paul_mcclure

2 Messages

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80 Points

Tue, Aug 16, 2011 4:34 PM

Elements Organizer: Images and Tags missing

HEY what's up with backing up my files to your Online Storage from my Organizer and then removing all those files and tags from my Organizer? Either that or your PSE 9 update that I installed yestrday basically reformatted my Organizer and I now have to start over. I literally spent hundreds and hundreds of hours spent organizing my photos, tags, and grading my photos in Photoshop Elements 9 and one update wiped it all out in a matter of minutes. Not cool, NOT COOL AT ALL!!

Responses

brett_n

2.1K Messages

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32.2K Points

10 y ago

Uploading images from Elements Organizer to Photoshop.com will not delete any information from your computer. Even deleting images from Photoshop.com will not delete the files from your computer.

As everything disappeared on your computer, my best guess is that you are now working in a new catalog in Elements Organizer for some reason. Check File>Catalog and see if more than one catalog is listed.

Worst case scenario is you will have to download the files from Photoshop.com back to your computer. But at this point I don't believe that will be a necessity.

paul_mcclure

2 Messages

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80 Points

10 y ago

Thanks for the timely reply :/ Fortunately, no photos were missing from my external hard drive. But everything was missing from PSE 9 Organizer, photos, tags, albums, locations on the map, everything!! I basically had to start over. Strangely, you would assume that once a photo is "Tagged" in the PSE Organizer that if something like what I mentioned happened, all I should have to do reload the photos and all the Tags would still be there, on all the photos that were tagged. What was really weird is that some were, and some weren't. Some photos had their tags and some didn't. VERY aggravating.At the time I was processing over 1500 photos from a dance recital as well as another 700 from a football game and I had to pretty much start organizing and re-tagging as though all of them had never been tagged. This took me the better part of an afternoon.

In the past I've had other issues with older versions of Elements Organizer and needless to say I no longer trust any Elements Organizer for anything more than temporary storage of RAW files while I edit photos in the Editor. I've also learned that when a photo is "Tagged" it's not something that can be relied upon to show up on an different computer using PSE 9 (This has happened in older versions as well). At this time, I don't have any complaints about PSE 9's Editor, but if it totally craps out on me after 2-3 years like PSE 4&6 did. then you'll hear a complaint

brett_n

2.1K Messages

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32.2K Points

Unless the catalog file became corrupted (which would be surprising given that it still opens), I still believe that you are looking at a new catalog.

When you add tags and other metadata to files in the Organizer, you are not applying that information to the file itself. The Organizer is non-destructive, it does not edit the original file unless you tell it to. When you add a tag, it is only tagging the file reference within the database. If you would like the tag to be attached to the file itself so that it will show up on other computers, you have to go to File>Write Keyword Tag and Properties Info to Photos.

10 y ago

rob_devereux

1 Message

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60 Points

I have seen very similiar behaviour to this when upgrading Elements to version 13 from version 8. All photos previously tagged; upgrade and all tags vanish.

6 y ago

michel_bretecher

Champion

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1.3K Messages

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20.2K Points

Take the time to re-read what Brett N explained: the tagging is not applied to the media files themselves by default. It is kept in a catalog. The tags are recovered if you 'convert' the old version catalog to the new one. If you re-import, the only way to recover them is to write the tags (metadata) to the files, which you can do when you want (shortcut Ctrl D).
You have the choice: writing tags to the files means re-writing all the media files (or at least the xmp sidecar files for raws). Just think of the time required to do that, and test how quick it would be to assign a new tag to each file of your library in the catalog instead.
Of course, writing metadata to files is necessary if you want to share your images with another software, and it is a good additional safety step. If you prepare an upgrade to a new version, that's a good thing to do, together with searching missing files, repairing and optimizing the catalog.

6 y ago

bill_harley

5 Messages

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100 Points

6 y ago

Sorry to interupt but I have just upgraded from 10 to 14. The importer renamed the catalog but didn't import keyword tags associated with the pics into 14. On reverting to the original catalog in 10 I find the tags are missing there as well. Any ideas? Bill

andaleeb

158 Messages

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2.2K Points

Hi Bill,

Are there no tags in the Tag Panel in PSE10?
Is it possible that the tags existed in someother catalog and your current catalog is a different one?

