New to PSE3 Please help!

[shutterbug]

I am having trouble with the organizer. Using "Get Photos" I had the organizer identify all of the photos on my hard drive. I also added some photos from my digital camera. I tagged each photo. Now when I go into the organizer none of the photos are there. I tried using "get photos" again, but this just shows me a list of items not imported because "the file already exists in the catalog. (The list of files not imported are the same ones that I previously tagged). Obviously PSE identifies those files, but I don't know what to do to get my photos to show up in the organizer.

Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

[TonyW]

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear you're having problems but this is the right place to get an answer - someone will figure it out!

You say you tagged the photos. If you click on the empty box to the left of one of the tags you used you should get a small binocular in the box and the main screen should then show the pictures with that tag. Let us know what happens when you try that.

The other thing to try is to change the drop down box in the bottom left of the screen to Folder Location. That should give you a screen on the left that shows all the folders where you have pictures. Click on one and you should see the pictures in that folder.

Tony

[shutterbug]

Tony, thanks for replying to my question.

When I click on the tags, the response I get is "No items match this combination of search and filters." I got that response even when the pictures that were tagged were on the screen after initally loading them and tagging them.

Unfortunately, when I change the bottom left drop down menu to "Folder Location," nothing shows up.

I know the pictures were there before, I just don't know where they have gone. The same thing keeps happening when I add new pictures. For some reason once I click on "back to all photos," the new ones are gone.

Shutterbug

[TonyW]

Hmm - that does sound strange that you would see them and then they disappear. When you get the "No items match this combination of search and filters." message do you get a box in the main screen that says Not with a small red symbol next to it? Does it have a number next to it? If it does then click in the box and you should see the missing pictures.

A couple of other thoughts. Did you use the hidden tag? If you did you won't see anything until you check that tag.

Also, if you go File, Browse Folders in Editor, can you see thumbnails of the pictures when you browse through the folders?

Tony

[shutterbug]

With the "No items match this combination of search and filters" message, yes, I do get a box in the main screen that says "Not". The number next to the box is a number 1. When I click on it, it displays a creation I made but thought I had previously deleted.

When I click on the "hidden" tag, the response is "No items match this combination of search and filters."

On a positive note, I am able to see thumbnails of my pictures when I browse through my folders with "Browse Folders in Editor."

Thanks again for taking time to help me.

Shutterbug

[TonyW]

I'm starting to run out of ideas but let's try one more thing. If you can see the thumbnails in the file browser they are obviously there but Organizer isn't picking them up. So in Organizer do a File/Get Photos/From Files and Folders and find a picture you know is there from looking in the file browser. Get it and see if it gets it OK - or does it give you the message that it already exists in the catalogue?

One other thing to is make sure you have a catalog - do File/Catalog and then click on Open in the dialogue box. Do you see a file called for example My Catalog.psa? Wave the mouse over it and see what size it is. If it's there and has a few Mb of data click on it and see what happens. If it's not there we're going ot have to figure out where it's gone! (by searching your hard drive for a .psa file).

Mike (or any other Organizers) - if you're listening - do you have any ideas? - I'm rapidly running out of them :(

Tony

[Wendy]

Hi Tony,

Mike is away at the moment but he will be back later today :)

Wendy

[MikeH]

When I click on the tags, the response I get is "No items match this combination of search and filters." I got that response even when the pictures that were tagged were on the screen after initally loading them and tagging them.

When you search by the tag, is the "Matching" box checked? If it isn't basically you are asking Organizer to not to display the images that match your search criteria. So, regardless of how many images you have tagged none of them will show.

Also, if you can see the pictures in a folder in the File Browser, can you find this when changing the display to Folder Location?

Mike

[shutterbug]

Tony wrote:
So in Organizer do a File/Get Photos/From Files and Folders and find a picture you know is there from looking in the file browser. Get it and see if it gets it OK - or does it give you the message that it already exists in the catalogue?

Doing this shows me a list of all my photos as not imported because "the file already exists in the catalog."

Do you see a file called for example My Catalog.psa? Wave the mouse over it and see what size it is. If it's there and has a few Mb of data click on it and see what happens.

I have opened this file and there is only one item in it...the creation I made earlier. There is another catalog listed called My Catalog-undo. It appears to be a duplicate of the first catalog.


Mike H wrote:
When you search by the tag, is the "Matching" box checked? If it isn't basically you are asking Organizer to not to display the images that match your search criteria. So, regardless of how many images you have tagged none of them will show.

I did not check the matching box before, so that explains why it did not sort my pictures. Thanks! =)


Also, if you can see the pictures in a folder in the File Browser, can you find this when changing the display to Folder Location?

