Organazation

[gammie]

Here's my question. I have all my kits for scrapping on an EHD. Does anyone know a good way to organize my kits. Posting layouts need to be by website stores and designers. I have so many kits I just dont know where to start. Should I put them in separate store folders then by designer then by topic say holidays, seasons etc?

[Kathleen]

The true sign of being hooked on digital scrapbooking is realizing you have all this stuff!!!

My file structure is more by type of "thing":

Actions
Alphas
Brushes & Stamps
Date Stamps
Kits (includes back packs, element sets, etc)
Fonts
Groupies
Overlays & Frames
Ploppers and Instant Albums
Ribbons (only if exclusively a set of ribbons)
Templates
Time Savers
Word Art

My kits folder is HUGE, and I really want to work on a way to organize it better, but so far haven't figured out something I like.

I didn't want to file by store or designer initially because I didn't want to have to look in different places for the same types of things. Whatever you decide, I would suggest keeping things together - for example, if you buy a kit that has papers, a ribbon, a frame etc, DON'T break up the kit to put the elements together.

I started using ACDSee so I tag all each individual item, as an example, with the click of a button I can see all my frames or ribbons. I will try to post later more info on ACDsee, but I am short on time now.

[Kathleen]

I went back to find a previous post on this subject, so I will post it again here. Just my approach and what works for me.

For my digital stash, I start with a file structure with folders for Brushes, Stamps, Frames, Kits, Groupies, Overlay, Ploppers, Ribbons, Templates, etc. Then within each of those folders, I have an individual file folder for each kit. Some people divvy things up by site and/or designer, but I do that in ACDSee.

Do as much organization as you can before jumping in with ACDSee. Get some sort of a logical file system that works for you set up, clean up files, etc. When I started my organization quest, I decided to start with the things I was always looking for: frames, journaling elements, tags, flowers, ribbons. In the process, I came up with a more extensive list of things I wanted to add to my categories (some examples: doodles & swirls, cardboard, brackets, animals, sun/moon/stars, stitching, etc.) To work on organizing the things you already have, I highly suggest this method: Speed Tagging with Kristi (http://digiscrapinfo.com/wordpress/2008/01/22/speed-tagging-with-kristi/). In order to keep straight what you have already tagged and organized, don't add new downloads into your folders while you are in the process of tagging. Let me see if I can outline this a bit more:

(1) have your folder structure how you want it
(2) create a new separate folder called Downloads that you can temporarily put any new items in. Here is why you need to do this ... if you have a folder that you put all your kits in, and you go through and want to tag your frames, ribbons and journal elements, you are half way through this process, download a few new things and put them in the kits folder, you will never be able to figure out what you have/have not tagged.
(3) Go through your existing stash, and tag (using the speed tagging approach) the things you find you look for most. I found it very helpful to make a list, and check off as I did each group like this:
http://cdn-1-service.phanfare.com/images/external/1466784_1419796_47824263_WebSmall_3/0_0_543c2f918d44e0b709c8fbeda0e1c647_1
(4) as you add items in your Download folder, you can tag them there, and then in ACDSee, move the folders to their permanent home.

VERY IMPORTANT for ACDSee: Once you tag something in ACDSee, you must do any moving of files within ACDSee. Do not drag and drop things within Windows Explorer.

I seem to have rambled on for about a day and half! It is really nice to be able to go into ACDSee and with the click of a box see all the frames I have!! And once you get caught up, if you do as you go it is pretty easy. I initially had a list of like 100 categories, from color, to style, and just about everything else. That was just too much! So I do agree a little with keeping it simple, but make it easy to find the things that you are always looking for.

Hope this helps!

[Penny M]

I use ACDSee also, but I organize my kits by website>designer>kit. Kathleen has given you a lot of good information. Another word of advice, start now! I used another system for almost 2 years & then had to change. It was very hard to re-do after that long because of number of kits that I had accumulated.

[Meryl]

I would agree - using ACDSee makes your organizing so much easier, and you have some fantastic advice! To speed things up, there are a number of organizing styles available for download here (http://www.digiscrapinfo.com/joomla/acdsee-resources/acdsee-photo-manager/organizing-styles), LOTS of hints and tips here (http://www.digiscrapinfo.com/joomla/acdsee-photo-manager/hints-tips-a-tricks/58-links-to-hints-tips-a-tricks) and you can download a free trial here (http://www.acdsee.com/offers/acdsee10pe/).

My number one tip is to backup often! - it is NOT renowned for being the most stable program ever, although always improving. Once you have backed up, optimize database - do in that order, optimizing has been known to do some odd things and you want a backup to go back to.

One thing that rings alarm bells for me in your post gammie is that you have all your kits etc on an EHD? I do hope you back this up regularly? I have read FAR too many sad stories of EHD failures and accidents!

