Catalog Question...

[Honeydew]

When I go to File - Catalog - Open, this is what I get:-

CanadaDay2005.psa (showing all pics)
CanadaDay2005-1.psa
CanadaDay2005-1-1.psa
CanadaDay2005-1-1-1.psa
CanadaDay2005-1-1-1-1.psa and so on...

The first file above shows all my pictures and then files with -1 onwards are showing only a few pics with the rest as "missing files". Can I delete CanadaDay2005-1.psa onwards if they are blanks and all the photos are in the first file anyways? these files are from my PSE4. Would deleting the blank catalogs affect anything else? I also have PSE5 on my computer. I would also like to know how I can stop the "-1-1-1" thing being added on each time.

[Ward Grant]

Hello Honeydew
The catalog numbering is somewhat strange. Normally this happens when you update and the catalog converts-the old file becomes -1 so if you re-converted it would be -1-1.

I would leave the -1 versions alone for right now. Once we figure out what is happening, we can delete them. Open the catalog you say has all the pictures and do a File>Catalog>Recover and see if this pattern continues.

By default the catalog is My Catalog.psa. CanadaDay2005 seem pretty specific. Do you often use a lot of catalogs?

[Honeydew]

No I don't use a lot of Catalogs. I vaguely remember that maybe CanadaDay catalogue appeared when I was new to PSE4 and then I bought a book by Deke McClelland -Photoshop Elements 4 one-on-one and did the tutorials and opened another catalog based on the tutorial. I also have the default catalog as MyCatalog.psa which is empty. Since then, I haven't really opened up any new Catalogs but the -1-1-1 etc to the catalogs seem to add up.

I did file-catalog-recover and it added another -1 with blank boxes of missing pictures. Yes, it's all strange..I wonder why it does this?

[Ward Grant]

I can not say I have seen this behavior before.

Let's try something:
File>Catalog>New and call it TestCat.
Bring in a small folder of pictures, just to have one or two photos to play with.
Add a simple tag just to add something to the catalog.
Close Organizer and then reopen and check if you now have a TestCat-1.

A Recover should not create a new catalog.

[Honeydew]

I did what u suggested and created new catalog "testcat", closed organizer and then re-opened. Nothing happened.
I then did a recover catalog to see if it adds another testcat catalog and nothing happened.

Maybe another catalog only gets added when one imports new photos into PSE4 or PSE5? I will try that and see what happens...

[Honeydew]

Ok here goes...

Importing new pics into the program doesn't do anything.

I then went back to file-catalog-open and clicked on the last catalog with the most "-1-1-1-1" and the last catalog comes up with the message:

"the catalog named CanadaDay2005-1-1-1-1-1.psa (note there's 5 of -1) was created by a prior version of PE or Photoshop Album and needs to be cocnverted before it can be used. Your old catalog file will be saved as CanadaDay2005-1-1-1-1-1-1.psa (note there's 6 now)" - I just click cancel.

It shouldn't have to add on another -1 everytime you want to open the last catalog with a -1 already in it...

[Ward Grant]

I'm glad to see your new test catalog does not have this same pattern.
As for the other catalog, I am confused. I agree, once it is converted it should not re-convert every time.
I'll give you the same advice my doctor gives me some time--"Humm, I'm not sure what these tests mean. Let's just monitor it until the next checkup."
Why don't you create a new folder and move all the psa files, except the one you want to use there (just in case we need them, although I can't think of a reason why). You can just use Explorer to move them. Hopefully this pattern will stop and we can then just delete that folder.
The files should be at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Catalog\XXXXXXXX.psa.

[Honeydew]

How do I move the psa files into the new catalog? :o

[Ward Grant]

How do I move the psa files into the new catalog? :o

I'm sure this is a matter of schematics, but the psa file is the catalog file so you can not move a psa file into a catalog.

I was suggesting moving the unneeded psa files (-1,-1-1) to a new folder. You can create the folder in same place and just name it OldPSA or something. I would use Window Explorer to do this.

Keep us informed of what happens.