There was an error opening up the Backup/Synchronization Preferences. Please close Preferences and try again. || Errors in sharing album to photoshop.com

Recently we saw problem in loading of Backup/Sync Preferences in Adobe Photoshop Elements. One of the users is getting following message on attempt of launching Backup/Sync preferences through CTRL+K or Edit Menu. - 'There was an error opening up the Backup/Synchronization Preferences. Please close Preferences and try again.'

This error was always encountered irrespective of Catalogs of Adobe Photoshop Elements.

So let me share the process that happens on launching Preferences, especially Backup/Sync Preferences. On launch, preferences dialog tries to fetch albums in Catalog and on Photoshop.com. Most of the times this error occurs in case Elements Organizer fails to fetch albums from Photoshop.com. There can be various reason for this, so typical process of narrowing it down is -

1. Try the same steps in fresh catalog. Ideally you should be able to see the problem there as well. If not, then it's something we need to work out together.

2. If above step creates problem in fresh Catalog as well, then check if you are able to load all albums on www.photoshop.com? I mean, go to Photoshop.com account and see if you are able to see all your albums there.

3. If you are facing problems with PSE as well as Photoshop.com, then there can be some case of corruption in Albums.xml or some other malfunction. This is something you may want to raise with Adobe, but before that try steps mentioned at - http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/incorrect-account-information-photoshop-photoshop.html

Some External drives can create problems while taking Backup of your Catalogs in Elements Organizer

Many times it happens that Organizer goes in long wait-time while taking Backup of Catalogs and at times, overall performance goes down. At this point of time, people think that Back feature has stopped working.

There can be various reasons for slow response, but one of the main reason found on forums is - External Drives. Not all, but some of the external hard-drives create this problem. So simply remove your external drives and see if it helps. 

Here is one of the sample post on Adobe-Forums which talks about a similar problem - http://forums.adobe.com/message/4458794#4458794

How to restore back-ups of older versions (7.0, 8.0, 9.0) in latest version of Adobe Photoshop Elements (10.0) || Restoring PSE7/8/9 catalogs in PSE10

Here we are going to talk about very basic workflow of Backup/Restore between different versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements. Every latest version of Adobe Photoshop Version supports backward compatibility for Catalogs, which means that any catalog of older versions can be reused in upper versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements. Normal Catalogs of old versions can be converted directly into newer version catalogs and if there are backups of catalogs, restore operation automatically convert the catalog for new version. Let's take an example of PSE8 backup which we want to restore in PSE10 -

1. Launch Organizer of Adobe Photoshop Elements 10.0

2. Go to Restore option under File Menu

3. Go through guided steps of locating backed up files and start restore. 

Hopefully Restore in newer version works well for you. Please feel free to post any comments for further queries around specific scenario about Backup-Restore in Adobe Photoshop Elements.

How to restore Adobe Photoshop Elements after Computer/iMAC Crash

This is one of the common question asked on Adobe Forums, Elements Village or Feedback.photoshop.com, which is very unfortunate condition to be in. If this has happened with you first time and you were only using Adobe Photoshop Elements, there shouldn't be any problem related to installation of Adobe Photoshop Elements on same machine after restoration of Operating System.

"There was an error opening the Backup/Synchronization preferences. Please close preferences and try again" : How to fix this problem in PSE

'There was an error opening the Backup/Synchronization preferences. Please close preferences and try again' - This message is shown in Organizer Preferences when something went wrong with authentication process. When we launch Preferences of a Organizer with Elements Services, application tries to authenticate the user with Photoshop.com servers. During this, if anything abnormal happens, this message shown. But it's simple to resolve the problem.

Moving from one machine to other when all files are on External Hard Drive and don't want to go through Backup/Restore route

Today one of the user asked on forum about transferring Organizer metadata to a new machine without Backup/Restore because all the files are already on an external hard drive which can be used with new computer.

It's not a recommended workflow and always recommended way is to backup and restore from one machine to other.

Anyway, if you want to try this route, please make sure that drive head on new computer is same as that of old computer. E.g.- If this hard drive is detected as E drive on old computer then is should be detected as E on new computer. Even if that's not the case, one more step will make things work for you.


