OK to delete 'My Pictures' after importing to Elements?

[photobuggy]

I started importing some of the many photos I have saved in My Documents/My Pictures into PhotoShop Elements 3.0. When I do this am I creating a duplicate copy in the 'Adobe' folder of the photo saved in My Pictures, or am I just creating a link to the original picture?

In Organizer view if I select 'Folder Location' in the lower left corner I get the file tree. It appears that the only picture folders shown under 'My Documents' are the ones with pictures I have imported into Elements. The folders I have not imported do not appear on the tree. Why not?

Curiously, the folders containing pictures that were imported are not shown as subfolders of the 'Adobe' folder, but pictures I downloaded using Elements do appear as subfolders under the 'Adobe' folder.

Can someone explain the relationship between the 'My Pictures' folder and the 'Adobe' folder?

Mike

[Pauline]

Mike the organizer only hold a thumbnail copy of your photos. Do not delete them out of 'my pictures' as those are the originals. Also when you move things around use the organizer not windows or you will end up with broken links from your thumbnails to your photos.

[photobuggy]

Are the originals stored in 'My Pictures' even when the photos are downloaded from the camera or media using Elements? Judging by the size of the picture files in My Pictures/Adobe, those originals seem to be stored in the Adobe folder.

[MikeH]

Hi Mike,

The "Adobe" folder is where (by default) pictures that you download OR save in Editor are stored. This location can be changed in the the Organizer preferences (Edit > Preferences).

So, if in the Camera or Card Reader preferences you have the default My Documents\My Pictures\Adobe\Digital Camera Photos set as the location, the original image of photos that you download will be saved there. Also, by default PSE3 will create a sub-folder using the date and time of import - but you can turn this off in the Preferences. This is why pictures that you download are in sub-folders within the Adobe folder.

The Organizer in PSE3 stores various pieces of information about files (but not the actual file itself) in your Catalog. This information includes the file name and location on your computer.

But... you have to either import or download the file in PSE3 to create that entry in the Catalog. So any files that are on your PC but not downloaded using PSE3 or imported into PSE3 won't exist in your Catalog and therefore won't appear in any views in Organizer.

When you use the Adobe Photo Downloader, the files are added automatically to your Catalog and will appear in the Folder and Date views. If you add photos to your PC outside of PSE3, it will only detect them if you have listed the location as a "Watched Folder". Otherwise you need to import the file into Organizer (and hence your Catalog) using Get Photos.

Does this help you so far?

Oh so in answer to your origianl question - no don't delete anything!!

Mike

[Mary]

May I add one more thought. If you care about something it must be in more than one place. e.g. Burn a copy of your originals to other media and back up your pictures often.

[photobuggy]

MikeH, that was very helpful.

Not to beat this issue to death but I want to have a clear picture (no pun intended) of how Elements handles pictures 'imported' from various sources.

As I understand it:

Photos downloaded from a camera or digital media into Elements are actually stored in the Adobe folder.

Existing photos in My Pictures that are 'imported' into Elements will only have a thumbnail in Adobe, which is linked to the original which remains in My Pictures.

What happens if I have photos saved on a CD and I want to import them? Are the actual pictures imported into the Adobe file, or does it just create thumbnails which are linked to the CD? If that's the case, a person would need to save a backup of the photos which are on the computer, and also save copies of any CD(s) containing photos so they won't be left with just thumbnails if something should happen to the original CD(s). How does that work?

Mike

[wallstreet123456]

I have a question regarding downloading pictures from my camera to Elements.

After the download is done it asks if I would like to delete the photos from my camera, I always say no but am conserned that oneday I will hit yes by accident. Can this setting be turned off?

[MikeH]

I'm sorry... this setting can't be turned off. But what you can do is to use a card reader (which XP will recognise as a another drive), switch the Adobe Photo Downloader off all together (in Edit > Preferences > Camera or Card Reader) and then use Get Photos > From Files & Folders. Browse under "My Computer" to access the card reader.

This is also a good workaround if you want to use PSE3 to download pictures but don't like the Adobe Photo Downloader hijacking your system everytime it detects media or a device that contains photos.

Mike

[photobuggy]

Since my question got bypassed by another post I will submit it again.

As I understand it:

Photos downloaded from a camera or digital media into Elements are actually stored in the Adobe folder.

Existing photos in My Pictures that are 'imported' into Elements will only have a thumbnail in Adobe, which is linked to the original which remains in My Pictures.

What happens if I have photos saved on a CD and I want to import them? Are the actual pictures imported into the Adobe file, or does it just create thumbnails which are linked to the CD? If that's the case, a person would need to save a backup of the photos which are on the computer, and also save copies of any CD(s) containing photos so they won't be left with just thumbnails if something should happen to the original CD(s). How does that work?

Mike

[MikeH]

Hi Mike,

Sorry, this thread has gone around a bit...

Let's go through the questions in your last post:Photos downloaded from a camera or digital media into Elements are actually stored in the Adobe folder.Yes - using the default setting but you can change it.

Existing photos in My Pictures that are 'imported' into Elements will only have a thumbnail in Adobe, which is linked to the original which remains in My Pictures.Yes - this is correct.

What happens if I have photos saved on a CD and I want to import them? Are the actual pictures imported into the Adobe file, or does it just create thumbnails which are linked to the CD?You can do both:

:arrow: Import the file onto your PC into My Pictures and PSE3 will enter it into your Catalog so it appears as a thumbnail in Organizer.

OR

:arrow: Import a low resolution version of the image into PSE3 (the thumnbnail entry in Organizer) BUT leave the original full resolution image on the cd. The second method saves disc space on your PC. When you select a photo in Organizer that is stored offline on the cd, PSE3 will prompt you for the cd.

When you are importing from a cd/dvd, PSE3 will prompt you with this choice.

Is this clearer now?

Mike

[photobuggy]

Yes, thank you. I will print and save this thread for future reference.

Mike