Adobe Community: Elements 10 doesn't give the option to store incoming pictures in a date sequence (yyyy mm dd)

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Elements 10 doesn't give the option to store incoming pictures in a date sequence (yyyy mm dd)

Dec 4, 2011 11:52 AM

Tags: #problem #photoshop_elements #elements_10_organizer #organiser

I am a long-time Elements user (most versions since it first came out) and I have 10s of thousands of photos, mostly stored by downloading from my various cameras through Elements.

Now I have "upgraded" to Elements 10, and discover that it won't allow me to continue with the sequence of folder names that were generated by previous versions.

I have always uploaded my photos into subfolders generated by Elements with names of the format yyyy mm dd. This has the great convenience that these folders sort in date order. I have them going back to 2002 01 24.

Now I have Elements 10, and when I downloaded some new photos it defaulted to subfolder names which don't store in sequence- (yyyy dd mm). So I went to options / camera or card reader to correct this silly default. I looked in the drop-down list and there are a whole lot of what seem to me silly choices, (why would anyone want a folder name that doesn't store in date order?) but not the one I want.

This is quite a serious problem. Suppose I go away for two days, and shoot pictures on .30 Nov 2011 and on 1 Dec 2011 (OK US friends, Nov 30 2011 and Dec 1 2011). Elements 10 will store the first lot as one of the last folders in 2022 (along with shots made on 31 Jan 2011, 31 Mar 2011, etc). My second day's shooting will be stored near the start of the year, along with shots made on the first day of other months.

This is mad!!!!- an absurd bug. But so far it doesn't seem to have been fixed.

Can anyone tell me a way round? Or that there is a fix for this bug that I haven't found? Or that it doesn't happen on anyone else's machine (in which case, why didn't it happen on my machine with Elements 9?)

It's going to be extremely tedious to have to hand-amend all future folder names so that they sort in sequence (and are consistent with my hundreds of existing folders). I can't believe that Adobe would have done this deliberately, so I'm mystified. Help!

My copy of Elements 10 was bought from Amazon UK- must be a standard UK issue. My PC runs under Windows 7.

6823 Views 29 Replies Latest reply: ukash-kart, Jun 8, 2012 3:46 PM

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1. LittlePaleFace,

Dec 4, 2011 1:01 PM in reply to PaulRichardKingston

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Hi,

For your information, up until a few weeks ago, my system acted as you wanted (i.e folders with names YYYY MM DD). Something has changed because I now notice that it is using YYYY DD MM. I'm in the UK and using Windows 7 too. I'm in the process of trying to see what has changed - I also have another system to try it on. If I find out a fix, I'll get back to you.

I don't really bother where PSE stores the photos (after all, that's why I have the organizer) and that is why I haven't noticed the change until now. It would be good to stick to the same naming convention though.

Brian

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2. LittlePaleFace,

Dec 4, 2011 2:09 PM in reply to PaulRichardKingston

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Hi,

I have tried it on PSE 10 on another system with the same incorrect results. I have also tried it on a PSE 9 system on my Windows 7 system and that works correctly. It seems to have gone wrong around 28/09/.2011 - just when ACR 6.5 was released.

Someone else has hit the problem and has raised an error report on it

http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/photo_downloader _subfolder_created_with_wrong_date_format

Suggest to go there and add yourself to the count - the higher the count the more chance we have of Adobe fixing the problem.

Brian

Correction: the 28/09/2011 was when I installed PSE 10 so it has never worked correctly.

Message was edited by: LittlePaleFace

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3. LittlePaleFace,

Dec 6, 2011 1:42 AM in reply to PaulRichardKingston

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Hi,

Now I am totally confused.

Two days ago, I tried it on two systems (Win7/64 and Win7/32) and got the error - folder name YYYY DD MM

Now I try it and both give the correct name - YYYY MM DD

I did some fiddling about on the Win7/64 system, looking at the regional settings but don't recall touching the Win7/32 system. I'm at a loss why it has corrected itself.

Have you checked your system recently?

Brian

Edit:

After a little more testing I seem to be able to switch the error on or off by changing the date format in the General Preferences.
If the format is DD/MM/YYYY then the folder is named YYYY DD MM
If the format is MM/DD/YYYY then the folder is named YYYY MM DD

Brian

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4. photodrawken,

Dec 6, 2011 2:19 PM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Hi Brian,
Thanks for finding that workaround. I'd sure like to see Adobe fix the issue by simply allowing a selection of YYYY/MM/DD regardless of the system's settings.

Ken

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5. LittlePaleFace,

Dec 7, 2011 1:23 AM in reply to photodrawken

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Hi Ken,

Yes, it would be good for them to be independent.

Have you added your count to the bug report? - You could also add the suggestion of independent settings there. If they fix the problem, they might get it right.

http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/photo_downloader _on_os_x_uses_wrong_shot_date_for_jpeg_files

Brian

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6. photodrawken,

Dec 7, 2011 1:50 PM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Done.

