TechNote (Archived)

Photoshop Elements 3.0 interaction with Photoshop Album

What's covered

Locating Photoshop Elements 3.0 and Photoshop Album catalog files

Managing Photoshop Elements 3.0 and Photoshop Album catalog files

Photoshop Album and Photoshop Elements 3.0 can be installed and coexist on the same system. Since they share a number of common features, including the use of catalog files (.PSA file format), it is important to understand how they can potentially interact. The Photoshop Elements 3.0 Organizer component can import Photoshop Album (1.x - 2.0) catalogs as well as create it's own catalog files.

Locating Photoshop Elements 3.0 and Photoshop Album catalog files

Photoshop Elements 3.0 and Photoshop Album store their catalog files in different locations. Both applications can run concurrently on same system but cannot open the same catalog files.

The default catalog folder for Photoshop Album and Photoshop Elements 3.0 are found in the following locations:

-- Photoshop Album

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Album\Catalogs

-- Photoshop Elements 3.0 (Organizer)

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Catalogs

Managing Photoshop Elements 3.0 and Photoshop Album catalog files

When Photoshop Elements 3.0 is installed, any Album catalogs present in the Album default catalog folder are copied to the Photoshop Elements 3.0 folder. The original Album catalogs are left in the original catalog folder.

The Photoshop Album catalog file named "My Catalog" presents a special case since Photoshop Elements 3.0 uses the same file name for it's own default catalog file. If a Album catalog file called My Catalog.psa is present in the Album catalog folder, Photoshop Elements 3.0 will automatically:

a. Copy the My Catalog PSA file to it's own Photoshop Elements 3.0 catalog folder on installation.

b. Convert the file to a Photoshop Elements 3.0 catalog file the first time the Organizer is launched (View and Organize Photos is selected on the Welcome screen).

To open Photoshop Album catalog files in Photoshop Elements 3.0

1. Launch Photoshop Elements 3.0 and choose View and Organize Photos from the Welcome screen

2. In the organizer workspace, choose File > Catalog > Open

3. Located and open the Photoshop Album catalog you wish to convert. If you have saved catalog files to locations other than the default, you may need to navigate to them individually.

Note:opening a Photoshop Album catalog file in Photoshop Elements 3.0 will result in the following conversion warning:

The catalog named [filename] was created by a prior version of Photoshop Album and needs to be converted before it can be used.

Your old catalog file will be saved as [filename -1.psa].

4. Click OK to the conversion warning message. The converted file is then saved to the same file name as the original, and a backup copy is created with -1 appended to the end.

Note:once a Photoshop Album Catalog is converted to Photoshop Elements 3.0 format, it can no longer be opened in Photoshop Album. Attempting to open a Photoshop Elements 3.0 catalog file in Photoshop Album results in the following error message:

- Open Catalog:

The catalog named [filename] is NEWER than this version of the application and cannot be read!