[sherryva]

throwing in my two cents worth.. I like Kathleen use Acdsee. (you can get a free trial from their website). Although it may seem an overwhelming task in the beginning- you will thank yourself for it big time later on. I spend my time scrapping now, not searching.

Most of my stuff is from dsp- but I do have a few items from some other sites. My solution was to rename the files. My files are done by type of purchase (kit, word art, frames, alpha etc)- website- designer number- kit name. So what I have is kit_dsp_07_Fallen Leaves; wordart_dsp_04_pets etc. I can always tell where the kit is from, who the designer is and what type of stuff is in the folder (frames, qc's alphas etc). I also have all this info and the product number in the author part of acdsee attached to each item in the kit. If I ever need to find something in windows vs acdsee- everything is in a logical alphabetical order. Since I mostly search in acdsee, there is no need to break up a kit of anykind, ever. Acdsee doesnt care where it is, as long as you tag it correctly (and dont move it outside the program like Kathleen mentioned).

I started with basic categories backgrounds, alphas, frames, ploppers, quick clicks word art etc. I too used Kristi's speed tagging to get it into basic groups. Once I had everything initially tagged, I could find things alot more quickly. Then as I had time, I started to break down the categories into subcategories (as some of the basic categories had too much in them to keep scrolling thru). For example- I made subcategories in backgrounds for blues, browns, reds, favorites etc. I did this for each category as necessary- but didnt feel rushed since I could find what I needed in the basic category. Being too detailed isn't always a plus. "Fastners" for me is fine, I didn't need seperate categories for pins, staples, paper clips etc. I only add sub categories when they get too big for comfort.

I also added a preview file where I put the "cover sheet" for each kit so I can quickly scroll through them when I want to find something or be inspired. I can easily sort that file to see my most recent purchases. My preview file does have subcategories for page kits, word art, quick clicks, etc.

I have been organized for almost 8 months now, and its an ongoing process as you buy new kits, or change the way you scrap. I have added other categories, Christmas, Holidays, seasons, celebrations, travel, babies, pets etc to supplement my initial tagging. (I didn't have to retag to do this- I just add that single tag to the whole kit as I come across them). So I am building another way to search, oh, its thanksgiving? I go to the holiday file and see what I have to work with.

start with basic categories and add as needed. In my opinion it is better to at least get it started and grouped. Once you see how much time you will save, adding subcategories will not be a chore to you. Think about how YOU scrap when you add subcategories so that is useful to you. I started my backgrounds with circles, solids, stripes and so on, only to realize 2200 pieces later that for me, doing it by color tone was the way I looked for things..

Good luck.

[Meryl]

You girls are stars - so much fantastic information! Seeing you talking about renaming files i thought i would share a new find of mine - ReNamer (http://www.snapfiles.com/get/denrenamer.html) I love it! Its free, works well, easy to use and SUCH a time saver!

[sherryva]

Meryl- I hadn't heard of this before- it looks interesting (& a little intimidating- or is it easy "once you get it initially set up"? I am usually wary of shareware- but would like to give it a try.

If I were only renaming all my dsp kits (not photo files etc), I could just set up one set of rules that would apply to kits?
I am not a computer programmer type, but if it saves time....

[Meryl]

I promise Sherry if I can use it you can, I am the queen non-techie! I started by copying files into a test folder and playing around and honestly it was very easy!!!

I use ACDSee for renaming photos and so on, but problem is if you have say an alpha folder and you want to add the name of the alpha as a prefix to each file - if ACDSee can do that sort of remaning I don't know how! In file renamer you can do all sorts!

give it a try!

[sherryva]

okay Meryl- I followed you into the world of Acdsee successfully and without regrets- I will give this a try too. Thanks for the feedback, and for sharing this with us.

[Wanda]

I also use ACDSee. Like Sherry I use the preview to do a quick scan if I'm looking for inspiration but I also use the preview for a kit to organize for color. Usually a kit has 3-4 main colors so I click on those colors from the list I've created in ACDSee. Then if I want, say, green I just click on the selection box for green and all the previews for kits with green in them are displayed. If I find one I think will work for what I'm doing, I right-click and select "go to file" and the entire kit folder opens. If that selection turns out not to be quite right, I click on browse in the upper left corner of the ACDSee screen to return to my "green" set of previews and continue looking until I find something I like. BTW, I don't go crazy with too many color names--I use red for red, orangey red, scarlet, cranberry, etc. It's just a method to be able to quickly find a selection of kits that might have what I'm looking for. Finally, like the other posters, I keep the contents of my kits together (organized by store #_kit type_kit name_source (designer name by first initiallast name, dsp#)) so a listing looks like 10_K_XyzAbc_CB (MBartho, 1234dsp). If a kit has a backpack or AOP, I keep those items in a separate folder inside the main kit folder. By the way, source designates CB=chat bonus, PB=posting bonus, FRB=freebie (usually from freebie gallery). I also keep an Access database that contains a lot of the same info--I'm happy to share the structure of the database with anyone that has Access on their computer and would like to see it.

