PSE4 & Leopard - Running but missing the selection tools!

[G-Hombre]

I have a new Intel based iMac 2.4GHz, running Leopard. I just installed PSE4 because I cannot wait till the end of the month for the new version. I needed a layering software for some work my wife is doing. I've heard of some incompatibilty issues. I've encountered two major ones:

1) Can't pull photos from iPhoto 8, its grayed out as an option. I either have to copy & paste or export to the desktop and take it from there.
2) The selection toolbar on the left side is non-existant and yet I can seem to find any options in the menus to show or hide toolbars.

Has anyone else had this problem running in Leopard? I'm about to uninstall and reinstall to see if it shows up, but before I do that I'd like to see if I might be missing something obvious.:confused:

[CarolLHB]

Hi Hombre-

Welcome-I've been using PSE4 with Leopard for a while and do not have the problem with the tool bar. I'm not running iPhoto 8 yet-so here are my suggestions-

1. try deleting the preferences, like this:

When strange things happen in Photoshop one of the first things to try is deleting the prefs file:

To do that close down Elements then click on the start up icon and quickly hold down the Control, Alt and Shift keys (If you are a Mac user Apple, Alt and Shift). Continue to hold down all three keys until you get a screen asking if you want to delete Settings ... just say Yes.

You do have to be quick to do it ... so if the box doesn't pop up then just try again.

For the iPhoto issue-two things:

In iPhoto, go under preferences and set to open and edit using PSE4.

In PSE4 preferences under "saving" make sure "maximize compatibility" is checked.

Let me know how you make out-if none of this works we'll talk to some more of the Mac folks here that know way more than me:D

[Lesa]

Oh wow, I too am running PE4 under Leopard and have not experienced any of those problems.

However, iPhoto 8 doesn't use the same folder structure as older versions. Instead it stores everything in a "package" where you can't see the folders. I wonder if that's the problem?

That being said, you can ask iPhoto to edit with Elements. Do that by accessing iPhoto's preferences, and under the General tab, choose Elements from the Edit in pop-up window.

Another idea is to zap Elements preferences. The trick is to hold the Command, Option, and Shift keys (PC: Control-Alt-Shift) when you first launch the program.

Let us know if any of that works!

[Barbara Brundage]

Hi, G-Hombre. iPhoto is protecting you. There's no faster way to corrupt your iphoto library than to poke at it from outside iphoto. Either export the photos as you've been doing, and then rename the edited files when you save and re-import them, or use the external edit thing from iPhoto.

[G-Hombre]

Thanks for the inputs. Last night I decied to play around a bit more with PE4. First I rebooted the Mac. A last resort that I usually reserve for my PC at work. Then I used the "Window" pull down menu to see whether I could check or uncheck "tools". Keep in mind that when I tried this before,"Tools" was grayed out. So to my surprise, the Tools option was there but unchecked. I checked it, nothing happened. So I unchecked and then rechecked and voila the toolbar with the selction icons appears on the left. I guess it was hiding all this time. So thats one issue out of the way.

The iPhoto thing is still an issue. I now can see the photos in iPhoto while I'm in PE but when I choose a file to open, it does nothing. So I've resorted to dragging and dropping or exporting photos to the desktop and opening them from there.

It still seems a big buggy, but I managed to play around with some layering last night and for the most part it works. I'm new to Elements so it could be my inexperience. This website looks like a good resource and I'm sure I'll be visiting it often!

[Barbara Brundage]

I now can see the photos in iPhoto while I'm in PE but when I choose a file to open, it does nothing.

This is just not how iphoto works. You must either set up PE as your external editor so that double clicking a photo from within iphoto sends it to Elements, or export photos to the desktop. To set up photos to open from iphoto into Elements for editing, go to iphoto>preferences>general and choose Elements from Edit photo>In application.

If you choose to use iphoto, you cannot use File>Open for your iphoto library pics or browse your iphoto library with Bridge.