Importing photos in folders

Question

How do I import 3500 photos in 12 folders to stay in their 12 folders when imported so I don't have to do that work all over again?  I am not familiar with PSE at all so haven't imported my photos (with thumb drive) not knowing what will happen when I do!

Answer 1

I want to put all photos into Photoshop Elements on this computer and then put all onto an external hard drive.  Is this possible?
No, it is not possible. The photos will NEVER be stored in Photoshop Elements.
when I download all of these photos from my thumb drive (they are not on this computer) where are the photos going in PhotoShop and in what order?
If you use Photoshop elements to do this download, the photos will be placed on your hard disk, somewhere, depending on where you tell PSE to put them (or the default location). As stated, they will not be stored in Photoshop Elements.
Instead, you should move the photos onto your external hard disk using your operating system, thus maintaining whatever folders you have, and then use the PSE command File->Get Photos ...>From Files and Folders When you do this, your photos remain exactly where you put them. They are not stored in Photoshop ELements; instead Photoshop Elements knows the location of your photos, so it can find the photos when you issue PSE commands to do something with the photos. As a consequence of this, once you import the photos using the File->Get Photos ... command, you must use PSE thereafter to manage these photos; you cannot move, rename or delete these photos (or the folders that contain them) outside of PSE.
I really would cry if I had to separate 3500 photos into their correct folders again!
So, if you have followed the above advice, your photos will be in the folders that you want them to be in.
And now some additional advice. The Photoshop Elements Organizer has other tools — not folders, but tags, captions and notes — that can be used for organizing. It is strongly recommended that you transition from using your folders as an organizing tool, to using tags as your primary organizing tool. This gives you greater power to organize in ways that folders cannot possibly achieve. If you want to continue to use folders as your primary organizing tool, and NOT use tags and other PSE tools, then there really isn't much of a reason to use the PSE Organizer. In fact, if you want to continue to use folders as your primary organizing tool, and NOT use tags and other PSE tools, then I would say don't use the PSE Organizer, it adds extra steps, and more restrictions, and a less-friendly interface than your operating system to achieve this folder organization.