FAQ: My files are missing from Elements Organizer, or How to reconnect your images?

What is Elements Organizer?
The Elements Organizer can be used to arrange, codify, systemize, group, and classify your media. When you import your images and video into the Orgnizer, you are adding information about your files to a catalog. Your files remain on your hard drive where they were, unless you are importing them from a camera, in which case the files are copied to your hard drive to a location of your choosing.
What is an Elements Organizer catalog?
The catalog is a database that stores information about the files you've imported into Elements Organizer. When importing a file, the first thing Organizer does is collect the file's name and location on the hard drive. If the file has any attached compatible metadata, such as keyword tags, these are imported as well. You can use multiple catalogs and yourr catalogs can be carried forward from version to version.
Why does Elements Organizer say my files are missing?
Since the catalog database only stores information about your file, and not the file itself, if any of that information is changed outside of Elements Organizer, the connection to the file is lost. There are three ways this can happen: the file name is changed, the file location is changed, or the file has been deleted. If you need to rename, move, or delete a file, you can do so within the Elements Organizer, and then the connection is not lost.
What is Reconnecting?
When a file has been renamed, moved, or deleted, the catalog database needs to be updated with that new information. The Reconnection process allows you to point out a file's new name, it's new location, or to delete the database entry on your file if the file no longer exists on your hard drive.
Where can I learn more?
Managing Files in Elements Organizer
Get photos from files and folders
Importing photos from a digital camera
Import photos from a previous version
Moving files
Hiding and deleting photos
Managing Catalogs in Elements Organizer
Use Backup, Restore to move catalog | Organizer | Elements 6 or later
Troubleshoot catalog backup, upgrade | Organizer | Elements 6 or later
Freeze when you repair a catalog | Organizer | Elements 6 and later
Reconnecting Media in Elements Organizer
Reconnect missing files | Photoshop Elements | Windows
Can't edit, open, reconnect photos or media | Incorrect drive letter | Elements 6 or later Organizer | Windows

Anything besides reconnecting all the files, such as switching the drive letter (if that is even possible)?
The easiest way to fix this is to change the drive letter. Here are instructions for Windows 7: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/change-drive-letters-windows-7.htm
To prevent this from happening again, you can change the drive to some very high letter, like X:, and then it should remain constant. In Lightroom, right-click on the top level folder ,and select Find Missing Folder, and then point it to your X: drive.
I know I can "Import---Add to catalog" all the photos from my external hard drive back into the catalog but I do have a question:
I won't address your question specifically, since re-importing is a very bad idea. A very bad idea. You will lose information that is not in the sidecar files, such as collection members, edit history, flags, virtual copies, stacks and a few other things. Just don't go there. Change the drive letters, as I explained.

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FAQ: My files are missing from the Library, or How to reconnect your images?

