2 Organiser Problems

[Walter Seaton]

1. When I first started working with PSE (6) I set up a catagory for every project. When these started to fill my drive, I installed an external HD and moved the completed projects there. I am now using PSE8,images in Organiser and have the following problem in trying to get rid of the catagories I no longer need:
I highlight a catagory and click on "open". I get an error message "The catalog could not be opened. It is either corrupt, or the version is out of date and can not be updated". I click "OK" then "Remove", get a warning "Are you sure you want to delete the catalog named xxxxxx?". I click yes and get the error message "The catalog xxxxx could not be removed because it is in use by another program". This happens with all the listed catagories, except "My Catalog (Current)" which opens but of course can not be removed. As a test, I created a new catagory, put some files into it, then deleted the files and tried to delete the new catagory; although it would open, I could not delete it - I got the same messages as above. SO MY QUESTION - how can I get rid of the unwanted catagories?

2. I tried to add a folder to "Watched Folders" but get the error message "The Watch Folder Service is Unavailable" - how can I fix this?

Many thanks.

[Steve Grisetti]

If you'd like to delete a catalog, you can always just delete (or just rename) the catalog file on your computer. Where this file is on your computer depends on your operating system.

Deleting this catalog file and forcing the Organizer to recreate it may clear out whatever corruption is causing your second issue.

[Barb O]

Walter,
1A -- Your other post explained that when you typed "category" you actually meant "catalog" - so I can make that substitution.

1B -- The term "project" which you used is somewhat ambiguous. Do you mean a Premiere Elements video editing project ? If not, what is being created by this project ?

1C -- Are the "catalog can not be opened" messages specifically for the catalogs which you want to delete ?

FYI - I have not yet addressed how to do the actual deletion of catalogs, because I am trying to understand more about your environment before making specific suggestions about deleting.

FYI - If a catalog is from (was created) in v6 and you want to use that catalog in v8, there is a command and process necessary to upgrade a catalog from v6 format to v8 format. So that situation could generate a version out of date message. THEREFORE, if do you want to keep some catalogs created in v6, this will need more discussion

1D -- "In use by another program" is potentially caused by a program or service started by Photoshop Elements or the Elements Organizer which runs "in the background" When you answer the question in number 2 below about the active Services, that may help to troubleshoot both this question and why Watched Folders is not available.

2 -- Watched Folders uses a separate operating system service to check for media files being added to the folders that are specified. If you look at the list of Windows operating system Services that are active, what service names do you see that start with "Adobe" or "Photoshop" or "Elements" ? What version of Windows are you running ?

3 -- FYI - there may be more questions - for example :
I think we might need to discuss HOW you moved those completed projects to the new external hard drive because moving files (which are entered in an Elements catalog) by using Windows Explorer can cause problems for the Organizer being able to locate these photo files (or other media files).

[Barb O]

If you'd like to delete a catalog, you can always just delete (or just rename) the catalog file on your computer. Where this file is on your computer depends on your operating system.

Deleting this catalog file and forcing the Organizer to recreate it may clear out whatever corruption is causing your second issue.

Steve,
I am not generally in favor of deleting the Organizer catalog file and then forcing the Organizer to recreate it. My reason is that not all information in the Organizer Catalog can be recreated from the data within the photo files and other types of media files.

There is data that only exists within the Organizer Catalog
Examples are that
-- keyword tags assigned by the customer to a photo are present in the catalog : they may or may not be present in the photo file metadata
-- the designation of the contents of Albums and the photo sequence within Albums is done in the Catalog
-- version sets (which correlate an original photo file to its corresponding edited variations of that photo) are defined in the Catalog

However, if all efforts on the Elements Catalog to repair or recover or restore from a backup were to fail, then yes I would try making a new Catalog file and cataloging the existing photo and other media files in that new catalog.

[Steve Grisetti]

Excellent points, Barb! Which is why I'm so confused about Walter's desire to delete his catalogs.

[Walter Seaton]

Hi Both and thank you,

I have been away during the weekend, hence the tardiness of my response.

Since you are justifiably puzzled by what I am doing, let me explain briefly. I started shooting standard 8mm in 1957 and later moved to super8. I started shooting 35mm slides in 1960. By the time I changed to digital about 3 years ago I had accumulated about 14,000 slides and 12,000 feet of movie film. I do a lot of travelling and stored the slides in archival boxes according to the location in which they were shot (plus “family”, “holiday” etc.). Movie film was similarly stored. After I produced a slide show (2 projectors and a dissolve unit) the slides then remained in the show sets and the unused slides in storage. When I changed to digital I started with Premiere 6.5 but when I could no longer get support for that I changed to PSE7/PRE7 and then PSE8/PRE8. In Organiser I continued to use the same image storage procedure as before. This involved pre-sorting instead of using keyword tags, which I realise now is the wrong way to use this application. That is the reason I want to clean out the Organiser and start fresh. Last December my main hard drive (C) crashed. I replaced it and reinstalled all my programs, including PSE8/PRE8; therefore there should be no “memory” of the previous installations on my C drive. Finally, in addition to my C drive (1TB) I have an E drive (750MB) in my PC tower on which I store all my graphics files and work on them from there, an external F drive (2TB) which I use to automatically back up all files (other than OS files) from C and E, and another external H drive (2TB) onto which I copy from D all my finished productions for storage. When I copy a completed production onto H, I immediately try to run it from there. If I receive an error message that a file is missing, I first copy that file (usually one of my generic files stored in a different folder on D) to the folder containing the production on H and continue this until the production runs smoothly from H only; I then delete the production folder on D. All productions are also stored on DVDs. I hope all this helps to explain where I am coming from.

