I bought and downloaded Add-O-Matic for PSE6.  I have now downloaded some
actions with PSE6 closed and thought they would automatically be in PSE6
when I opened it.  They are not.  What am I doing wrong?

Elements 6is a different - read: persnickity - beast when it comes to adding extras to the program. It’s like a kid who won’t eat his vegetables. The database is built differently than all other previous versions, and it rebuilds itself automatically when new items are added and referenced via .xml files. Add-O-Matic creates the required .xml and puts the add-on files in the correct place, but occasionally the database engine refuses to see them. Several folks have asked this question ever since the Add-O-Matic for PSE6 was released last October, and they insist that the files aren’t in Elements. Some are nastier than others - - -

Yep - they’re in there alright. They’ll show up in the Effects palette. Use the drop menu there to show “Added Effects”, and you should see the actions you’ve added in that palette (although they won’t have a thumbnail - to make the Effects’ names show up, check out this video post).

Sometimes, though, they won’t show up immediately. Click away from the effects section (go into Layer Styles, for example), then click back into the Photo Effects palette. Often, they’ll show up then. You could also click into the “Show All” section using the drop menu and then back to Added Effects. Elements is kind of weird about things in that regard…

If they still don’t show, you’ll probably have to force the database to rebuild itself.  It’s pretty easy to do, but does take a few minutes. Here’s how to do that -

• (By the way, the file paths below are for Windows XP - if you’re using Vista, substitute C:\Program Data\  for everywhere you see C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ )

Turn on hidden folders’ visibility first by clicking Start>Control Panel>Folder Options, and choose the “View” tab. Scroll down to the section concerning viewing hidden files and folders, and toggle it ON. Click OK enough times to exit that dialog.

Then navigate to

• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0

and locate the file “ThumbDatabase.db3″  - rename it “ThumbDatabase.db3.OLD”

Next, navigate to

• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0\Locale\en_US

and rename the database file there, too, from “MediaDatabase.db3″ to “MediaDatabase.db3.OLD”

Quit all other programs (email, web browser, etc.) and restart Elements.

Your entire database will be rebuilt, and this will take a bit of time (around 15 ~ 20 minutes or so, maybe a bit more or less depending on computer speed, other utilities running, how much stuff you’ve added to Elements, etc.)

When it finishes, restart Elements again, and all your menus should appear populated.

Let me know if that solves it - and the most important step is to allow the database ample time to rebuild. Turn it on, and go away & do something else for 15 - 30 minutes, then restart PSE -

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