Another Organizer question -- from a beginner

[JoAnneR]

Greetings all...

I've browsed around the forum on and off enough to notice that there seems to be several issues with the Organizer. This is making me hesitate to use it. Right now I have all my photos in folders based on their subject matter. I use the Zoom Browser that came with my Rebel to view them.

If I were to activate the Organizer in PSE5 and start tagging my photos would that mess up my folders or would the photos on my hard drive still reside in the original folders that I placed them in. And would I still be able to use Zoom Browser if I decided I didn't like the way PSE worked.

Thanks for any help on this... I really would like to use this program to tag and categorize my pics but I haven't much confidence in it at the moment due to the issues I've read about here.

Please someone... Boost my confidence.

Thanks much..
JoAnne

[Ward Grant]

I'll see if I can give you some confidence, at least enough to try the Organizer. The nice thing is you don't have to use it if you don't want to. Some people swear by the Organizer while others swear at it.

Basically the Organizer is just a MS Access database that keeps tracks of tags, collections, slide shows, etc. It does not directly store or copy your pictures so it will not effect your current folders.

...Right now I have all my photos in folders based on their subject matter...
Organizer allows, in my opinion, more flexibility than folders. My standard example is my nephew and I go fishing over Christmas holidays; we also go fishing other times of the year. Do I put the December photos in my Christmas folder or my fishing folder? With tags in Organizer, I can put multiple "identifiers (or tags)" to the same picture-Nephew, Christmas, Fishing.

Now, the pictures have to reside somewhere on the hard disk. Many people still use a folder structure and then link them in Organizer. You can then find them outside of Elements with the folders and inside with the Tags.

I think the easiest is to start slowly. Bring in one folder and experiment with Tags and Collections. If you know you have pictures of a person in two folders, bring in the second folder and tag them with that person's name. You can then see how picking based on tags will show both photos, even if they are in different locations. You could also use your Zoom software and confirm the pictures have not moved.

If you like what Organizer has to offer, you can add additional pictures. If not, you can just ignore it and keep doing things the way you do now.

[Pauline]

JoAnne one thing you must remember if you use the organizer is that you must use it to move your photos around in different folders. If you have everything set up in the organizer and then move them around in your other program or through windows, the organizer won't be able to find them. That's where a lot of people run into trouble.

Also I don't burn my pictures from the organizer as with elements 3 it would only allow you to use the disc once. Now I don't know if that has changed for pse 5 as I never bothered to look. I have my system set up and it works fine that way.

I like the fact that I can tag my photos with names, events, etc. It makes it very handy for finding the pictures that I need.

[JoAnneR]

Thanks Ward and Pauline for your comments and advice. You have given me the confidence to play a bit and see what I think.

Ward...
Some people swear by the Organizer while others swear at it.
You gave me a good laugh... thanks needed that this evening.

JoAnne

[Honeydew]

Hi,

I have Zoombrowser on my computer and in the beginning before I started PSE 4 and 5, I used to use Zoombrowser a lot. Since I started PSE 4 and 5, I forgot all about the Zoombrowser and haven't used it in a long time. Anyhow, I went back into it to see what was up and all my pictures that I've been uploading into my PSE4 and 5 also shows up in my Zoombrowser. One thing though - that any saved edited photos that you do in the editor does not show up in the Zoombrowser, only your original imported photos. Hope this helps.

Honeydew

[Ward Grant]

Also I don't burn my pictures from the organizer as with elements 3 it would only allow you to use the disc once. Now I don't know if that has changed for pse 5 as I never bothered to look. I have my system set up and it works fine that way.Pauline-thanks for your comments on editing/moving outside of Elements-a good point.

Just FYI-V5 does allow multiple sessions to be burned to the same CD. You have to flip a switch in preferences. You seem comfortable with your current set up, but just in case you want to play around some time.

[Pauline]

Thanks Ward. I kind of thought that was the case but didn't want to state it unless I was sure.

The biggest mistake people make when using the organizer is moving their photos around using something else and this is where they get in a lot of messes. As long as you remember this very important fact, there shouldn't be a problem.