Thanks everyone- my ACDSee organization is complete

[sherryva]

I am so excited, I had to tell someone who would understand..

26142 scrapbooking items- all tagged + organized along with 18412 photos all done and properly tagged and cross referenced in ACDSEE-

my quickclicks are all saved as layered psd files so I dont have to keep dragging and dropping the layers everytime I want to use one-
all my kits are organized with designer numbers and the keyword shop numbers
all my photos and kits are backed up on 3 different hard drives.
It took 2 intense weeks, but it is done and it feels sooo good, (my husband just doesn't get why I am excited..)

Thank you to everyone who answered all my questions along the way and sent me easy organization links and convinced my to use ACDSee over the elements organizer- it would have been easy to get overwhelmed and give up, but you guys are a wealth of info- thank you, thank you for all your help!

Sherry

[Penny M]

Wow, I am impressed that you were able to get all that done in only two weeks! I need to hire you to finish mine. I've been working on mine off and on for several months and still haven't finished tagging all my scrapbook items from DSP. You must have worked night and day! Congratulations!

[Teecha]

Well done on getting such a huge job done. If only I had started mine at the start of Digi I would not be faffing around like I do.

I have been backing up all my photos mind you and started a new file just for DSP so that is a start I guess lol. Also some kind person on here sent a link for Microsoft Excel and now I am listing all my kits on there so that has been such a help to me.

x

[Abby]

Wow, I'm totally impressed! Good for you!! I have great intentions, but still have miles to go before mine are done :)

[Fade2Pink]

Which ACDSEE did you get Sherry? I need to get something. I am doing just "ok" trying my own methods. Is there a free version? Not that I don't mind paying for something, but always nice to try it out before hand to see if it is something that will work for me.

[littlekiwi]

WOW will you come and sort & tag all my digi kits too!!

[sherryva]

Maria-
I answered your question by way of a PM. Let me know if you have any other questions. Sherry

[scamptx]

Sherry, you may just have to hire yourself out! I'm impressed!

[Meryl]

Which ACDSEE did you get Sherry? I need to get something. I am doing just "ok" trying my own methods. Is there a free version? Not that I don't mind paying for something, but always nice to try it out before hand to see if it is something that will work for me.


You will find a 10 Day Trial here (http://store.acdsee.com/store/acd/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.78701300) - beleive me though, you will love it, it is a fantastic program and you will find oodles of support here in our own forums - just ask! and at DigiScrapInfo (http://www.digiscrapinfo.com/dsiwiki)

[Meryl]

Sherry what a fantastic feeling that must be :) congratulations! Hope its all safely backed up?

[faerywings]

That is wonderful- now you can't go and buy a whole bunch of new stuff however. Organizing is like laundry- it is never 100% finished!
But huge props to you!!! Doesn't it feel great to be able to see and find everything!!??

[cmdixon]

Hi Sherry, Would you mind sharing any organizational links or tips you have for ACDSee? I've been researching software for a while now and I think I've settled on ACDSee. I'm going to download the trial and see what I think. Before I get started, it sure would be nice to have some tips from someone who's just been through it.

Thanks! Colleen

[kaylaugh]

It's great your kits and photos are backed up, hope you backed up your database (http://www.digiscrapinfo.com/joomla/acdsee-photo-manager/tutorials/120-backing-up-your-acdsee-database) as well!

Kristi

[pieohpah75]

Great job on organizing and backing everything up, Sherry!

cmdixon: Check out some tips and tricks at www.digiscrapinfo.com. They have category styles that you can download (so you don't have to create new ones) and videos that really help. I've had ACDSee for a few months now but just recently started to tag & organize everything. PM me if you have any questions. Good Luck!

Dorothy

[sherryva]

Colleen
first I went to www.acdsee.com lots of info there
then Meryl told me about Speed tagging (LOVE It) (saves HOURS of time) the link is here:http://digiscrapinfo.com/wordpress/2008/01/22/speed-tagging-with-kristi/
I checked out the Tools forums here also: http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=490v
this site has a bunch of tutorials:
http://scrapbooktutorials.blogspot.com/2007/03/getting-started-organizing-with-acdsee.html

A word of advise- if you move stuff do it within the acdsee program- and optimize your database often and backup often- I do this everyweek. I moved stuff once and lost all 18000 tags- now I backup my database all the time so I never lose too much while I am learning the program.

I started with pretty basic categories (backgrounds, frames, overlays, word art etc)
then as a category gets really large I add subcategories- believe it or not you can be too organized and it ends up not being helpful- everyone has there own way of organizing- but I wouldn't recommend tooo many subcategories. (example- I have a category for fastners- it used to have subcategories for pins, staples, glue, tape strips, and a few others) it got to be a pain when I was tagging new stuff to keep going down the tree of subcategories. Often I assign multiple tags to an item.

I also have added two categories in ACDSEE I really like- one is photos of everything which contains only the preview sheets of everything I buy (kits, word art overlays etc), The other is recent purchases which contains a COPY of the preview sheet (the other copy is in the photo of everything file) this way I know what I havent used yet, or if I need a special kit for a challenge or something it lives there until I use it, then I delete that tag.

It's quite a bit of work, the speed tagging helps alot, and it is SO WORTH IT! Now I scrap instead of search!! PM if needed, I will try to help where I can.

[Meryl]

Thanks for all this great info Sherry :)

At the risk of being a bore about this (but its SO important!!!) I want to stress what sherry says....

Back up and optimize regularly! (do it in that order, I had optimize make a HUGE mess the other day!) then backup your back ups to a DVD, EHD too.

I hate to say it, and i wish they would sort it out, but ACDSee seems not to be the most stable organizing program on the planet and you will save hours of work by backing up regularly.

Also remember to go and delete older backups - they start to build up and gobble HD space.

[kaylaugh]

lol, my speed tagging and my simple style have evolved with my scrapping. I speed tag things into main level categories with my sub-cats collapsed (not showing) to speed things up and then have a sub-categorizing session every once in a while. This works for me...kind of a two-tiered system. And yes, too many categories gets too hard to keep up with. I set up sub-cats as needed...so if I got frustrated digging through fasteners then I'd sort out the ones I search for the most. Another thing I do is cross-categorize...tape is in stickers and fasteners so I can look for tape by clicking on both easy-select boxes (make sure match any/all is set to all.) HTH! Glad you've been finding speed tagging useful!

Kristi

[cmdixon]

Thank you everyone! And thanks Meryl for drilling it in my head that I better backup!! I'm not sure what optimizing is - I assume it's something in ACDSee. I haven't downloaded the trial yet. I have a $10 off coupon for Office Depot, so I may just bite the bullet and purchase it. I wished I would have gotten in on the deal when it was $29.99, but alas, I wasn't motivated enough then.

Kristi, I can't wait to try the speed tagging! I've gotten 2 plugs for your method now, so it must be a good one.

Sherry, thanks for your input. You just might be getting some PM's from me.