Watch folder (Windows only feature of PSE)

Watch folder (Windows only feature of PSE)

Please refer to this blog if -
1. You want Elements Organizer to import media automatically from some pre-defined folders whenever new media is added to them.
2. Just after launching Organizer, an 'Updating' dialog is shown (which sometimes remains for long) with NO Cancel button.

When to use this functionality?
You shoot some photos and after sometime you dumped these photos onto single/multiple folders on hard drive. Now you launched Organizer and imported the media from these folders. So far so good.
Suppose you went for a trip and shoot some images. When you are back, you dumped your photos again onto folders in hard drive but forgot to import these in Organizer. After sometime when you opened Organizer you realized that Organizer don't have the images from last trip.
Though you can do this manually, but you would wonder if something (or some feature) can do that for you automatically. So here it is watch folders functionality in Elements Organizer. Add the folder to the watch folder list and Organizer will prompt you whenever some new media is added to the folders (which are present in watch folders list).


How to use this functionality?
Please follow-
1. Launch Elements Organizer.
2. From File menu, click on watch folder option as shown in figure:

On clicking this option, Watch folders dialog will appear, which will look like-

To use watch folder functionality, make sure that 'Watch Folders and their sub-folders for New files' is checked.

3. To add/remove a folder to watch folder list, you can-

• From Watch folder dialog: Click on 'Add' button as shown in above figure and select the folder which you want to 'Watch'.
• From Flat folder list shown in left panel: Right click a folder from left panel and click on 'Add to watch folders' as shown in following figure:

• From Full tree view in left panel: Right click a folder and click on 'Add to watch folders' as shown in following figure:

A folder can be removed from watch folder list, from all the hookup points mentioned above.

4. There are two very important controls (and generally ignored by users) mentioned under 'When New Files are Found in Watched Folders' section. These are:
A. Notify Me (selected by default): If you have added some media in a folder (which is in watch folder list) and you launch (or come back to Organizer, if already launched) Organizer, it will show you a prompt like-

If you click on 'Yes' button, following dialog will be opened:

Here you can choose which files you want to import (by selecting/deselecting check boxes) and click on 'OK' button. It is generally recommended to use this option.

B. 'Automatically add files to Elements Organizer':  If this option is selected, then if Organizer detects new files, it will automatically import them into the catalog. The disadvantages of this option is there is no control on which media to import or which media to neglect.



Trouble shooting Watch folder functionality

Issue #1: Watch folder functionality not working.
In case watch folder functionality is not working (that is Organizer doesn't notifies you about new images added to the folders), please make sure that-
1. Make sure that check box for 'Watch folders and their sub-folders for new files' in 'Watch folders' dialog is checked (shown in step #2).
2. 'Adobe Active File Monitor v11' service is running: To check that, please follow:
i. On desktop press 'CTRL+R' key to open 'Run' dialog'. Type 'services.msc' as shown below:

ii. Check for 'Adobe Active File Monitor v11' and make sure that its status is 'Start' as shown in following snapshot:

If the service is not running, right click the service and click on 'start' as shown in above snapshot <In this snapshot 'start' is disabled as service is already running>..


Issue #2: Getting an 'Updating' dialog just after Elements Organizer launches.
Sometimes when you launch Organizer you are presented an 'Updating' dialog (refer to following snapshot). This dialog is very frustrating as it doesn't have any Ok/cancel button). This dialog appears if number of files added in watch folders are very large. 

This dialog will be shown if you have a large number of folders in your watch folder list. To avoid this-
1. Disable watch folder functionality: To do so, un-check the check box for 'Watch folders and their sub-folders for new files' in 'Watch folders' dialog (shown in step #2).
2. Reduce the number of watch folders: If you are fond of this functionality and don't want to disable it, just reduce the number of folders in watch folders list.

Issue #3: Gets a 'Watch folder Service' dialog on trying a make a folder as 'Watch folder' 
Issue:

This dialog will be shown when the watch folder service 'Adobe Active File Monitor v11' is not running for the current user. To run this service, please follow steps:

i. On desktop press 'CTRL+R' key to open 'Run' dialog'. Type 'services.msc' as shown below:

ii. Check for 'Adobe Active File Monitor v11' and make sure that its status is 'Start' as shown in following snapshot:

If the service is not running, right click the service and click on 'start' as shown in above snapshot <In this snapshot 'start' is disabled as service is already running>.

Issue #4: Gets a 'Access is denied' dialog while trying to access watch folder functionality
Issue:

This error may occur, when you try to set a folder as watched folder. This error is shown when the folder which you are setting (or has set) a watch folder has some permission fights. Please follow the steps:
i.  Execute all steps mentioned in Issue #3. Proceed further only if issue is not resolved yet.
ii. Now you need to isolate the folder for which you are getting the error. (Try hit and trial method to isolate the folder). Once done, navigate to that folder (Lets say that folder is 'My Home Photos'), right click it and select properties as shown in following figure:

iii. Windows properties dialog will be shown. Click the security tab as shown in following snapshot:

This tab lists all the users (under 'Group or user names') available on system. Another pane shows various types of permissions. 

iv. Please make sure that all users has 'Full control' permission the folder. As per the snapshot, checkbox under 'Allow' column should be checked corresponding to 'Full control' and for all the users.
If that is not so (for any/all users), click on 'Edit' button <highlighted in previous snapshot> and click the corresponding checkbox. Please don't click on checkbox corresponding to 'Deny'.

Please leave your comments if you have any queries. I will get back to you as soon as possible. Any feedback on improving the quality/content of the blog is highly appreciated.

Cheers !!