Steps -


1. Launch Organizer on your old computer
2. Open the catalog which you want to transfer to new computer
3. Go to Help Menu and select 'System Info'
4. Copy path for 'Catalog Location :'
5. Open this location in Windows Explorer
6. Copy all the files/folders from this location and move it to new computer
7. Launch Organizer and open this catalog now by keeping USB HDD connected.
8. Try some operation on files in Organizer and see if things are working.


If drive head is different on new computer, reconnect all your files correctly and go ahead !!!


Try this and leave your comment about the experiences...

How can we burn Photographs and other media files on a CD/DVD in PSE9?

Some of the earlier versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements used to have an option to burn a CD/DVD out of selected media files in Elements Organizer and now this option is not available in latest version, which is 9.0. But still there is an option to burn media files to CD/DVD. Here are some simple steps to do this :-

1. Select all the files you want to burn into a CD/DVD


2. Go to File Menu and Select "Copy/Move to removable Drive"

3.  Make sure you don't check the option for moving files. Keep it unchecked and Click Next.

4. Next screen will give some options to select the drive for burning selected files.

5. Just select appropriate options in this dialog and Click DONE.

What happens on deleting files which are marked for SYNC

Features like Backup/Sync are very important as more closer to your real assets and also very risky if you don't understand them better. This become more important to understand the behavior when we talk about asset deletions and movement of media files from one place to another.


Today we are going to discuss deletion workflows in Elements Organizer and Photoshop.com with their impact on other side. I assume that before reading this article, you are well aware of backup/sync workflows and terminologies involved. If not, just check out http://photoshopelementsbyadobe.blogspot.com/search/label/Sync


As you know that that Backup/Sync feature ensures that any change we do on one side, its propagated to other.. i.e. Adobe Photoshop Elements to www.photoshop.com and vice-versa.


So many times a question comes about special handling of deletion cases. And answer is yes !! There is some special handling of workflows involved in online deletion of a photograph or video etc...


So here is what exactly happens :


Behavior is governed by a preference "When I delete online file, ask me before deleting it from my computer"

By default this option is ON, which means that you will always be asked before actually deleting your file from the catalog. In such scenarios you will see Sysc-Meter is warning stage and you have to launch Conflict Resolution dialog for making the final call of deleting files or keeping them in the catalog. 

If we choose to delete the file, it means we are deleting it from catalog and file will still remain on hard-disk. To remove it completing from computer, check the option "Also delete from the Hard Disk".


If we don't choose to delete the file, behavior is different in PSE7/8 and PSE9.


PSE7/8 - File will not be deleted from catalog and will sync back to Photoshop.com in same album.


PSE9 - File will be removed from that album but remain in the catalog. This file will not sync back to Photoshop.com unless option for syncing loose media is ON.


Hope this article will be helpful in understanding the behavior of Asset deletion and its hadning by Backup/Sync in Adobe Photoshop Elements.


Please comment back, in case you have more queries around this workflow or anything else related to Photoshop Elements.

Photoshop.com Services are still not accessible after applying 7.0.3 update

Recently I found a dicussion on Adobe forums where some users were not able to use Photoshop.com services after applying 7.0.3 update.

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2792420

But you need not worry, in case same thing is happening with you. Just follow the steps mentioned below and you should be able to use Photoshop.com services with improved performance:

1. Uninstall PSE 7.0
2. Install it again.
3. You will again see the message for update and continue with download and install.
4. Restart your machine

ALL THE BEST !!!

Automatically Synchronizing(Backing-up) your files to www.photoshop.com when machine is in Idle state

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Automatically Synchronizing(Backing-up) your files to www.photoshop.com when machine is in Idle state

In 7th and 8th releases of Adobe Photoshop Elements, there is an online service through which files in your Organizer catalog can be synchronized to www.photoshop.com. There is a SynAgent sitting in your system-tray on bottom-right of your screen, which does this work.

This Syncagent work with your Catalog and www.photoshop.com to identify the channges and sync them appropriately. It does this job regularly and immidiate triggering is possible in PSE8 through 'SYNC NOW' button in Sync Status dialog.