What is the Lightroom Library?
The Library module of Lightroom can be used to arrange, codify, systemize, group, and classify your media. When you import your images and video into the Library, you are adding information about your files to a catalog. Your files remain on your hard drive where they were, unless you are importing them from a camera, in which case the files are copied to your hard drive to a location of your choosing.
What is a Lightroom catalog?
The catalog is a database that stores information about the files you've imported into Lightroom. When importing a file, the first thing Lightroom does is collect the file's name and location on the hard drive. If the file has any attached compatible metadata, such as keyword tags, these are imported as well. You can use multiple catalogs and your catalogs can be carried forward from version to version.
Why does Lightroom say my files are missing?
Since the catalog database only stores information about your file, and not the file itself, if any of that information is changed outside of Lightroom, the connection to the file is lost. There are three ways this can happen: the file name is changed, the file location is changed, or the file has been deleted. If you need to rename, move, or delete a file, you can do so within the Library module, and then the connection is not lost.
What is Reconnecting?
When a file has been renamed, moved, or deleted, the catalog database needs to be updated with that new information. The Reconnection process allows you to point out a file's new name, it's new location, or to delete the database entry on your file if the file no longer exists on your hard drive.
Where can I learn more?
The Lightroom Catalog
Introducing catalogs
Understand Catalogs in Lightroom 2
Understanding the Lightroom Catalog System
Managing Files in Lightroom's Library
Adobe Help - Importing Photos
Adobe TV - Importing Photos
Adobe TV - Using the new import window
Adobe TV - Importing and Organizing Your Images
Adobe TV - Importing Existing Images
Adobe TV - Two ways to Import
Adobe TV - Moving Files in Lightroom VS the Operating System
Adobe TV - Moving Folders Around After the Fact
Adobe TV - Move & Archive Images, and Export a Catalogue
Video Workshop - The Filter Bar
Managing Catalogs in Lightroom
Managing catalogs and files
Preference and other file locations | Lightroom 4 - 3 - 2 - 1
Catalog FAQ | Lightroom
Single or Multiple Catalogs in Lightroom
Working with Multiple Catalogs
Merging Individual Lightroom Catalogs into a "Master" Catalog
Importing an Elements catalog to Lightroom
Lightroom 3 can't upgrade Photoshop Elements catalogs
Backing up your catalog
Exporting a catalog
How to Migrate LR to Another Computer
Reconnecting Media in Lightroom
Locate missing photos
Dude! Where are my photos?

Similar happened to me when i moved my iTunes library from XP to Win 8.1. Apps were in iTunes but would not sync to iPhone - could not find oritinal file. Win Xp and 8.1 have different file paths for My Documents and My Music. Locate the folder within iTunes called Mobile Applications. It should have a file with an IPA extension for each application. Add that folder to library. That will refresh the iTunes database so that it knows where to find the apps. I had to do that to my entire library (music, podcasts, etc)

My catalogues and tags are missing from my Organizer in Photoshop Elements 10? What is going on?

My catalogues and tags are missing from my Organizer in Elements 10. What is going on?

Thank you for the advice. I have a PC and the catalogs were for the most part where you said they would be, on the C drive under Program Data\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs. The last six months folder as well as a cruise I took in 2012 is missing but the rest seems to be there. Now I seem to have two Organizers-the one I just found and the one I created with my March 2013 trip pictures. How do I put them together and find them when I click on the Photoshop elements Organizer icon? You mentioned “pointing “ PSE to it in the default mode? How do I do that?
TS

.xml file and iTunes library files are missing from the music folder

I recently made a second itunes library on my external hd, today when I open itunes and choose this library, the .xml file and itunes music file are invisible or translucent, therefore I can't open my library. But when I go to my music folder they are missing. Another odd thing is that all my music is still in the folder. Is there a way to re-open my library w/o re-importing all my music? Can I some how get a new itunes library file?
Mac OS X (10.4.10)

This is not an answer but I have the same problem. From time to time I clone my music drive to an external drive for back up. When I do, I burn a copy of the album artwork folder, iTunes Music folder, iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Music Libraru.xml, and iTunes Library file to CDRW. This is so I can copy them into the music folder in my user home drive of my laptop then hook up the external and have access my library. Trouble is the .xml file and iTunes library files don't always show up when I go to the iTunes folder in my Music folder. There either is a blank where they should be or the names appear with no icon and when I click to select, that dissappers too. I thought I had a solve by exiting iTunes and letting it save everything. It seems to bring the .xml file back but not the itunes Library file. Any thoughts?

Session saved correctly, but files are missing from multitrack?