Ken

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7. LittlePaleFace,

Dec 7, 2011 4:30 PM in reply to photodrawken

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Hi Ken,

I see you have added a reply but did you increment the count?

I'm still finding my way around the forum system but on the other community, when I open a problem, there is a button to "+1" - this seems to increment the count of people affected. There is an message that says "nn People have this problem" - if you have been included in the count, it adds "including you" to the message.

I do wish that Adobe would simplify the system - it seems designed to deter people from using it (sorry, my pet hate at the moment).

Brian

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8. photodrawken,

Dec 7, 2011 6:23 PM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Hi Brian,

Grumble...grumble...grumble. OK, I increased the count. I dislike that forum's software, not the least because it never "remembers" my login. Won't press that issue, since I'm already involved there in my semi-annual argument with Adobe employees.

Ken

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9. PaulRichardKingston,

Dec 8, 2011 8:04 AM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Brian-

I've also added a supporting comment into the thread you've pointed at, and incremented the count.

As the originator of this thread, I'd happily merge it into the one you've pointed at but I can't see how to do this. Very possibly this is a facility only revealed after you've bee around here a while.

Paul

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10. LittlePaleFace,

Dec 8, 2011 8:31 AM in reply to PaulRichardKingston

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Hi Paul,

I don't think there is a way of merging the two as they are different communities - just to confuse us users I suppose.

I get the impression that someone, like a moderator, is looking at the other community as various messages on the same subject have been merged together. The good thing is that as the count increases, Adobe might be more inclined to fix it.

Brian

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11. PaulRichardKingston,

Dec 8, 2011 10:56 AM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Thanks Brian for this work-round. I've tried it and it works for me (using Elements 10 and Windows 7). The price is of course that my pictures display in Elements itself with US format dates, and these are in the more confusing short form (I can live with Dec 8 2011, but 12/8/2011 of course looks to me to mean 12 Aug 2011).

However, your fix means that I will no longer be building a set of folders that nead re-naming by hand in order to sort in date sequence. (And of course that re-naming will confuse the Elements directory- ugh!)

Surely Adobe will fix this bug without waiting for user votes? This is a regression; it worked correctly in all previous versions of Elements, and it doesn't in Elements 10. In my day in the software industry, we fixed regression bugs without question.

Paul

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12. 99jon,

Dec 8, 2011 11:04 AM in reply to PaulRichardKingston

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Unfortunately Paul, all the work is sub-contracted to the folks in India, who are very charming but nothing ever gets fixed.

On the rare occasions that an update gets issued, like 9.0.3 it simply introduces more problems.

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13. LittlePaleFace,

Dec 8, 2011 11:48 AM in reply to PaulRichardKingston

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Hi Paul,

You only need to change the date format when you are about to download photos - I change it back for normal running.

Brian

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14. LittlePaleFace,

Dec 8, 2011 11:53 AM in reply to 99jon

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Jon,

Oh ye of little faith - but probably correct

With any luck they might be able to fix it by version 12

Brian

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15. mcmusic77,

Dec 12, 2011 11:02 AM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Hi guys,

I am also a victim of this unnecessary bug. I just wrote my opinion into the thread that has been given above in post 5. I also increased the count there. I do not understand why there are not hundreds of counts at this place!

I have spent some time with this topic in the past. Here are my ideas for you, eventually you find them useful as well.

<<
Since years I used to let the organizer create a folder jj mm dd which is 2 characters shorter than the provided, but unfunctional jjjj mm dd. Years ago I asked Adobe to include jjmmdd (without spaces in the folder name). This is again shorter and would be much better if you let a program make webpages from a folder. These spaces always translate in badly readable html%20folder%20names.

So I ask Adobe for a solution to make the folder names that the organizer creates USER DEFINEABLE FOLDER NAMES, as it has been done in version 10 with the file names of the photos. This seems to work well.
>>

Greetings mcmusic77

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16. mcmusic77,

Dec 12, 2011 12:45 PM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Hello,

I tried the workaround. Changed the setting in Organizer - Bearbeiten - Voreinstellungen - Kamera oder Kartenleser (this is on my German menu. It translates to somewhat like Organizer - Edit - Options - Camera). I got, no matter how I changed these settings to, always the same wrong result yyyy dd mm.

Now I changed in the Control panel, Region and language, Format, Date (short) from my German standard tt.mm.yy to yyyy-mm-dd).

Now the Organizer really creates the correct folder yyyy mm dd !

I do not know yet what disadvantage I have by this change in other applications, there probably will be some (or, more likely, many). If I get serious errors elsewhere, it is not worth to change the control panel setting in a stop-go motion just for PSE to behave correctly. Then it could be better to change the folder names by hand.

But anyway thanks for this hint. I just was not clear where to change the date format.

If anyone finds a better workaround, we all would be eager to hear about it.