Many times I have seen people on forums discussing about some way to run this agent when system is in IDLE state. AND yes, there is a way. Please follow steps mentioned below to activate automatic synchronization when system in is IDLE state.

1. Right click on Syncagent in System-Tray (I assume that you are already using Backup/Sync and Syncagent in running on your machine)
2. There is an option "Sync when Idle"
3. Check this option.

Now onwards, you will see this agent in your system-tray and but it is not doing anything. It will start doing synchronization, as it detects no keyboard/mouse aciton on your machine.

Hope it will help activating synchronization during system idle state. Please write back in case you have some specific queries about the same.

Have you encountered : "Photoshop.com Services require an update to Photoshop Elements...."

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As mentioned in last post, Adobe has released a new patch for PSE7 to improve overall performance of Photoshop.com Services and some Security Fixes. Now onwards if you don't apply the latest patch, Photoshop.com services will not be available and you will see a message following message on launching Welcome Screen:

"Photoshop.com Services require an update to Photoshop Elements. Please update Elements using the Adobe Update Menager () or by checking the Adobe website at  http://www.adobe.com"

There is an "Update" button in this message dialog which takes you to a web-page having a downloadable zip file with 7.0.3 patch. Just go on with this and your PSE should be back with all Photoshop.com Services.

NOTE: When you apply the patch through Patcher.exe make sure that Welcome Screen OR Organizer OR Editor is not launched at that point of time...

Write back in case you have some other information about this update...

A useful link : http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/841/cpsid_84110.html

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UPDATE 7.0.3 FOR Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0/7.0.2: How to improve overall performance of Backup/Sync in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0

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Recently Adobe has released a Patch for Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, which is more about improving performance of Photoshop.com services like Backup/Sync, Online Sharing, Contact-books etc.

Today I found a good source of information about patch 7.0.3 on Adobe site and wanted to share that. Check out http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/841/cpsid_84110.html to know more about applying this patch.

One important thing which I came to know after reading this article : PSE 7.0 and PSE 7.0.2 will not have Photoshop.com controls until you apply this patch...

.

Backup/Sync Performance in PSE7 and PSE8

  


Few days back I read following statement somewhere and want to share few things in this regard.


Backup/sync agent starting slowly without any indication that it is running and will start synching soon. Is there any definite time for  Sync Operations?

-         Sync is comparatively slow in PSE7 and one should ensure that 7.0.3 update is applied, which can improve overall performance of Backup/Sync.

-          There is minimal feedback about Sync activities in PSE7 and this has been improved in PSE8 by adding Sync-Status dialog, which gives live feedback about Synchronization progress.

-          It will be difficult to set expectations in terms of definite time for Synchronization because there are different things involved here. I would like to share some information about synchronization process:

§         When you activate Sync in your catalog, it starts working with your local catalog database and www.photoshop.com to calculate what all needs to be synced. So here come different variables which may lead to longer time for this calculation. Now lets see what all variables are involved in this:

·         How big is your www.photoshop.com account? More files/albums/tags you have in your www.photoshop.com account, it will take more time but not every time. It takes maximum time when you start Sync or you restart SyncAgent.

·         Internet connection

·         Availability of Catalog Database (Is catalog free or in-use by other processes like Face Recognition, Auto-Analysis etc.

·         Few other exceptions when Server is busy etc...

-          Backup/Sync in PSE8:

o       When Sync-Engine does initial calculations for identifying changes to be synchronized, it shows the state as "Initializing..." in Sync Status Dialog.

o       “Initializing…” state takes more time as we start Sync first time on a machine or after machine-restart.

o       File-Size and Server-Health are important factors for Upload performance. 

I hope above information will give some sense of Sync-processing in PSE7 and PSE8 w.r.t. performance and feedback.

Few days back I read following statement somewhere and want to share few things in this regard.

Why SyncAgent remains in "Initializing..." state and what should be done?

 Hi All,

Many times I have seen people talking about "Initializing..." state of Sync. Here I am trying to share some information which may be helpful for you to understand this better.

