Peter, the option ‘New’ in Elements is for creating a new blank image. In order to bring an already existing image into Elements use ‘Open’ from file.
Thanks, Jodi, but I do it exactly as you said, and some other ways (right-mouse click on the picture and the option Open with PSE…) and always with the same result – there appears "New"… Helplessness is terrible 🙁
Peter,
Have you tried deleting the prefs file?
Wendy
ya Pete, deleting prefs;
hold down alt+ctrl+shift a split of a split second after launching ap and a pop up will appear asking if you would like to delete preferences. Click yes and see what happens.
Otherwise, let us know…
Wendy, thanks, I did it (renamed) according to the "Troubleshooting system errors", unfortunately the problem persists without any change. BTW I discovered that it opens normally .bmp files (samples) and troubles occure with my usual .jpg files.
Jodi, maybe I did not understand your instruction correctly, but I tried it and no pop up appeared. Or it was useless with prefs file already renamed? Thank you, anyway.
PeterB
Pete, it’s a real quick finger thing.
hold your fingers over those three keys and as soon as you double click on Elements to open it push down those three keys all at once. It takes a couple of tries t’il you perfect it. 😉
Jodi, finally my fingers were quick enough, but after that it was all the same again. Only one more pop up appeared immediately after clicking "yes", which used to appear also after my recent reinstallations: "You currently have PSE’s primary Scratch and Windows’ primary paging file on the same volume, which can result in reduced performance. It is recommended that you set PSE’s primary Scratch volume to be on a different volume, preferably on a different physical drive." Frankly, I have no clue what is primary Scratch and paging file, but is there any reason to try something in this sense, e.g. to reinstall PSE on another drive; I believe not – why it was OK up to now? And: is my problem reduced performance?
Thanks for your patience
PeterB
Pete, the message is nothing out of the ordinary…we all get it 😉
In toolbar under ‘Edit>preferences>plug ins and scratch discs;
My system can be a pain in the butt cause I got a couple of different Photoshop programs and they all seem to have there own scratch disc preferences. Currently my Elements will only accept First as ‘ Start up ‘ and second as ‘C’….otherwise I get the message. I’m not a computer genious but all works well this way for me and Elements is happy with it.
Have you installed anything new since you’ve had problems with Elements ? I seem to recall video drivers and accelerators as a culprit with problems in Photoshop programs but who knows….think about it and let us know.
Pete, the message is nothing out of the ordinary…we all get it 😉
Now Jodi, you know "Peter" posted this and not Pete. Or have you forgotten that I am here?
With a newsreader you don’t see the previous posts so it is hard to tell.
Pete
Pete ! No no no!!!!!, I have not forgotten you ! How could I for goodness sake ! love never dies
P.S. I’m sorry, yes, i did mean ‘Peter’.
Jodi, now I have to swallow jealousy. If I would manage it on my way home, I would then try to sumarize on my comp your advise together with some tips from other sites which I have looked at in the meantime. And I will share with you results and thoughts, of course, but I am not sure I would succeed today.
PeterB
Peter, yup, keep us posted. Don’t be jealous either. No reason for that.
Jodi, finally it is OK!!! However, the problem was obviously different (as well as its solution) than I have read in various websites including this. (But this site is the only one where I actively placed my problem, so you also must not be jealous:-).
I would not bore you with a list of what I have tried before re installing PSE, and it even was not necessary – photoshop appeared to retrieve pictures normally from all disks except of C: (from D:, from the CD and from the CompactFlash. So for the time being I am quite happy with it, but I would be even happier, if I knew what was wrong and what happened. I would be grateful for an explanation, my own guess is not enough.
If you or somebody else could go back to my first description of the problem and then look at it from the perspective of its solution…
Thank you
PeterB