PS: With the great tool AutoHotkey, it might be easy to create a script which switches the control panel format stop-go between the 2 formats. In practical use, that would be just a quick shortcut to be keyed in. I'll have to think about that, since I do not expect a fast solution from Adobe.
--
Greetings,
mcmusic77

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17. Tommybdk,

Dec 19, 2011 1:29 PM in reply to mcmusic77

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Hello.

I've found another workaround.

When you download your pictures from Photo Downloader, you choose Custom Group (advanced) in create subfolders. Then you put the slider placed just over Group name all the way to left and then it will get it in the correct format (YYYY MM DD)

The funny thing is, that I downloaded some pictures in Organizer last time at 2011 12 10 and they turned out all right with the correct time format without this solution.

Greetings

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18. LittlePaleFace,

Feb 21, 2012 8:41 AM in reply to PaulRichardKingston

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Hi,

In case you are not up to speed on this, a fix is now available from Adobe.

The Elements Team has posted fixes for these issues:

Mac: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/930/cpsid_93...

Win: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/930/cpsid_93...

Brian

(Edited to put in actual links)

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19. photodrawken,

Feb 21, 2012 12:49 PM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Thanks for the update and links, Brian!

Ken

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20. DW_111,

Feb 25, 2012 1:36 PM in reply to PaulRichardKingston

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Hi,
Just installed the above update and its seems to have added another bug - ie it insists on deleting the original file from the card even though "do not Delete" is highlighted in the downlader!

DW

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21. LittlePaleFace,

Feb 25, 2012 1:55 PM in reply to DW_111

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Hi DW,

Which operating system are you using?

What type of images (raw/jpg) ?

I'm not suffering from that symptom and I have been doing lots of tests to get the same images from my card.

Brian

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22. LittlePaleFace,

Feb 25, 2012 2:47 PM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Hi DW,

Couple of other questions.

Are you using the standard or advanced dialogs when you download the images?

Have you set the Edit -> Preferences - Camera or Card to say do not delete after download or do you just use the option in the download dialog.

If you can tell me how you work, I might be able to try it on my system.

Brian

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23. DW_111,

Feb 27, 2012 1:54 PM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Brian,
Thanks for your reply,

I'm using Win7 with Elements10 - I've only tried it with JPG files so far, and yes I have the do not delete box ticked in the preferences as well as on the downloader.

I'm still getting the problem of the downloader not recognising that I have already downloaded a picture and it simply tags _n onto the end of the picture file name, even though the do not download duplicates box is ticked. This problem seems to have occured since Elements6 (where it worked ok) - it may be a connected to this problem with the dates?

DW

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24. DW_111,

Feb 27, 2012 2:08 PM in reply to DW_111

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Brian,
Just tried something interesting - after your comment about advanced vs standard downloader. I just changed to the standard downloader and loaded a set of pictures - this time it seemed to pick up that there were duplicates present. Not only that but when I went onto the date format it had the correct yyyy_mm_dd format this time. Not only that but when I cancelled that and went back to the advanced dialog it did not pick up the duplicates but it did retain the correct yyyy_mm_dd date! - this is all with the original downloader not the updated one.

Not sure whats happening here?

Dw

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25. LittlePaleFace,

Feb 27, 2012 2:32 PM in reply to DW_111

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Hi,

By any chance do you have anything in the Creator or Copyright fields in the download dialog?

I seem to have found a problem whereby if there is something in thos fields PSE seem to create a different identity for the image - the next attempt at a download means that it doesn't recognise duplicates and adds the -n to the name.

Brian

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26. DW_111,

Mar 7, 2012 12:09 PM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Brian,
Have tried this every which way - even when nothing is in the coyright fields etc it still happens - even when I don't download basic metadata - still the same, however the only thing that seemed to work was unchecking the "preserve filename in XMP" - in this instance it did seem to pick up on the duplicates

DW

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27. LittlePaleFace,

Mar 7, 2012 1:06 PM in reply to DW_111

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Hi DW,

Well done, I think that you have found another setting which affects the duplication test.

I don't have that option checked and I normally avoid the problem altogether by always formatting my card when I return it to the camera. I have only noticed the problem recently during doing lots of tests. I rarely rename to images either.

I have updated the bug on the other feedback forum just to keep them looking at it. Not many have increased the count so it probably isn't very high on Adobe's list.

http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/photo_downloader _causes_duplicates_in_the_organiser_catalog

Brian

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28. ImNizam,

Mar 29, 2012 4:42 AM in reply to LittlePaleFace

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Hi DW,

Settings Edit -> Preferences - Camera or Card are applicable only for automatic photo download. For manual download settings you will have to select them from APD window.

This is very strange case ,even while selecting Do not delete original files , APD deletes them. In whole of my testing with different devices I have never faced this kind of issue. Still if your all settings are correct , try once again after deleting APD preferences file from :

C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Elements Organizer\11.0\Organizer

delete APDPreferences.xml file.

Nizam

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29. ukash-kart,

Jun 8, 2012 3:46 PM in reply to ImNizam

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I'm looking for thank you ımnizam http://www.ukash-kart.com

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