 When you activate Sync in your catalog, it starts working with your local catalog database and www.photoshop.com to calculate what all needs to be synced. So here comes different variables which may lead to longer time for this calculation. When Sync-Engine does all this work, it shows the state as "Initializing...". Now lets see what all variables are involved in this:

1. Internet connection
2.  Availability of Catalog Database (Is catalog free or in-use by other processes like Face Recognition, Auto-Analysis etc)
3. How big is your www.photoshop.com account? More files/albums/tags you have in your www.photoshop.com account, it will take more time but not every time. It takes maximum time when you start Sync or you restart SyncAgent.

4. Few other exceptions when Server is busy etc...

Hope all this will give a sense how it works and why it takes time. I will be happy to share more for your specific queries.

*** NOTE : Overall Sync is fast in PSE8 as compared to PSE7. There are two patches for 7th release of Photoshop Elements : 7.0.2 and 7.0.3 . Adobe has tried to improve overall performance of Sync in 7.0.3.

What should I do when Organizer says : "Backup/Synchronization has stopped. Click here to view errors"

Today one of my friend sent an email regarding Backup/Sync in Adobe Photoshop Elements :

"I am noticing that both my laptop and my desktop system at home shows in the Elements pane that sync has stopped because of connectivity problems, however the sync agent is churning away in the task bar, and I can watch it working. The in-app sync status seems to be broken for me; anyone else seeing that?"

 My first reply:  SyncAgent doesn't stop if it encounters any error, but it doesn't process anything and remain in sleep mode. It waits for user action to solve the problem and start its work again. So you see the SyncAgent running in System tray but if you launch it says:

So, its saying that your attention is required to continue Sync activities. 

Let me share what to do next ???

As you see a similar message in your Sync-Status Dialog, which comes after double clicking SyncAgent exe in System trey, go to Organizer. 

In Organizer Status bar you will see an icon like and as you move the mouse over it a tool-tip is shown saying : “Backup/Synchronization has stopped. Click here to view errors”. Click this icon and you will see a dialog with actual problem description in it:

Above dialog clearly says that SyncAgent was not able to detect internet on this amchine due to some reason. Just check the connectivity, if its fine Click on "I've fixed the problems".

As you click “I;ve fixed the problems” in error dialog, SyncAgent checks if problem has been resolved or not.

If yes, it starts processing the changes you have in PSE/PS.com and state changes to :

Your problem has been resolved. Like disconnection there can be other problem which can stop SyncAgent to work but now you know how to proceed for resolving the problems.

How to resolve Sync Conflict when I delete a File from www.Photoshop.com.?

Resolve conflicts in Photoshop Elements due to deletion of your Files in www.photoshop.com

***Here I assume that you are ware of Conflicts in Backup/Sync on Elements and when they occcur. If not check out... My Previous Post...

1. Click the Elements Organizer Backup/Sync Warning icon in the status bar of Elements Organizer and select ‘View and Resolve Conflicts’.

2. To resolve conflicts due to deletions, click ‘Deletions’ tab in the Backup/Sync Resolution dialog. You see a message requesting confirmation and the following:

          A. The Delete List with a list of deleted files that need resolving.
                                Note: The first deletion, Delete1 is selected by default.
          B. Thumbnails of the photo with captions ‘Do Not Delete’ and ‘Delete’ to facilitate resolving Delete 1.

3. Select the thumbnail of the photo below ‘Do not delete’ if you want to retain the photo. Or select the photo (with a cross mark) below ‘Delete’ to delete the photo. Do one of the following:

A. You have multiple conflicts due to deletions in a batch, and want to resolve all conflicts by retaining the photos instead of deleting: Select ‘Use these settings for all remaining deletions in the batch’. Selecting this option ensures that all the deletions are resolved by retaining the photos and not deleting them. Click ‘Apply Changes and Quit’.

B. You have multiple deletions in a batch and want to resolve each conflict due to deletion individually: Choose the action to be taken for a particular conflict. Click ‘Apply Changes and Quit’. One of the conflicts due to deletion is resolved. To resolve the next conflict, open the Backup/Sync Resolution dialog and follow steps 2 & 3 mentioned above.

Note:

1. When you choose deletion to happen, there is another checkbox to facilitate the deletion from Hard-Disk.

In case you want to delete the file from Hard-Disk also, check “Also delete from Hard disk”.

