Clean Up Auto Category

[stb62et]

Cleaning up Auto Category is a missing since quite some years (decades) within Acdsee. I tried to log a ticket but the answer is as usual a new database and catalog all files….

As this is more than a mediocre solution and it needs quite some time i tried to dig in the dirt and i think i found a way to solve this topic manually.

What you need is the following:

1. DBF command or any other tool which is able to handle dbase databases
   download here http://dbf-software.com/download.html
2. Open Office or excel to visualize the data easily

You have to be cautious as this may destroy your database but up to now I have not found any hickup
The process is the following:

1. Figure out the path where your current database Acdsee2022_New is stored
   C:\Users\Stephan\Documents\ACDSEE2022\Acdsee2022_N ew
2. Create a new clean databse (in my case Default 7) stored under
   C:\Users\Stephan\AppData\Local\ACD Systems\Catalogs\150Ult\Default7
3. Delete all files below this new Database via windows explorer
4. Copy all files from Acdsee2022_New to Default 7 database
5. Open Acdsee with the database Default 7
   Now you see that the AutoCategory Creator / value ACDSEETestAutoCategoryCleanUp is orphaned
   Picture 1
6. Open LookupListItem.dbf (C:\Users\Stephan\AppData\Local\ACD Systems\Catalogs\150Ult\Default7) with dbfCommander
   Filter value for the value you are looking for in my case ACDSEEcleanup AutoCategory
   See picture 2
7. Now mark the relevant line, and delte the record (red minus icon) and confirm this deletion
   In case you find the value severall times you have to open another file which is explained in 10
   Now it looks like this (picture 3)
8. Exit DBF commander and restart Acdsee and you will recognize that This autocategory has dissapeared
9. In case you do not experience any issue you can copy the Files below Database Default7 again under Acdsee2022_New and change the Database in Acdsee2022
10. In case severall values are the same but have different lul_id´s
    Open FieldSetField.dbf and filter for the relevant lul_id than you recognizewhich Field it is
    Unfortunately the translation in German seems to be not complete as within AutoCategory it is called creator (english translation) but here the german name is displayed.
    If you are not sure which is the right value just change the Value in LookupListItem accordingly (from ACDSEETestCleanUpAutoCategory into Acdsee_LUL43 for example and than you will see when you start Acdsee which is the right Value see Picture 4
11. Anyway in case you want to check what if there is any reference you can open LookUpValueItem.dbf with Excel or Open Office (DBF commander stops with an error) and filter llitem_id
    you should not find any correspoinding value it is orphaned this is why Autocategory is shown.
    
    
    So i hope this small How To helps accordingly. Definitly it is faster than recataloging the whole Database with several thousand photo. I cross my fingers that you will not face any issues
    
    Stephan

[brajaq]

Thanks Stephan

[Emil]

Or maybe easier:
- exit AC
- make a backup!
- in your DB folder rename the folder that contains the db files (E.g: "default" to "default_org" )
- start AC and exit it again
- you now find a new folder named "default", rename it to "emptyDB"
- rename "default_org" to "default" again
- copy "emptyDB\LookupListItem.dbf" to "default\LookupListItem.dbf" (This will replace the old DB file with a new empty one)
- start AC

This works with several but not all DB files. Some of the files are related and mixing them may result in a huge mess in meta data 😁

Since many years I use to copy the whole DB except the thumb*.* files to a machine that doesn't do anything else then exporting images. The thumb*.* files for this copied DB are taken from an empty DB. This method saves space and also is very much faster then copying the whole DB incl. the huge thumb*.* files. It also allows to keep the master DB clean and not bloat it with data of exported images.

[stb62et]

Hi Emil
thanks for sharing, this is easier, no doubt.
If I understand the approach right the main difference is (have not stried it out) that you Delete all Auto Categories in my approach I delete one specific AutoCategory which is orphaned.
best regards
Stephan

[Emil]

Jep, You are selectively deleting unwanted db records. I'm flushing the whole table and let AC refill it later with data from existing items. Not sure if I can recommend either.