Chapter 7: managing files and catalogs, Managing catalogs, About catalogs – Adobe Elements Organizer 9 User Manual
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Last updated 9/12/2011
Chapter 7: Managing files and catalogs
After you bring your media files into a catalog, and have used the Elements
Organizer to organize them, you can also
use the Elements
Organizer to manage those files in various ways. For example, you can group related photos—such
as several shots of the same subject taken in quick succession with different exposure settings or camera angles—into
stacks. Similarly, you can group edited versions of the same photo into version sets. You can also use the
Elements
Organizer to view and change file information, captions, and notes.
For more information about bringing media files into a catalog, see “
Bringing photos and videos into the Elements
” on page 12. For more information about organizing media files, see “
Managing catalogs
About catalogs
A catalog can represent all the media files you have stored on your computer and other storage media, or any subset
of them. Although most people prefer to have only a single catalog referencing all their media, it is possible to create
more than one catalog, each for a unique set of files.
Note: (Mac OS) You cannot access catalogs present on a network drive.
Important: Elements Organizer users in the United States can backup/synchronize media files in their catalog with their
Elements membership. If you have multiple catalogs, backup/synchronize each of them individually. Only one catalog can
be marked for sync at a time. For more information, see “
Backup and synchronize catalogs, albums, and files
Once your files are in a catalog, you can use the Elements
Organizer to search them, sort them, and fix them. You can
also collect them into albums, or group them by keyword tag or star rating. You can use catalogs and the
Elements
Organizer even if you prefer to store your originals on CDs or in a system of folders on your hard disk.
When you start Elements
Organizer and bring in media files, a catalog is automatically created for you. The catalog
keeps track of the photos, video files, audio clips, and projects on your computer and on other media such as CDs or
DVDs. The catalog contains information about each photo and media file, but it doesn’t contain the actual media files.
The Photoshop Elements catalog references the photo files, video files, and audio files on your computer and displays a thumbnail of each in the
Media Browser.