No, when I change the display to Folder Location it does not show anything and in the bottom left hand corner it says "0 items in 0 folder(s)."

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate your help.

Thanks!
Shutterbug

[MikeH]

I have opened this file and there is only one item in it...the creation I made earlier. [/size] There is another catalog listed called My Catalog-undo. It appears to be a duplicate of the first catalog.

Have you created another Catalog? The file My Catalog is you main Catalog and will contain all of your pictures by default...

I did not check the matching box before, so that explains why it did not sort my pictures.
Ok, so the pictures are there...

when I change the display to Folder Location it does not show anything and in the bottom left hand corner it says "0 items in 0 folder(s).
Will you post a screen shot of this please..?

Mike

[shutterbug]

Mike H. wrote:

Have you created another Catalog? The file My Catalog is you main Catalog and will contain all of your pictures by default...

Not that I know of. I did try uninstalling PSE at one point hoping that I could start over. After I reinstalled PSE and tried to "Get Photos," I still received the message that the files were in the catalog already.

Will you post a screen shot of this please..?

I am not sure how to post the screen shot. I was able to do it MS Word, but not here. Please advise.

Thanks!
Shutterbug

[MikeH]

To post a screen shot hit Print Screen then in Editor go to File > New > Image From Clipboard. Save the image as a JPEG.

Go to www.pixentral.com and upload your image. When the image appears copy the url and post it on this site.

Mike

[shutterbug]

Mike,

You gave great instructions. Here is the URL
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1DcviRnCPuda5ScpdmNss6Qvk5Bm1

Thanks,

Shutterbug

[MikeH]

Hmmm...

OK... can you do a screen print of the photos displayed when you search by tags...

Mike

[shutterbug]

Here is the screen shot based upon a search of people (which are the tags primarily used). The only thumbnail I get is for a creation that I made that I thought I had deleted.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1AaiI5ZHXgXZo8rkAmVsPNftaeHt8f

Thanks!
Shutterbug

[MikeH]

I'm confused now... I thought earlier you posted that when you checked the matching box that your pictures were displayed..? If I misunderstood then sorry, otherwise can you post a shot of the screen with the pictures displayed..?

Mike

[TonyW]

Can you take a look at the full path lengths of that creation that does show in Organizer and one of the photos that you know is on the drive that you can see with the File Browser but not in Organizer. I'm starting to wonder if there is a problem with a drive partition or multiple users. For example one of my pictures is:

C:\Documents and Settings\Tony\My Documents\My Pictures\picture.jpg

And I have a creation in:

C:\Documents and Settings\Tony\My Documents\My Videos\pictures.pdf

Between us we'll get it fixed!

Tony

[shutterbug]

When I first loaded the pictures into the organizer and tagged them, I tried checking one of the names under my "people box" (binoculars) just to see if it would display those tagged pictures. It did not work at the time, but I now know that it was likely because I did not also check the matching box. At that time the bottom left hand corner of the screen did show the number of pictures I had loaded on the organizer.

Unfortunately now it shows only one picture. But if I try to "get" the rest of my pictures, it says that they are already in the catalog. When I click on the catalog, only that one thumbnail shows up.

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks,
Shutterbug

[MikeH]

OK...

Have you tried to recover the Catalog..? Go to File > Catalog and then choose Recover.

Let me know whether this has any effect...

Mike

[willpresley]

Tony, Mike -- Do you think a catalog recover would help?

If so then Shuttbug should follow these steps...

When your catalog is damaged by a power failure or technical glitch, Photoshop Elements displays a message saying that there’s a problem with the catalog. Use the Recover command to fix it. The Recover command also compacts the catalog, removing any unused space.

In the Organizer, choose File > Catalog.

Click the Recover button in the Catalog dialog box.

Click OK when prompted to proceed.

[shutterbug]

I just did the catalog restore and nothing changed.

I believe I tried restoring the catalog once before. So I am wondering when I did it before and it restored it to the way it is now, why can't I "get" the other files as if I had never put them in the organizer? When I try to "get" the other pictures, it still says that they already exist in the catalog.

Thanks!
Shutterbug

[shutterbug]

Tony wrote:

Can you take a look at the full path lengths of that creation that does show in Organizer and one of the photos that you know is on the drive that you can see with the File Browser but not in Organizer. I'm starting to wonder if there is a problem with a drive partition or multiple users.

My creation was saved as a pdf file. Are you asking about the path of the pdf file?

Both the creation (pdf) and the pictures are under My Documents. The path for each is the same through My Documents. However, the pdf file is saved under a different folder in My Document than the photos, which are under My Pictures.

Thanks,
Shutterbug

[willpresley]

May I suggest you create a new catalog.

