Troubleshoot catalog backup, upgrade | Organizer | Elements 6 or later

You can back up your Elements Organizer catalog to another hard drive or burn it to CD/DVD (Windows only). Use this backup to prevent loss of files due to circumstances that are beyond your control, or for moving them to another computer.

The Elements Organizer can convert catalogs from Photoshop Album and previous versions of the Elements Organizer so they're compatible with the newer Elements Organizer. For example, you can convert an Elements 6 Organizer catalog to the format Elements 8 Organizer uses.

Note: The Elements 9 Organizer on Mac OS does not convert catalogs from previous versions.

While a catalog conversion can upgrade from any previous version, there are a number of known limitations when upgrading across multiple versions. For example, there are issues converting a catalog from Elements 3 Organizer to Elements 9 Organizer. For more information on these limitations, see Common catalog upgrade issues | Organizer| Elements 6 or later.

Sometimes the catalog backup or conversion fails. There could be a number of reasons for this issue and solutions are presented below. Some of these solutions involve features that are only available in more recent versions of Elements Organizer. When the information presented applies to a specific version of Photoshop Elements, the version number is noted in parentheses.

Note: Perform all solutions in the previous version of Elements Organizer before attempting to convert the catalog in the latest version.

1. Reconnect all missing files.

Missing files can cause data errors in catalogs. Make sure that your catalog has the latest information about the location of your files. For more information, see Reconnect missing files | Photoshop Elements | Windows.

2. Repair and optimize the catalog.

3. Re-create thumbnail cache.

The files used to create the thumbnail images you see in Elements Organizer could be corrupt. You can re-create these thumbnails to help your catalog convert.

4. Turn off Sync Agent (Elements 7 and later).

5. Turn off Auto-Analyzer (Elements 8 and later).

6. Turn off People Recognition (Elements 8 and later).

7. Close previous versions of Elements Organizer.

Verify that previous versions of Elements Organizer are not currently running. Even if the program window is closed, the application could be running in the background. Check Task Manager for PhotoshopElementsOrganizer.exe. If the application is running, it could be accessing and locking the catalog file.

8. Close iTunes.

If iTunes was used to synchronize images or albums from Elements Organizer, it could be using or locking files required for converting your catalog. 

9. Verify catalog folder permissions.

The user account you are currently logged in as must have sufficient permission to read and write files and folders present inside the catalog folder. You can find the catalog folder by going to Help > System Info and checking Catalog Location under Current Catalog.

10. Check the Conversion log.

Logs can provide additional information on what is causing the process to fail. Opening the log and checking the last few lines can provide a vital clue. Sometimes, Technical Support requests the logs to aid troubleshooting.

When converting a catalog, a log is created in the temp directory (%temp%) with the name pse-conversion-log_[Catalog Name].txt.