PSE 2018 ... "styles" and "effects" missing

[pontiac1940]

Hi

I do not use styles and effects (FX) often. The other day I wanted to add a beveled edge to an inset layer but there were no styles or effects thumbnails listed.  They have always been there, the few times I wanted them.

What am I doing wrong? [insert red-faced emoji here ] Suggestions welcome. Thanks.

Clive




Resetting effects and styles did nothing. 

[Major Major]

Did you try Windows | Styles from the main menu? Alternatively, F6 toggles it on and off.

[fotofrank]

Clive,

The scary part of your lower image is that Delete Effects is missing - meaning you do not have any.

Have you gone into the Preset Manager? I believe the 4th option is styles click add, it should default to the styles directory. If they are there try to add one.



As a last resort have you reset your elements preferences?

Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Mac: Option+Command+Shift) immediately after Photoshop Elements begins launching. Click Yes to delete the Adobe Photoshop Elements settings file.

or Go to Edit > Preferences (Mac: Photoshop Elements > Preferences > General), click the Reset Preferences on next launch button, and then click OK. When you restart Adobe Photoshop Elements, all preferences are reset to default settings.

[Sepiana]

Aug 21, 2019 15:48:40 GMT pontiac1940 said:

The other day I wanted to add a beveled edge to an inset layer but there were no styles or effects thumbnails listed.  They have always been there, the few times I wanted them.

Clive,

I may be going on the wrong track here but what you describe seems to indicate a problem with the MediaDatabase.db3 file and/or the ThumbDatabase.db3 file. These are the two databases "catering" to the Effects and the Styles panel. Let's try this.

(NOTE: Make sure Elements is closed while you do this.)

1. Set up your folder options to show hidden files. -- Show hidden files

2. Navigate this path and delete the MediaDatabase.db3 file.

C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\16.0\Locale\en_US (or your locale)\MediaDatabase.db3

3. Launch Elements. The program will rebuild the MediaDatabase.db3 file. Be patient; this process may take a few minutes.

4. Check if those two panels are back.

NOTE:

If just deleting the MediaDatabase.db3 file doesn't fix the problem, let's delete one more file -- the ThumbDatabase.db3 file -- located at the end of this path.

C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\16.0\ThumbDatabase.db3

[pontiac1940]

Thanks all. It's now working!! 

Major Major ... that did not work, but appreciate your suggestion. 

fotofrank ... see below. Ditto: thanks for the idea. They icons were there but they would not show where they are supposed to be. This screen shot is before I did what Sepiana suggested. 

Sepiana! Once again, you amaze me! Thank you. Yes, that worked first try! PSE took a while to open as you noted, but the Styles are: the bevels, complex, patterns  etc etc.    

So, thank you all once again for your ideas and assistance. 

Clive

This was captured before going through Sepiana's process. They were there...somewhere...but apparently not available.  

[Sepiana]

Aug 21, 2019 23:58:38 GMT pontiac1940 said:

Sepiana! Once again, you amaze me! Thank you. Yes, that worked first try! PSE took a while to open as you noted, but the Styles are: the bevels, complex, patterns  etc etc.    

Clive, you are most welcome! Pleased to hear you got the Styles back.

BTW, if you are wondering why they were visible in the Preset Manager but gone in the panel, . . .

Layer Styles are housed in two separate folders, following two different paths. When there is a problem with the MediaDatabase.db3 and/or the ThumbDatabase.db3 file, the panel (Window>. . .) is the one which gets affected. Nothing will help to the Styles which are available in the Tool Options area when you use the Custom Shape and the Type tool. These are "catered" by the Preset Manager.

[pontiac1940]

Sepiana and all:

Thanks again for your help and information. 

Clive

[Les]

Sepiana, I have the same problem with the styles and effects problem but with PSE 2020 which I have recently purchased but deleting these two files does not seem to work in this edition.
The problem started after I installed Elements+2020.Would be very much obliged if you could throw some light on this?

[Sepiana]

Hi Les , welcome to PSE&M! Glad you found us.

Deleting these two files (MediaDatabase.db3 file, ThumbDatabase.db3) is the usual way to fix problems with the Effects/Styles panels. They are the ones "catering" to these panels. 

We could try deleting the Preferences file. Go to Edit>Preferences>General (Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor>Preferences> . . . on a Mac). Click on the "Reset Preferences on next launch" button. Ignore the "This cannot be undone." warning and click OK. Close Elements and then start it again.

NOTE:

Elements has two separate Preferences file, one for the Organizer and one for the Editor. This will affect only the Editor's Preferences file.

When you delete this file, Elements will automatically generate a replacement file. The only downside is that the replacement file will have the settings back to the default. This means that you will have to redo any changes you made. For example, if you have rearranged the panels, you will have to do it again because they will be back to their original (default) positions.

[Les]

Sepiana,
Thanks for your quick reply but I decided to try re-installing PSE and it now seems to work fine.
Going to try to re-install Elements=2020. Fingers crossed.

[Sepiana]

winder758, you are most welcome! Let us know how it goes. Fingers crossed too.

[Andrei Doubrovski]

winder758,
It sounds like, after installing Elements+, PSE has failed to rebuild its cache.

In this case, you don't need to reinstall PSE.
Deleting and consequent rebuilding the cache file (MediaDatabase.db3) should be enough.

If you can't find the cache file
- quit Photoshop Elements
- install Elements+ once again.
(The installer must delete the cache automatically.)

[Tpgettys]

Andrei Doubrovski , I'm not the OP, but I have to thank you for your great support of your very fine product!

The value/cost ratio is unmatched in my experience.

[Andrei Doubrovski]

Very welcome