Adobe Elements Organizer 9 - Manual (Page 99)

95 USING ELEMENTS 9 ORGANIZER
Managing files and catalogs
Last updated 9/12/2011
Important: Media files remain where they are originally stored; they do not reside in Elements Organizer. Instead,
Elements
Organizer creates links to the original files. If you delete an original file, Elements Organizer will not be able to
access it.
Your catalog is like a database that contains links to your media files. These links inform Elements Organizer about
the media file’s location, file format, what keyword tags are attached to it, date the media file was taken, and so on. All
of this information gives you flexibility in managing, identifying, and organizing media files.
Although you automatically create a catalog when you start Elements Organizer and bring in media files, it’s possible
to create more than one catalog. Most people don’t need or want multiple catalogs. However, multiple catalogs are
useful, for example, if friends or family members share Elements
Organizer on the same computer and want their own,
separate sets of photos, video files, and keyword tag organization schemes. Or, perhaps you want one catalog of work-
related media files and one catalog of personal media files.
When you create different catalogs, you can use different keyword tags and photos in each catalog.
Information contained in catalogs
Elements Organizer saves the following information about the photos, video files, and audio clips in your catalog:
• The path and name of the file.
• The path and filename of any associated audio file.
• The path, filename, and volume name of the original, full-resolution file (if the original file is stored offline on a CD
or DVD).
• The path and filename of the original, unedited file (if the file has been edited).
• The name of any camera or scanner associated with the batch of imported media files.
• Captions you’ve added to a media file.
• Notes you’ve added to a media file.
• The media type—that is, whether it’s a photo, video files, audio clip, or project.
• The date and time the media file was created and whether its date is completely or only partially known.