Started a recording last night with multiple wav files. Audition crashed about 2 or 3 times during recordings, but became stable after a while (after continuing the session). When recoring was done, I saved the file and everything seemed to be working correctly and closed the program no files were missing at this point. When I came in this morning, Audition said that some wav files were missing. So i searched all over the computer and temp files but couldn't find a single trace of them. What happened to the files?
More info:
OS: Windows 7
Version: Audition CS6
Temp directory: Default
Last working state: Last night
Non-working state: Morning after (PC went into sleep mode over-night)
Working wav files sequence: Track 1_065.wav , Track 1_066.wav , Track 1_067.wav , etc..
Missing files: Track 1_006_1.wav , Track 1_012.wav , & Track 1_019.wav
Thank You

JoshCarp wrote:
If Audition crashes the wav files and all are still there when it starts back up. However, if I save it and close, then the wav files are gone . . . nowhere to be found. It seems like Audition is saving them in a temporary folder. According to Audition the clip I need is located here: c:/Users/<username>/AppData/Roaming/Audition/6.0/<series of numbers and letters>
However, that temp folder apparently is getting deleted as it doesn't exist. I am currently running a Data Recovery program to see if I can get the file back, but it seems like it's not going to find it.
Thank you for explaining exactly what's happening. On the face of it, I suspect that the information Audition had about where the files were supposed to be is getting lost in the crash. It would appear that the recovery data can be relocated correctly, but because it now has no path to save to, it disappears when you try to save it - it would appear that this process gets the save/save as system out of sync completely.
In this situation, almost certainly the best thing to do is to export the re-opened files as a separate action, and don't try using 'save' at all - because that really is going to lose them.
Is it a bug? Not sure. But you really should attempt to find out why your system is crashing Audition, that's for sure...

Lightroom 5.2 - files are missing from hard drive after Import

I am using Lightroom 5.2, Windows 7.
I imported files into Lightroom from my hard drive and now those folders on my hard drive are empty and the photos are gone from Lightroom as well.
Help!

Not sure if move or add was selected; what is the default? I did do a preliminary search of my hard drive but interrupted it because it was taking so long. I will let it finish searching. I must have moved them. They're not in the recycle bin.
There is a catalog for both Lightroom 4 and 5. I upgraded the Lightroom 4 catalog but that didn't help.

An index of my desktop files appears in firefox. why is it there? does this mean my personal files are accessible from the internet? how can i make sure this goes away and stops?

i am seeing and index of my personal files on firefox. what is this? why is it there? how can i make it go away? does this mean my desktop files are on the internet? can someone explain clearly and simply (i am not tech saavy at all) thank you

This issue can be caused by an old bitmap version of the Helvetica or Geneva font or (bitmap) fonts that Firefox can't display in that size.
Firefox can't display some old bitmap fonts in a larger size and displays gibberish instead.
You can test that by zooming out (View > Zoom > Zoom Out, Ctrl -) to make the text smaller.
Uninstall (remove) all variants of that not working font to make Firefox use another font or see if you can find a True type version that doesn't show the problem.
There have also been fonts with a Chinese name reported that identify themselves as Helvetica, so check that as well.
Use this test to see if the Helvetica font is causing it (Copy & Paste the code in the location bar and press Enter):
<pre><nowiki>data:text/html,
Helvetica abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 
Helvetica Neue abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
</nowiki></pre>
You should reset the network.http prefs that show user set on the about:config page. 
Not all websites support http pipelining and if they do not then you can have issues with images or other problems.
See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/Images_or_animations_do_not_load#First_steps

My avi files are missing from iPhoto.

The thumbnails of the videos are showing up and the length of the video is there. When I double click on the image nothing happens. I right click and click on "Show File". It takes me to where it used to be but there is no file there. What's going on?!

transferred all files from our PC to the iMac
Did you import them into the iPhoto LIbrary at that time? If you did then the image and video files would be stored in the library.
Our files were getting too large so I just bought a new hard drive a couple months back and transferred all files to the new one.
How did you transfer the files to the new HD? What format is that hard drive. It should be as shown in this screenshot:

My stop,reload,copy cut are missing from my tool bar . how do I get them back

under the file ,edit tool bar You have a set of controls for stop,reload, cut, paste, copy etc, this second row of commands are missing

NOV 2011:- Right click on the toolbar, and click customise. (You might have to go to different parts of the toolbar until it works) Then just drag the icons to the toolbar. Easy, although I don't know why they keep changing things - very frustrating!