Thanks
Andaleeb

6 y ago

bill_harley

5 Messages

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100 Points

Hi Andaleeb
I should have been more detailed in the problem definition.
I downloaded PSE 14 and ran it. I have two catalogues with 17000 photos on one and 12000 on the other. The first catalogue (the one that isn't the "current"one) transferred correctly 'with all tags in place. PSE14 then went on to ask if it should transfer the second (current) one from PSE 10 and said it was changing its name. This catalog transferred all the pictures but none of the tags. If I revert to PSE 10, the tags are no longer in that catalogue either.
Before you tell me to simply restore the last back up, the reason I was doing the upgrade at this time was because the back up hard disc had destroyed itself and I was in the process of upgrading the HW, Op Sys to Win 10, and finally PSE to V14. It all went well till the last catalogue on PSE but I have no back up. A sad tale but it's where I am so any help would be gratefully received. Re-tagging 12000 pics would be a very painful process.
Thanks

6 y ago

andaleeb

158 Messages

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2.2K Points

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the explanation. We are not aware of any scenario in which Tags get deleted from catalog database while converting. If right now, there are no tags in your 12k PSE10 and PSE14 catalogs, it's highly unlikely to retrieve them.
Please see Help > System Info > Catalog Location and go to this location on your hard disk. It's possible that your actual 12k catalog (along with tags) is still present there with a different name. Try opening all catalogs present here in Organizer once and verify if any of them have tags.

It would indeed be a sad tale if I have to tell you to re-tag all 12k files.

Thanks
Andaleeb

6 y ago

bill_harley

5 Messages

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100 Points

Hi Andaleeb Thanks for this, it gives me hope. I'm away from the PC till next week now and will try your suggestion when I return. I'm sure they're there somewhere, I just can't understand why the process isn't foolproof. I'll be in touch.
Thanks again. Bill.

6 y ago

bill_harley

5 Messages

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100 Points

6 y ago

Well, having explored every avenue I can only assume there is either a problem with PSE14 transferring two catalogues or I did something wrong in the process. I assume the latter but am not normally afflicted with finger trouble. Whichever it is, be warned the system isn't foolproof.
I've just commenced the task of re-tagging 12000 pictures. Thanks for trying to help. If there's anything you know I could have done to achieve the state I find myself in then it would be good to write it here so others can learn from it.
Thanks again
Bill

andaleeb

158 Messages

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2.2K Points

Hi Bill,

There is one more thing we may try- just to rule out the possibility of catalog duplication. It's a bruteforce method of searching your entire system (include hidden folders as well) for 'catalog.pse10db'. This way we would get to know what all PSE10 catalogs were ever created and it is possible that one of those catalogs if actually the one with all your tags.

If this doesn't help, I would appreciate if you could share your catalog.pse10db and catalog.pse14db files with us through Dropbox or any other means. (My mail ID is afatima@adobe.com) We would like to cross check once more if there is an easier way to get all your tags back.

Thanks
Andaleeb

6 y ago

bill_harley

5 Messages

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100 Points

Hi Andaleeb
Thanks for your reply. I'm away again at the moment for a couple of weeks and will pick this up when I return.
Thanks
Bill

6 y ago

terry_davies_7524861

2 Messages

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70 Points

It happened to me. I added a bunch of new keywords on my new install of PSE 14, and now they have disappeared. I used them once, exited the program, and when I opened the program again, they were gone.

6 y ago

terry_davies_7524861

2 Messages

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70 Points

Also, the keyword tags defaulted to the generic tags and the pictures assigned to the keyword tags are gone. I wish I hadn't upgraded. This is just one of the problems I'm having with this new version. Sigh.

