The catalog

Elements refers to your image files using links—nothing is ever physically moved into the application. When files are imported, Elements makes links to where the images are kept (normally this is in the Pictures folder but it could also be other hard drives in the computer or external drives). This linking information, along with all the metadata, image thumbnails, tags, attributes, and keywords—in fact, everything you do with the program—is what is saved in the all-important catalog.

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Occasionally, you will be reminded to 'back up' this catalog. If you have simply downloaded and installed Elements and proceeded to get on with your image organization and editing, you might not even know that there was a catalog, or what it does. It's important to back up this catalog on a drive that's separate to where Elements is running. An external hard drive is a good choice for this task.

The Catalog Manager...