Then import the pictures to it -- just to see if it will work. Some times you just have to use a BIG HAMMER. :shock:

[shutterbug]

Thanks for the suggestion. I just tried creating a new catalog and "getting" the pictures. Unfortunately, it does not work. I am getting the same message...Items Not Imported File Already Exists in the catalog.

Shutterbug

[TonyW]

I'm rapidly running out of ideas on what to try - the reason I asked about the file path is that if your operating system is set up for multiple users the catalog might have finished up in someone else's "My Documents". Are you running XP or another operating sytem? If you can't find a .psa file anywhere on your system that has those missing picture thumbnails in it then I'm really stumped :(

Tony

[willpresley]

One quick way to find out what catalog files are available is to click on organizer and quickly hold down CTRL+ALT+SHIFT -- you'll get a dialogue box from which you can select a catalog or simply exit if desired.

What shows up there?

[shutterbug]

I am using XP. I have run a search for .psa files. The only catalog that shows up are the ones previously mentioned. I also tried the CTRL+ALT+SHIFT and nothing happened.

I wish I could just uninstall the program and start over, but I tried that already and there must have been something linking it the PSE because it still recognized that I had at one time "got" the files.

I really appreciate all of your help and time.

Shutterbug

[shutterbug]

So, I decided to log off of my user name and onto my husband's. He rarely uses my computer. Anyway, I clicked on PSE and there in the organizer were my photos. =) I checked to see what the path was for the catalog and it is the exact same path as it is on my user name. However, when I open the file in my user, nothing shows up even though under both users the files are 2.96MB. I don't really understand it, but I found my pictures. Tony, you were correct that it had something to do with different users.

I hate to ask another question, but do you think there is anyway that I will be able to open the catalog under my user?

Thanks to all of you who responded. I really appreciate your help!!! =)

Shutterbug

[willpresley]

OK, if you do an uninstall you need to manually remove some folders to be sure it is a clean start.

Under Programs>Adobe>Photoshop Elements (delete Photoshop Elements 3.0 folder)

Then you need to find and remove the following located under:

Local Disk>Documents and Settings>All Users>Application Data (may be hidden so turn on show hidden folders)>Adobe (where you'll find and need to remove the following:

Catalogs, Catalog Folders, Photoshop Elements and The Photoshop Elements Help folders....

Do this process following the uninstall and then be sure to turn on Virus Program and Firewall -- then Install again and don't forget to reactivate the two programs you disabled for the install.

Seems this would be the course of action since all other attempts and efforts have failed to yield a successful solution.

Let us know how it turns out....

[shutterbug]

So, I decided to log off of my user name and onto my husband's. He rarely uses my computer. Anyway, I clicked on PSE and there in the organizer were my photos. =) I checked to see what the path was for the catalog and it is the exact same path as it is on my user name. However, when I open the file in my user, nothing shows up even though under both users the files are 2.96MB. I don't really understand it, but I found my pictures. Tony, you were correct that it had something to do with different users.

I hate to ask another question, but do you think there is anyway that I will be able to open the catalog under my user?

Thanks to all of you who responded. I really appreciate your help!!! =)

Shutterbug

[willpresley]

Well all is not lost then, but since I only have myself on my computer I don't have other user accounts so I'm not sure what would work. Wish I did though...

[MikeH]

I hate to ask another question, but do you think there is anyway that I will be able to open the catalog under my user

What type of User Account do you have? Check whether you are an "Administrator" and if not then change to be one.

Mike

[TonyW]

Shutterbug:

Good to hear that you've found those pictures. XP can be confusing with multiple users. Although it looks like the My Documents path is the same when different users are logged on they aren't. The paths will look something like:

C:\Documents and Settings\User1\My Documents\My Pictures\
C:\Documents and Settings\User2\My Documents\My Pictures\

When you are logged on as User1, many programs only show you the User1 My Documents folder - I guess that is what Organizer does. If you go to File, Catalog, Open and go back up to Documents and Settings in the Look In box you should be able to go back down another users name and find their catalog.

I don't know much about setting XP up for different users but making sure you are an administrator should work - or you could just go into your husbands user account (in Control Panel) and change his name to yours :wink:

Tony

[TonyW]

Just to add one thing I noticed - if you are searching for psa files on your computer using My Computer/Windows Explorer you have to include all hidden files and folders in your search or you won't find them all.

Also I found a note in another forum indicating that "you have to install all software from the admin account. It turns out that if ANY account with admin privs opens a catalog file in PSE3 that catalog is subsequently not openable from any account without admin privs." It was suggested that this was a bug that would be fixed. I don't know if the 3.01 update to Elements did anything to change this but if you haven't installed it you should probably give it a try (there's a link at the top of the home page).

Tony