Error msg iTunes cannot run files are missing - reinstall itunes

I keep getting a message when i try to open iTunes 9 telling me to re-install. When I do, large portions of my music files are missing from iTunes on laptop. They are on my iPhone 3G, because I synced them from iTunes before it crashed. How do I get them to sync back into iTunes from the iPhone?

Have a look at this article in the Apple Knowledge Base and let us know if it brings you any combination of joy and/or satisfaction.

I changed drives and consolidated my library, but many files are missing

I recently changed my the hard drive on which my iTunes media were stored. I followed instructions on this page:
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
However, after consolidation I discovered that quite a lot of folders and files are missing from the new created file. The missing songs are still in my library, and when I try to play them, I get the exclamation mark and have to direct iTunes to the original files on the old hard drive.
I've restarted everything and tried to consolidate again and again, but the files remain missing.
What should I do?
All advice gratefully received.

I am not doing it in ITunes, but i did down load the song from ITunes. I loaded the song on to my Nano, but in my menu selections it doesn't show the song or the artist in any search format. However, when i plug in my nano to my PC I see the Nano library on my PC drive listings and that song and artist are there. I can click on the song and it will play in Windows media on my work PC. I did notice that the format for most all the songs in my library on my Nano are MPEG - 4 audio Files.
Thanks for your help, Mel

I had photoshop installed fine. We had to replace our hard drive, but had a full backup and everything else is working except for elements. This is the message I get -Some of the application components are missing from the Application directory, Please

I had photoshop installed fine. We had to replace our hard drive, but had a full backup and everything else is working except for elements. This is the message I get -Some of the application components are missing from the Application directory, Please reinstall the application. I have reinstalled, but am getting the same message.

A possible cause is a problem with the file places.sqlite that stores the bookmarks and the history.
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file
You can also try to repair the places database with this extension:
*https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/places-maintenance/

I imported files from an external hard drive to Itunes on a new computer. they imported & play fine, but the ratings & playlists are gone & i am unable to update any info. I found a file name playlist on old drive & imported now most files are missing!

I imported files from an external hard drive to Itunes on a new computer. they imported & play fine, but the ratings & playlists are gone & i am unable to update any info. I found a file name playlist on old drive & imported now most files are missing! Help!

Can you locate the iTunes Library.itl file on the old drive? Ideally you would have simply copied over the entire iTunes folder structure from <User's Music> on the old computer into <User's Music> on the new one to transfer the library will all playlists, ratings, play counts etc. intact.
tt2

PS CS4 64-bit (in Web Premium CS4) on Win 7 PC. I did a duplicate file check on my hdd and deleted dup files. Now I get "Some of the application components are missing from the Application directory, Please reinstall.."

PS CS4 64-bit (in Web Premium CS4) on Win 7 PC. I did a duplicate file check on my hdd and deleted dup files. Now when I try to run PS 64-bit I get "Some of the application components are missing from the Application directory, Please reinstall the application." When I do this, it seems to install correctly until the very end, then it says "Installation Complete With Errors", and when I try to run I get the same 'component missing message'. What can I do? PS 32 bit runs fine. Some of the other applications ib Web Premium say the shortcut has been changed or removed. I appreciate your help...Thank you

Best advice I can think of is to uninstall and run the Clean Script from here.
Adobe - Adobe CS4 Clean Script

"File" and "View" are missing from the ribbon in Excel, MS Office 2011, please help!

"File" and "View" are missing from the ribbon in Excel, I'm running MS Office 2010. Please help!

Post your question on the MS Mac forums as it's their software you're having issues with: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac?auth=1

FAQ: My files are missing from Elements Organizer, or How to reconnect your images?

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