2. If you choose not to delete the file from catalog, file will be moved out of album(s). That effectively means that files will be there in catalog without any Album association.

3. In case you want to retain a file in catalog which was not associated with any album, it will be uploaded again to www.photoshop.com.

How can we resolve Sync Conflicts encountered through File change in PSE as well as www.photoshop.com?

Resolve conflicts due to changes in the media files

Here are few steps you need to follow for resolving Conflicts:

1. Click the Backup/Sync Warning icon in the status bar of Elements Organizer and select ‘View and Resolve Conflicts’.

2. To resolve conflicts due to the changes made in a photo, click ‘Conflicts’ tab in the Backup/Sync Resolution dialog. You see a message requesting confirmation and the following:

           A. The Conflict List with a list of conflicted files that need to be resolved.
                               Note: The first conflict, Conflict 1 is selected by default.
           B. The thumbnails of the online version of the photo and the version of the photo on your computer to facilitate resolving Conflict 1.

3. Select the thumbnail of the photo you want to retain (for example, the photo on your computer) and do one of the following:

If you have multiple conflicts in this batch and want to resolve all conflicts by retaining the photos on your computer instead of the online versions. Select 'Use these settings for all remaining conflicts in the batch'. Selecting this option ensures that all the conflicts are resolved by retaining the changed photos on your computer and ignoring the online versions. Click ‘Apply Changes and Quit’.

If you have multiple conflicts in this batch and want to resolve each conflict individually. Click ‘Apply Changes and Quit’. One of the conflicts is resolved. To resolve the next conflict, open the Backup/Sync Resolution dialog and follow steps 2 and 3. The Conflicts Resolution dialog box for conflicts due to media changes is shown below.

Have you ever encountered Conflicts in Backup/Sync of Adobe Photoshop Elements

Conflicts can arise due to the following reasons:

A. Conflicts generated through editing in Elements as well as www.photoshop.com:

1. Edit/Edit Conflicts:

Arise when the same file is edited on the Photoshop.com account as well as on the desktop at the same time and then sync is done.

2. Edit/Delete Conflicts:

Arise when the file is edited on the Photoshop.com account and same file is deleted from the desktop followed by sync.

3. Delete/Edit Conflicts:

Arise when the file is deleted from the Photoshop.com account and the same file is edited on the desktop and sync is allowed to complete.

B. Conflicts generated through file deletions on www.photoshop.com:

These conflicts arise when a media file is deleted from the Photoshop.com account but not deleted from the desktop.

This conflict arises only when the option: ‘When I Delete a fileOnline, ask before Deleting it from my Computer’ has been selected in the advanced backup/sync options.

Elements Organizer facilitates manual resolution of conflicts that arise during synchronization. I will share more on Conflict Resolution part in next Post....

How Backup/Sync helps when your files are missing from hard-drive due to some reason? (Reconnect missing files from www.Photoshop.com)

Reconnect missing files from www.Photoshop.com:

It’s an extended benefit of Backup/Sync in Elements Organizer. As you are aware that Reconnect dialog in Elements Organizer helps in locating missing files. So if any of your file get missed from your hard-drive which was Synchronized to www.photoshop.com, that can be reconnected form online version.

Elements organizer catalog reports a file as ‘missing’ with a symbol if the location of the original file is changed or the original file has been deleted from desktop. It then prompts you to ‘reconnect’ the missing files to be able to view them in the catalog. Quite often automatic reconnect, browsing or choosing close matches helps. But in case the file has been lost from the desktop beyond recovery then Backup/Sync comes handy. If you have used this feature to create an online backup for your files then there is nothing to worry about. You can easily recover the missing files by choosing the ‘Check Online’option. Image below highlights the same. Choosing it will search the missing file in your photoshop.com account and reconnect them. Here lies the greatest advantage of Backup/Sync feature.It is always recommended to Sync your albums and photos in order to safeguard them from accidental deletes by maintaining an online backup.

Backup is always Important: Protect & Share your Photographs using PSE7

Backup-Synchronization feature in PSE7 is really helpful in protecting our photographs and offer live sharing on Photoshop.com

Now PSE8 is in market and try it out...