Re: unlock code to Photoshop album Starter Edition 3

Adobe Poor,

You're not alone in wondering about how to get photos 'out' of Starter Edition. There are a few posts like this in the forum, all of which are based on the false assumption that Starter Edition has exclusive access to the photos that appear to be 'in' the program.

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2413333#2413333

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2281147#2281147

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2165616#2165616

It is a  common misconception that Starter Edition 'stores', or copies, your  files into it. But the program does not move or copy files at all,  rather it scans your system's My Pictures directory, and generates  miniature versions of your pictures (called thumbnails) so that you can  browse a 'flat' list of thumbnails of your photos, overcoming the  inconvenience of having to go into separate folders in Windows Explorer  to have to find files.The thumbnails, as well as any tags, and Albums  that you create in Starter Edition are all stored in the Photoshop Album  catalog file, separate from your pictures, and your pictures remain  where you originally copied them to your computer.

If you use  Photoshop Album to subsequently download files from a digital camera or  scanner, the default location where the program will create those files  would be in the My Pictures>Digital Camera Photos folder. But if you  do NOT use Photoshop Album Starter edition to download files from your  camera, then you will find that folder empty.

The thumbnails in the Starter  Edition catalog will exist, even if you decide to move or delete the  original photos that were added to the program. This will cause files in  the Photoshop Album catalog to become 'disconnected' from the original  photos. To reconnect the files, you can use the File>Reconnect  Missing files command to see if the program can locate the original  files in a new location, and once again re-link the catalog thumbnails  to the files they once referenced.

Since Photoshop Album has been discontinued, I  recommend that folks find an alternative solution. One alternative that  will preserve most of what you've created in Starter Edition is the  Photoshop Elements 8 trial. Install that, and it will automatically  convert the Photoshop Album catalog to a current format, and the program  will not time out, as Starter Edition did. If you want to purchase more  Editing power, you can also choose to purchase the full program, but  it's not required.

If you are like many who have come to this forum wondering  how you can get to your photos, now that the program has become locked  or expired, don't worry; your photos have never been moved by Photoshop  Album; they remain wherever you intially put them, on your hard drive.  To get to them, you can navigate your file system using Windows  Explorer. They are typically in your My Documents>My Pictures folder.  Here is a handy How-To that you could refer to to find photos on your  system, as well as some other tips for how you can use folders to keep  your photos organized: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/maintain/filemgmt.mspx

Hope those  tips help!

Mark

Hi Mark - can you tell me if the basic editing features (such as crop  & red-eye removal) of Photoshop Album Starter are available indefinitely in the Elements free trial version?  That's really all I use my Album Starter for and I just like how easy the features are (plus I'd like to avoid having to learn a new program), but I got a new laptop and so the Album Starter I downloaded will expire soon since it's no longer supported.  Alternatively, is it possible to copy my old (unlocked) version of the Album Starter to the new laptop and have it continue working indefinitely?  Thank you.

Yes, you can do those things, and they are not limited.

I would say not to bother installing Starter Edition on the new laptop; get the Elements tryout right off the bat.

-Mark

Thank you!

Hi Mark,

I'm in the same situation as other users on this thread. I like your solution of upgrading to Elements 8 Trial. Could you please let me know where I can download it?

Thanks

Owen

The latest trial version of Elements is here: https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_elements&loc=en_us

-Mark

My photoshop3.2 also was locked.  But I found the answer !  And it surely wasn't from Adobe themselves.  They were totally useless.  However, I was cleaning out old emails,(from March 2009 yet) and I found one from adobe with my unlock code in it.  And guess what!  It unlocked my pictures.  So check your back emails.

Have you not got your photos stored on your pc somewhere like I have from Adobe?

It creates a folder with dates. If I need to reformat the hard drive I move all my important stuff like photos and music on to an external hard drive

,I never need to access Adobe starter, only use it to upload stuff as it's simple

did you ever get access to your photos? I am having the same problem.

I have Windows XP with the Photoshop Starter Edition 3. and do not wish to upgrade Windows. Any solutions for this, as Revel has to have Windows 8 - HELP - Edition 3 has been operating up to Aug. 2015 -with no problems.

Ruth

I found my file of Adobe photos and able to print them and re-organize.

thats all I need thank you very much

Geoff