problem with copying files to new folders

[mapgirl]

I've gotten pretty tangled up with something that I figure should be simple in Photoshop Elements 4 .
Here's the situation: I've been taking lots of photos of native plants for a project. Each "walk" is contained in a dated folder. Now I want to have a folder for each individual plant (before flowering, flowering, fruiting, etc.). So I tried to do it intuitively (BIG mistake :cry. I made new folders in Explore and pasted copies of selected photos from Photoshop into those new folders. The new folders do show up in Photoshop on the left side, but clicking on them doesn't bring up anything. The folder icons don't have those little white squares over the tabs that folders that reveal photos do.
But when I go to Explore, those new folders can be opened and have the photos in them. Why there but not in Photoshop?
I hope this makes sense.
Anyway, what did I do wrong?
What would have been the right way?
And is there any way I can get the photos I selected into those Photoshop files without redoing everything I did?

Thank you in advance.

 

[julie32]

Trying to follow you here, forgive me if I'm not asking the right questions: But do you use a card reader or do you connect your camera directly to your computer?

 

[PhotoDonkey]

Have you tried using Windows Explorer to manage your files instead of copying them from Photoshop, then browsing the folders with photoshop afterwards? If you're using Windows XP or later, you should be able to change the folder view to "thumbnail view".

If you're using a Mac, disregard everything I just said.

 

[mapgirl]

Thank you both for responding.
Julie32--I connect the camera to the computer when I down load.
PhotoDonkey--I did find that I could get the thumbnail views in Explorer. But since a copy of each of the photos is still in Photoshop, when I try to import one from Explorer, Photoshop just tells me it's already there (but not where). Sorry, I know I've made this convoluted. The new file names show up in Photoshop, but none of the photos that were moved there in Explorer. Those photos are still in the original files. The copies I made didn't make it into the new files in Photoshop.

 

[PhotoDonkey]

Are you using the file browser in Photoshop to browse the files in photoshop?

 

[mapgirl]

Are you using the file browser in Photoshop to browse the files in photoshop?

Yes.

And what I just tried (out of desperation) that worked was to rename all the files in each folder in Explore. Then I was able to import them into the new folders in Photoshop. Maybe I should have renamed them in the first place?

 

[PhotoDonkey]

Yes.

And what I just tried (out of desperation) that worked was to rename all the files in each folder in Explore. Then I was able to import them into the new folders in Photoshop. Maybe I should have renamed them in the first place?

I'm not sure. It sounds pretty cumbersome, although you can do a batch rename in explorer. (Highlight the files you want to rename, right-click on one of them and click "rename" [F2 will do the same]. Rename the file and the others will get the same name (test(1).jpg, test(2).jpg).

 

[Josh66]

The easiest way would have been to not copy anything and just put multiple tags/categories on the photos in photoshop. Then you can click the check box for only the categories you want to view.

 

[PhotoDonkey]

The easiest way would have been to not copy anything and just put multiple tags/categories on the photos in photoshop. Then you can click the check box for only the categories you want to view.

I didn't know you could do that, but it would certainly save disk space.

 

[Josh66]

In the browser part of Elements you can organize all of your photos by shooting date, subject, or whatever other criteria you want.

You can create categories (like "Wildlife" for example), then sub-categories in each category (like "Birds"). Then you just drag & drop your photos to the category it belongs in. (The photo can be in multiple categories at the same time too.)

After you do that with all of them, you can select whichever categories you want, and it will only show those.

It would be a lot easier and save a ton of hard drive space compared to having each picture in 2 or 3 different folders.

 

[mapgirl]

In the browser part of Elements you can organize all of your photos by shooting date, subject, or whatever other criteria you want.

You can create categories (like "Wildlife" for example), then sub-categories in each category (like "Birds"). Then you just drag & drop your photos to the category it belongs in. (The photo can be in multiple categories at the same time too.)

After you do that with all of them, you can select whichever categories you want, and it will only show those.

It would be a lot easier and save a ton of hard drive space compared to having each picture in 2 or 3 different folders.

Wow. Thank you so much! I know this is probably really basic stuff, but this is the Beginners Forum, right? This is very helpful.