Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
WORKAROUND WORKSHOP: SHOULD YOU USE THE MAC ORGANIZER?
Starting with Elements 9, Adobe began including the Organizer in the Mac version of Elements
instead of Adobe Bridge, which came with older versions of the program. So if you have a Mac,
you need to decide whether to use the Organizer to keep track of your photos, and this is an even
thornier question than it is in Windows.
If you've been using the Organizer in Windows and you just got a Mac, you probably want to use
the Mac Organizer, since that's the easiest way to move everything over. However, you can move
only catalogs made with Elements 9 or later from one operating system to the other, so if you
have a version of Elements for Windows that's older than that, install Elements 13 on your Win-
dows machine—you get both versions of the program in the same box—and then use it to up-
grade your existing catalog. Next, make a full backup of your catalog to a removable hard drive.
Then install Elements 13 on your Mac, and then restore the backup there by choosing
File→Restore Catalog. Once you're sure everything's working OK, you can deactivate Elements
on the Windows computer ( Beyond This Topic ) if you no longer need it. (It's important to be
aware that this process works only if you bought Elements 13 in a box , since a download version
comes with a serial number that's only for Windows or only for Mac.)
If you have Premiere Elements, Adobe's video-editing program, the Organizer is much more im-
portant to that program than it is to Photoshop Elements. So you'll probably want to come to grips
with the Organizer if you use both Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements.
If you use iPhoto, it's easy to siphon your images into the Organizer by choosing File→“Get Pho-
tos and Videos”→From iPhoto. If you use this command, you import your entire iPhoto library
into Elements. Elements makes duplicates of all the files, which you'll find in your Pictures
folder→Adobe→Organizer→iPhoto Library Media. This is the only time Elements ever copies
photos on import. That's a good thing, because the iPhoto library gets very cranky if you poke at
it from outside iPhoto (for example, don't try to make Elements save back into the iPhoto library,
or you could lose your photos entirely). Also, the Organizer has been known to make unexpected
changes to the metadata ( Media View ) of files in the Organizer; if this happened to an image
that's already in iPhoto, it's hard to say what the effect might be. So if you're feeling brave, go
ahead and give the Organizer a try. Just know that there's a slight risk involved.
If you want to move only some of your photos to the Organizer or just try it out, export your pho-
tos from the photo-management program you currently use, or create duplicate files to use as your
test catalog. Put them where you want to keep them, and then import them by going to File→Get
Photos→“From Files and Folders” in the Organizer. (Importing this way just creates an Organizer
database entry for your photos, not a separate copy.)
The two big advantages to using the Organizer are that you can use all of Elements' features, and
Elements lets you save unlimited versions of your photos (see Saving Your Work ) . iPhoto, on the
other hand, keeps only a single version plus the original. That means that if you edit a photo and
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