Responding first to Barb O:
1B — I really meant “individual production”, but used “project” because both in PRE and also ProShow Producer they refer to “My Project” and “Starting New Project”.
1C — Yes. I am trying to delete all of them and get this message on each one. I am sorry about causing some confusion — my first PSE was actually v7.
2 — My OS is Windows7 Professional. The only active system services which you mentioned which are on the Windows Operating Services List are Adobe FlashPlayer Update Svc [Stopped], Adobe ARM Service (PID 1724) [Running] and Adobe ActiveFileMonitor 8.0 [Stopped]. Neither “Photoshop” nor “Elements” appears anywhere on this List.

Responding to Steve:
I can not find the catalog files on my computer. I have checked all the Adobe folders in my Program Files and, in addition, run a complete search of my C drive, without success. Could they be “hidden” inside an acronym which I do not recognise?

Again, very many thanks to both of you.

[Barb O]

Hi Walter,

I only have a few minutes now so I will return later.

One specific is that the Adobe File Monitor must be active for the Watched Folders functions to be available - but I suggest that you just save that info for now. Your other questions have greater complexity and probably more significant troubleshooting.

FYI - For you other file is in use message - I still suspect that ther is another Op Sys active service started by Adobe which is giving you that file in use messge -- so I will try to find a list of the other possible services started by the Organizer for functions like the Auto Analysis of v8.

Also, I will take more time to read the description of the the history of your many years of photos and video.

Barb O

[Walter Seaton]

Thank you - I look forward to your response when your time permits.

[Barb O]

Hi Both and thank you,

I have been away during the weekend, hence the tardiness of my response.

......
Again, very many thanks to both of you.

Here is a comment for your question that was actually addressed to Steve - however, I saw this process described as I was researching.

To find the location on your disk of the currently open Catalog

1- Configure Windows Explorer to view hidden files.
2-- Then in the Organizer workspace, do Help > System Info to find the folder containing your catalog. Exit PSE.
3-- Then in Windows Explorer, navigate to that folder

I expect that when you are running the PSE 8 Organizer, the currently open (active) catalog will be under a folder structure of "Elements Organizer". Exactly what the high level folder is for that structure is may vary depending on some installation options, so it is easiest to use the Help as I described above. Please post the folder path and the catalog file name that the Help shows you.

FYI - Now if you don't find any of your catalogs (which you created back in v7), it might mean that those v7 catalogs were never upgraded to v8. Or it might mean that your process of C drive crash and its replacement with a different drive means that those v7 catalogs no longer exist. If you do still have v7 catalog files, my guess is that they would (by default) be under the same high level folders as the v8 Organizer help gives you -- BUT would be under a subfolder structure of "Photoshop Elements" instead of under the "Elements Organizer" subfolder structure.

Whatever you find, I recommend that you post catalog names (including file type which is different between v7 an v8) and their folder paths folder info here and not delete any of those catalogs yet.

[Walter Seaton]

Hi Barb O,

I think we are home!

Re your 1 — I always operate with hidden files showing
Re your 2 — it showed C:/Program Data/Adobe/Elements Organiser/Catalogues/Belize
Re your 3 — I went to C:/Program Data/Adobe/Elements Organiser/Catalogues/ and all the catalogs I would like to delete are shown.

For your further information, only v8.0 shows under C:/Program Data/Adobe/Elements Organiser/. Also, under “Photoshop Elements” only v8.0 shows in Windows Explorer.

For good measure, I searched my C drive for both v7.0 and v 7.0 — no results.

And, just to remind you, I have deleted all the image and audio files from Organiser.

I have not yet deleted the unwanted catalogs, as you recommended, and look forward to your response.

Many thanks.

[Barb O]

1 -- you can try searching for .pse7db as the file type - I don't think it will find anything

2 -- I think that the catalogs you found will have a file type of .pse8db -- please verify

3 -- I suggest that it will be better if you have at least one valid v8 catalog (that you will keep and that is the active catalog when closing the PSE Organizer ) before you would use Windows Explorer to delete/rename any catalogs. (I say this because I have a vague recollection that in some version of PSE it was messy when I started the PSE Organizer with no valid catalog.)

4 - Since I don't know all the details of what caused your "file in use" messages, I suggest that you reboot Windows and then attempt to do your W Explorer rename (logical step before actually deleting catalog) after the reboot and before you start Photoshop Elements.

[Walter Seaton]

Hi Barb O,

1 — you are correct — there is no .pse7db on my system
2 — correct again — the file type is .pse8db
3 and 4 — I will do these tomorrow and let you know the results (I don’t have time now).

I am very grateful for your help.

Best Regards

Walter

[Walter Seaton]

Hi Barb O.,

I did not get around to it yesterday, but here is what I just did re 3 & 4.

After rebooting, in Windows Explorer I created a dummy file in another area, then navigated to v8.0 Catalog and moved all but one of the redundant catalogs to the dummy file. I then opened Organiser and found that all the files except the one I did not move were no longer listed under “File/Catalogs”. I then closed Organiser and in Windows Explorer renamed the remaining file. When I again opened Organiser, the renamed file was the only one listed.

Next I imported some files at random, created and assigned new keyword tags, assigned stars — everything works very well.

I am now ready to delete the dummy file and its contents — can you see any reason why I should not do that?

Obviously you have helped me solve my problem and I am very grateful.