you do not find the catalog file then follow the rest of my explanation:

Elements stores your Albums in a catalog database which is displayed in the Organizer.  Therefore, you need to find the catalog that was in use before Windows was reinstalled on your machine.  Since you say your computer shop backed up your computer, I'm sure it is still available.  However, we need to know where the backed up files are stored.

I suspect that the shop did in fact reformat your OS drive before installing Windows.  So, do you know whether the backed up files were restored?  Are they on an external drive, or were they restored to their original location?

Assuming that the backed up files are available somewhere on your computer e.g. in the original location, on a separate internal drive or perhaps on an external drive, the easiest way to find the catalog will be to do a search in File Explorer for a file called catalog.pse17db.  You should search the entire PC.  Once you find the file, double-click on it, and the catalog should open with all of your Albums intact.

[donsnikon]

Thank you, Greg. This is encouraging, though I am too tired to think clearly tonight. I will resume the effort in the mornig.