Using the Media Browser in Photoshop Elements 10

Synopsis: In this article we look at how to configure the display of image thumbnails in the Media Browser in Photoshop Elements 10.

Within PSE 10 you can configure the Organizer to display image thumbnails in the Media Browser in the order you want and at the size that is most helpful at any time.  You can also control which media types are shown.

Here the Media Browser shows all of the images in the Catalog.

To set the date order in which the images appear, select the Media Browser Arrangement button above the top right of the Media Browser itself.

Choose between Date (Oldest First) and Date (Newest First).

Next, locate the Display button near the top right of the PSE workspace and choose from the available options.

If you choose Thumbnail View, the thumbnails are displayed in their default arrangement according to the date sequence you chose above.  Selecting Image Batch will cause the thumbnails to be arranged in the batches in which they were imported into PSE.  Choosing Folder Location arranges the thumbnails according to folder location on your hard drive (or other storage device).

To adjust the size at which the thumbnails appear, drag the slider to the left or right.  Here I’ve dragged it a long way to the right to make the thumbnails much bigger.

To the left of the slider is the Small Thumbnail Size button.  Use this to adjust the size so that many thumbnails are in view.

The button to the right of the slider is the Single Photo View button.

Clicking that causes just one large thumbnail to be displayed in the Media Browser at any time.

Tip: However large the image thumbnails are at any time, if you double click on any of the thumbnails the view will change to Single Photo View.  Double click the image again and the view will return to its original size.

In addition to adjusting the size of the thumbnails you can control whether certain information is displayed.

In this example there is information beneath each thumbnail.  It comprises the rating, the creation date and time and the file name.

Select the View menu.

If you deselect Show File Names they will no longer be shown.  If you deselect Details then no information remains.

To select which media types are shown hover over Media Types on the View menu and you will see a fly-out menu that lists the media types available.  In this example all types are selected.

Tip: As with many of the menu commands in PSE 10, a keyboard shortcut is also shown.  It can be useful to memorize these for some of the commands you use most often.  In this case the keyboard shortcuts act as toggles.  So, for example, to alternately switch the display of photos in the Media Browser on and off you use the Ctrl+1 keyboard shortcut.

By selecting and deselecting the media types using the fly-out menu or the keyboard shortcuts, you can control which media are shown in the Media Browser at any time.  Here I’ve deselected all types except Projects.

In the Media Browser you can only see a calendar and a collage.

Simon C

Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA. He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!