[Kathleen]

Question on the renaming front ... I use CS3, and Bridge has a built-in batch rename that works like a charm. You can "build" a file name based on information in the file - either its existing name, date it was captured, etc., as well as add in free form text. I don't rename by digital stash, but I do rename my photos to something that is a bit more logical to me. Here is what my typical rename window looks like:

http://cdn-1-service.phanfare.com/images/external/1466784_1419796_53164925_Web_3/0_0_9d9cbab9f5d12765d6531e7087bcb5d2_1

Meryl, have you ever used the batch rename feature in Bridge? If so, how do the two compare?

A friend of mine is using Photoshop 7, which does not include Bridge. I was looking for a renamer to suggest for her, so I will pass along ReNamer.

[sherryva]

Wanda- thanks for your post, I didnt know I could right click on my preview and open the folder- what a time saver. Now that I use the program so often I really should try to learn some of the tricks- I guess I better start reading some of those acdsee tutorials.

[Meryl]

Thanks so much Kathleen for the info on bridge, I will definately take a look at that! Just looking at your example though, I can see it would be fantastic for photos - when i use renamer its for a whole lot of files all at once - alphas are a typical example, if I remember I like to add the name of the alpha as a prefix and renamer does this so fast and bridge is NOT renowned for speed! renamer - small program literally opens in seconds. Once again thanks so much for the info!

[hoozieg]

Thanks for taking the time to post such detailed info!!! This is exactly what I need! I got ACDSee for Christmas and find these tips very helpful! I'm also taking a self-paced class at Jessica Sprague that is given by Heidi at Digiscrap Info...Some of these links I've seen, but others I haven't.

The Speed Tagging one has been great! I wondered how I was going to tag everything without going one by one from one kit to another and taking forever!

I've got 3+ years of Stuff to organize and needed some help on where to start and how to organize it. I also hope to apply ACDSee to my photos because they are a frickin' mess too! Even more than my digi stuff since there's more like 10 years of photos there. That's only my digi photos - there's a slew of prints I'd like to scan in too! :eek: I think of a photo I want to scrap and can't find it - VERY annoying!! :annoyed:

If you think of any other great tips on organizing either photos or scrapping stuff, please post more!! I need all the help I can get!

[felynn]

A word about links. To save time I add the "pretty link" code for each kit I buy as soon as I download it. I add it to the top of the designer's TOU included with each kit.

When making a page I use the "file info" function in photoshop to add the pretty link of any kits I use on a page and the fonts. This way when uploading all I have to do is copy and paste.

[Meryl]

So glad i am not the only one with the photo thing!!! Its so hard to begin to catch up with photos as they stream in at such a rate!

[Tara]

This is a hard habit to get into but I used to do it and it worked really well. I would not allow myself to download the pictures off a memory card until I had time to tag them. I was usually super impatient to see the photos so I would get right to work tagging them. If you do this, you are always caught up!

I keep my kits in folders by store/designer/kit. I don't organize by type at all. However, I REALLY like the idea of keeping AOPs and BPs and stuff together in one folder with the original kit. I may have to consider doing that!

[hoozieg]

A word about links. To save time I add the "pretty link" code for each kit I buy as soon as I download it. I add it to the top of the designer's TOU included with each kit.

When making a page I use the "file info" function in photoshop to add the pretty link of any kits I use on a page and the fonts. This way when uploading all I have to do is copy and paste.

Stupid question: What are "pretty links?" The keyword code i.e. 9765dsp? Link to the store for that kit?

[Kathleen]

This is a "pretty" link:

Heaven Sent Page Kit by Nicole Young (http://store.digitalscrapbookplace.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=9501)


This is a "not pretty" link:

http://store.digitalscrapbookplace.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=9501

Here is how I "manage" pretty links, and keeping track of all the kits I have purchased and received as a posting bonus:

Giving Credit and Posting Links Made Easier (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28895)

and FormbyGirl has a great explanation here:

Featured Designer - Crediting your layouts (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28088)

The keyword (above kit example 9501dsp) when placed in the keyword field of a gallery posting makes the LO appear in a search from the store if you are looking at a kit or item and click on the link "Click here to see layouts using this product" which is located towards the top of the page when looking at the details about an item, just under the buttons for Previous, Product Listing, Next.

[hoozieg]

Your spreadsheet is awesome! Thanks for sharing! Now I have A LOT of work to do!!!

[sherryva]

well Kathleen- I have always been a fan of your excel sheet- been using it since you posted it. You inspired me, I now have one with hyperlinks for the current challenges with gallery links, and due dates. It has made it easier for me to keep track of challenges, and pop into the forums without searching for the threads, so thanks.

