Here’s the deal: both Lightroom and Elements use a database to keep track of files. They use different databases. With both programs, you have to add files into the database (or “catalog”) for them to be seen by the application.

Because they use databases, it’s possible to have one set of files, or one system of organization, on your physical hard drive, and another within the catalog. OK so far?

If you work on a photo in Lightroom, or export newly created files, Elements may not see the changes, and vice versa.

The best way to ensure continuity between the programs is to 1) make sure all your current files have been imported both places, and 2) going forward, use the Edit In… command to go from LR and PSE and back again. When you use Edit In…, LR keeps track of your work during that session, and any new files created will automatically be added back into the LR catalog.

You can use the Synchronize Folder command in Lightroom to make sure everything in a folder on your hard drive is included in the catalog. Synchronize Folder also removes records from the catalog for photos that have been removed from the hard drive.

The file system in Lightroom (and PSE) is designed to precisely reflect your file structures on the hard drive. So keeping files organized properly on the hard drive is essential.

You can use Lightroom Collections to create alternative groupings for photos, without requiring moving or saving any new files on the physical hard drive.

I hope this helps. I offer private, one-on-one consulting via remote screen sharing software Contact me directly if you’d like to discuss further. Thanks again!

Thanks for all the good tips and comments. I am trying to organize some images and probably think too much like file manager rather than catalog function. All I am trying to do is reorganize a badly maintained (I take all the blame) file directory and at the same time keep Lightroom and Photoshop Elements up-to-date. The two products do not play well together, in my opinion. Images seem to get lost in one or the other or both and then I have to go hunting. Extremely tedious. But the real question is how can I store a collection that has a specific purpose such as an upcoming show that I want to prepare for, and not lose all the previous work or links? My file manager head says to start a new folder but when I start moving images they are now lost in space. Any ideas on how to proceed? I love the functionality of the Lightroom EXCEPT for the file management system which, to me, seems almost arcane.
Thank-you,
Mark

This illustrates why it’s usually best to have all of your sub-folders contained within one top level folder. This way, if you move your image files, all you need to do is relink the top level folder and Lightroom will find all the files in the subfoders underneath.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this. Thanks for reading and commenting!

John

Before I explain the solution, I need to re-emphasize the importance of always knowing what catalog you’re working in. Pop-up messages and windows that open when you’re launching Lightroom really need to be carefully heeded to avoid problems. If you get in the habit of ignoring Lightroom’s messages at startup, you’re headed for trouble.

Managing catalogs in Lightroom is really as simple as opening “files” like you would in any other program. A catalog is simply a Lightroom “file”. You can only have one catalog open at a time, and you always need to know what catalog you’re working from.

With Lightroom open and running, you can go to the Catalog Settings box (Mac under Lightroom menu, Windows under Edit menu). This will tell you what catalog is open, and gives you a button to show that catalog on your desktop. This is an essential aspect of managing multiple catalogs; use it frequently!

Also, Lightroom has a Preferences setting that determines what catalog to open when launching the program. In Preferences > General > Default Catalog you have options to “Load Most Recent Catalog”, “Prompt me”, plus a list of recently opened catalogs and “Other…” which lets you choose one a catalog from outside the provided list.

When you’re in Lightroom (in any catalog) you can use the File > Open Catalog to open a different one. This will quit Lightroom and restart usign the selected catalog.

OK, that business aside – you need to find the catalog that you normally work in, which I call the “master” catalog. We should all have one main catalog that contains our most recent photos, the work we’ve done on them, etc. Other catalogs normally are used for temporary purposes, specific to a given situation.

So, understanding that you are in the wrong catalog, it’s probably easiest to use the “Open Catalog” command and navigate to your master catalog and open it. If you’re not sure where it’s located, try the “Open Recent” command instead.

With your master catalog open, check your Preferences to see what catalog is set to open by default. It’s probably set to “Load most recent Catalog” which, if you only work from one catalog, is usually OK. But you can change this to always open one specific catalog, regardless of what is the “most recent”.

I need to also point out that the issue of choosing what catalog to work in is especially important when you’re upgrading to a newer version of Lightroom. Each version of Lightroom requires a catalog upgrade, which means that you will generate a new catalog from the older version. Going forward, this is the catalog to work in. If you know you’ve already upgraded your catalog to the current version, and you get the message that the catalog needs to be updated, STOP! Lightroom is looking at the wrong catalog.

**I had a client who was unknowingly working from as many as eight (8!) different catalogs. Obviously, this will present “challenges”.

So, to restate my original point, always know what catalog is open, and what catalogs are saved on your hard drive. Be careful that you don’t work in multiple catalogs un-intentionally.

You can search your hard drive for files ending in “.lrcat” to identify all the catalogs on your system and decide what to do with them.

Please let me know if you have any other questions, or trouble with the steps presented.

Thanks for your comments!

1. Make a new catalog with a unique name (so you can tell it apart from the others). This is under File > New Catalog…
2. From within this new catalog, use the “Import from Catalog” option (also under the File menu).
3. Do an Import from Catalog for each of your other separate catalogs. When you’re done, you will have everything from those catalogs in all the new one.

When doing these Import from Catalog operations you have options for how the actual image files (and potential duplicates) are handled. Depending on your file/folder structure you may need to enable some of the options. However, if you’re OK with where all the actual files are, just leave all the settings at their default.

Let me know if you run into any trouble. Good luck!