6 y ago

sandra_dymock

3 Messages

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92 Points

9 m ago

I just transferred PSE 2020 catalog from one computer to another and all the tags are there but all the categories I created on right side are missing

michel_bretecher

Champion

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1.3K Messages

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20.2K Points

Please help us to help you:
- How did you transfer? via the regular backup and restore? by reimporting after writing metadata to tags?
- Do you mean the regular keywords hierarchy or the ones in people, places, events?
- How do you check that the tags are there?
- Are you sure it's not only the keywords section which is not correctly displayed in the right panel? A screenshot would help.
- Do the keywords appear in the 'imported keywords' section instead of categories?

9 m ago

sandra_dymock

3 Messages

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92 Points

Thanks for your quick response but it is resolved now. I shut down PSE 2020 organizer and re-opened it and the right panel is now there with all my keytags. Whew a little worried last night but all is well!

9 m ago

michel_bretecher

Champion

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1.3K Messages

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20.2K Points

Thanks for the feedback and very glad everything is ok for you now.

9 m ago

jmarndt

4 Messages

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90 Points

The HDD which stored my images failed. Fortunately, I was able to restore all the files from an off-site backup.

When I opened PSE ~100 keyword tags were misplaced - they were in a category called "Imported Keyword Tags". In addition, about half of my images (~14k images) are missing keyword tags.

I have two catalog files with the same name (catalog.pse9db) - one on drive I:\ and one on drive G:\. The file on I:\ is dated 17Sep20; the one on drive G:\ is dated 12Nov20.

I assume that my work to re-organize my images is being stored on the G:\ drive version of the catalog.

Should I force PSE to use the I:\ drive catalog? I haven't added any images or tagged existing images since mid-September.

7 m ago

MichelBParis

84 Messages

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896 Points

In the organizer, you can use either catalog to view and test them.

In the catalog manager, you select the catalog in the list and click the 'open' button to switch catalogs.

- the 'catalog.pse9db' file is not the catalog, it's the main database. The catalog itself is the whole folder containing that database file. The catalog name is the folder name.

- I understand You did not use the organizer restore function; instead you imported your files again. This is answered in the answer by brett_n above. By default, the tags are only written in the catalog. If you have been able to also recover the catalog folders, they were probably not recent and the 'missing files' you are seeing were perhaps moved elsewhere on another drive for instance. Reconnecting missing files is easier if you can see in the tags panel on the right where the catalogs says they were situated.

7 m ago

jmarndt

4 Messages

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90 Points

Michael,

Thanks for the explanation. You're right - I did not use the organizer restore function.

I was able to recover a recent catalog. Can I still use the organizer restore function? I'm somewhat confused as to the sequence of steps I should take.

Thanks for you assistance.

7 m ago

MichelBParis

84 Messages

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896 Points

Yes, you always can do a restore even if that has already been done before.

Just pay attention to tick the checkbox to also show 'already restored catalog' in the catalog selection dialog.

https://helpx.adobe.com/elements-organizer/user-guide.html/elements-organizer/using/backup-or-restore-catalogs.ug.html#restore_a_catalog

7 m ago

jmarndt

4 Messages

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90 Points

Thanks for the assistance and the link. I think there is something more fundamental wrong with my system - after completing the restore, the drive I restored to has completely disappeared from my PC. File Explorer can't find the drive, nor can Disk Manager.

7 m ago

jmarndt

4 Messages

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90 Points

The restore worked great - I don't have to re-catalog >10k images. I think the reason the drive disappeared was a bad SATA cable.

6 m ago

MichelBParis

84 Messages

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896 Points

Thanks for the feedback!

6 m ago

Adobe Photoshop Family

paul_mcclure

Elements Organizer: Images and Tags missing

Responses

brett_n

paul_mcclure

brett_n

rob_devereux

michel_bretecher

bill_harley

andaleeb

bill_harley

andaleeb

bill_harley

bill_harley

andaleeb

bill_harley

terry_davies_7524861

terry_davies_7524861

sandra_dymock

michel_bretecher

sandra_dymock

michel_bretecher

jmarndt

MichelBParis

jmarndt

MichelBParis

jmarndt

jmarndt

MichelBParis

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