I need home for my .ab3 files, or access to PI Album

[lbeck]

I have tens of thousands of digital images that I have organized with keywords in PI Album. That program came with PI 6 and I happily used it for about 10 years. Now, I have migrated to Windows Vista and I still can use the PI 6 photo editing software but Album will not load. I get an error ¡§Failed to update the system registry¡¨ followed by ¡§unable to open or access the windows registration database.¡¨

Subsequent versions of PhotoImpact have photo organizing utilities but not PI Album. I like Album because it interfaces well with MS Access where I do much of my file organizing, and then import back to PI Album.

Does anyone know of a fix or workaround where I can install PI Album on my Vista computer? The program works on my old XP computer that I retired about 3 years ago. Alternately, can you recommend a program that has the utility of PI Album and interfaces with MS Access (or a Database/spreadsheet that interfaces with Access)?

Thanks

[sjj1805]

You might still be able to search the keywords you created in PI Album.
Try this link
Organise your pictures on your Hard Drive

Note the searching method described in relation to this picture

[lbeck]

Unfortunately, The methods using Windows Explorer aren't nearly as useful to me as PI album. With the Album search feature I could enter e.g. Laura and Infant, hit the filter icon, and the program would show thumbnails of all the pictures of Laura as an infant. I already have the date integrated into the JPEG filenames so I can sort by date easily using Win Explorer.

Even if I could make use of Explorer I do not want to go back and redo the file/folder structure for all the files that I currently have. And of course most images have multiple keywords (Laura, Infant, Mickey, Disnyland, Barbara, Joe, Sunset.....)

As mentioned in my original post, PI Album integrates well with MS Access and other database management programs (and CSV, Excel, etc.) so I would really like to find a photo management software that also uses this functionality. Then I can save the work that I've already invested in my collection by exporting to Access (or Dbase) and then importing into the other program.

[Ron P.]

I think PI 12 was the last version that came with the Album feature. PI 12 with the application of a Vista patch, is able to run on Vista. The problem would be purchasing a copy of it. If you're located in the UK you might be able to, as they were never offered PI X3.

[lbeck]

Thanks for your help on this, Ron.

Reviewing this issue, for me, resulted in at least a temporary fix. Vista has a utility that I wasn't aware of in control Panel/Programs that uses a wizard to fix programs that will not run in Vista. I don't know if it always has been there or whether it was introduced in one of the service patches, but it is new to me. Using the wizard you select the inoperative program and then select a number of options, the most critical for PI6 Album being "run as administrator." After several iterations, selecting various combinations of options, I now am able to run Album. It still has some glitches. I can't select a file from within the album program (crashes the program) but at least I can consistently open a file by clicking on it in Windows Explorer (opens the program and the file). So I had lots of fun last night playing with PI album and happily doing my old routines.

I'll continue to look for a new database management program like PI Album. Pity, though, that PhotoImpact didn't carry it forward. So far, it's the best utility that I have found for my purposes.

Again, thanks for your help.

[lbeck]

Any recommendations for a program like PI album that easily migrates between database/spreadsheet programs and has a future?

I'd like to bump this post to see if there has been any chnages in the past 3 years or so. I continue to use PI Album to store and organize my tens of thousands of photos, and continue to use MS Access (which reads dBase files) and Excel (which reads CSV) for bulk organizing and then importing back to PI. And my fear continues that PI Album will ultimately be unsupported and unusable. I do most of my work on a Vista machine and have found some workarounds, but am thinking about updating my OS to Windows 8 when it commes out (soon).

[trueblue]

All PI and it's subsidiary programs like Album and PEX, plus others have all gone down the gurgler with PI. I think the only thing you can do is search online for something that may suit your needs. I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you, but these old programmes eventually have to go with the upgrading of OS. I even wonder if PI will work on Windows 8 when it comes out.......we'll just have to wait and see.

[lbeck]

Thanks trueblue.

Album is (was) a great little program. Surprised that a 3rd party hasn't picked it up. There are lots of photo cataloging softwares but Ihaven't found any that has the interface with database or spreadsheet utilities. The ones that I've found have a proprietary basis that requires that you work within their framework.

I guess I'll become more proficient in my DBMS software (MS Access) and develop my own, but feeble, system. I'll be able to transfer all of the field data to Access but I need to learn how to transfer the thumbnails. I think that it can be done. Then I can do simple queries on information like keywords to sort my pics. I don't know that I'll ever be able to develop a large page of thumbnails like PI Album did, though.

[trueblue]

You can create a large page of thumbnails with PSP. However, it's not an album.
Another neat little software is Canon Easy PhotoPrint EX. It allows you to print images on paper and will add an index ..... or you can add Captured Info.
I use two: Canon Easy-PhotoPring and Canon Easy-PhotoPrint EX. The latter makes really nice albums and calendars too.

Easy PhotoPrint EX Ver. 4.1.0 for Windows 7..... XP

Canon Easy-PhotoPrint

You may want to read up on PSP as that prints on various templates and you can create your own to suit.

[lbeck]

Thanks Trueblue.

The software that you recommend is a printing utility.

Easy-PhotoPrint EX allows you to create albums, calendars and stickers easily using photos taken with digital cameras.
You can also print borderless photos easily.

What I'm looking for is a database utility. Also, the www site said that it only works with Cannon printers. Mine is a HP.