[Kathleen]

well Kathleen- I have always been a fan of your excel sheet- been using it since you posted it. You inspired me, I now have one with hyperlinks for the current challenges with gallery links, and due dates. It has made it easier for me to keep track of challenges, and pop into the forums without searching for the threads, so thanks.

Sherry, I am so glad you find it helpful!

I just posted a new trick that I have started using to keep track of chats and challenges: FREE & Cool Calendar Application (PC and Mac) (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36338).

[Penny M]

Thanks, Kathleen, I just started using your spreadsheet, too, in open office. I have a question. Do you use the "Find" option to find your kit or is there some other way? I'm not very familiar with excel or open office.

[Kathleen]

Thanks, Kathleen, I just started using your spreadsheet, too, in open office. I have a question. Do you use the "Find" option to find your kit or is there some other way? I'm not very familiar with excel or open office.

Hi, Penny. You can use Find, but I typically keep it sorted alphabetically by kit name and scroll up and down the spreadsheet. In OpenOffice Calc, to sort your kits, select the rows with your kits in them (click on the row numbers on the left side of the spreadsheet, and while holding down the mouse button drag to the last row of your data; do not select the very top row with the header information like Kit Name, Designer, etc.) and then in the menu/button bars you should see a little A Z on top of each other with a red arrow, click the button and that will sort them in alphabetical order.

Let me know if that makes sense.

[Penny M]

Thanks, I appreciate the information. Now I just need to figure out your instruction on how to copy my store links into the spreadsheet. I tried to do a few of them but the kit names were all clickable links to the store. I couldn't figure out how to delete that.

When I save in openoffice, I get a message asking if I want to keep the current format or save in ODF format. Do you know which one I should be selecting? Thanks for being so helpful.

[KrystalW]

I use ACDSee. And thanks to Kathleen, I also have her wonderful spreadsheet. And now I will be placing the keyword number (eg:4567) in the notes section. I have changed my export file listing to include the notes and can now export the list into excell. I had to fiddle with the column calculations to match the import...but it all works perfectly giving me all pretty links when needed.

Cool beans!! Just need to do some serious organising....but the tennis is on, and I keep getting distracted.

[Kathleen]

Thanks, I appreciate the information. Now I just need to figure out your instruction on how to copy my store links into the spreadsheet. I tried to do a few of them but the kit names were all clickable links to the store. I couldn't figure out how to delete that.

When I save in openoffice, I get a message asking if I want to keep the current format or save in ODF format. Do you know which one I should be selecting? Thanks for being so helpful.

Hi, Penny.

OK, I'm a geek, and figured out how to do a video showing you how I get the data into my spreadsheet. Have a look and let me know if it helps ...

Video - Data from the store to your spreadsheet (http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/vn7tFX3m/1466784/3292247)

[KrystalW]

Kathleen!! Great to hear you.:) I love your accent...I love all accents. Anyway, thanks for the video, definitely makes it easier to understand.

:)

[Penny M]

Thanks so much Kathleen, you are the most helpful DSPer!!!! I will watch this when I get home from work. And I'm glad you are a geek; I need a little of that in me.

[Penny M]

Thanks so much again. Can I also do this same thing to add from previous items from my previous purchase list at the store? I want to tell you I am loving your spreadsheet. I have been adding the pretty links the hard way when I do add them. It takes so much time searching the store to copy & paste.

[Kathleen]

Thanks so much again. Can I also do this same thing to add from previous items from my previous purchase list at the store? I want to tell you I am loving your spreadsheet. I have been adding the pretty links the hard way when I do add them. It takes so much time searching the store to copy & paste.

I assume you are looking for an easy way to get everything you have purchased in the past into the spreadsheet?

I don't remember how I did this originally, but here is something to try. It might be tedious to get through your order history, but might be quicker than a lot of other things!

In the store, click on My Account. The next screen will show your last few orders, but you can also click show all orders. Once you do that, you can click View to look at each order. If you scroll down the page to the download section, select all the text (under Item Name, File Size, Filename, Link Expires, Remaining, DSP Keyword*), Copy, and then go to a BLANK spreadsheet. Right click and Paste Special, and paste unformatted text. You should get columns with all the information - all you really want is the item name and DSP keyword, although you could use the file name to get the designers easily too.

You would have to repeat this process for every order in your history. Tedious, but easy once you have done it once or twice. I'll try to do another video tomorrow with some instructions, as there are a few steps that could make this really quite easy, but I have a splitting headache and need to go to bed.

[Penny M]

I hadn't thought about that. I tried to add them from the previous purchases that show down the right side of the store page once you log in. It added the name, but also created a hyperlink to the kit in the store which I couldn't figure out how to get rid of.