Choosing an organization style! Yikes! Help!

[Ted]

Hi all,

Okay... so I'm following the Speedy Tagging instructions...but before I do that, I want to choose a good organization style.

It's so hard! :shocked:I can see advantages/disadvantages for each one.

How did you go about choosing a style? Or did you just create one yourself?

Thanks for any advice! :yes:

[Penny M]

Ted, I reviewed all the downloadable styles from digiscrapinfo.com and then chose the closest one to the way I scrap. I downloaded one from there, then tweaked it to fit me. Here is the list of pre-made organizing styles. (http://www.digiscrapinfo.com/joomla/acdsee-resources/acdsee-photo-manager/organizing-styles)

[Penny M]

Oh, and I love the speed tagging when I have a lot of kits to tag!

[Ted]

Hi Penny,

Yes, I found the list of pre-made styles...thanks! :)

That's about what I was speaking; I have no idea which style is close to my style! LOL!

I actually thought about just choosing the LONGEST style and then eliminating what I don't need.

I'm anal when it comes to organizing. Maybe that's why I became a teacher?! ;)

Thanks for responding!

[Penny M]

Since I have a lot (and I mean a lot) of kits, I chose one of the middle styles. I didn't want to spend tons of time organizing. I knew I wanted one with colors, previews, and not with a lot of sub-folders in sub-folders. I think I chose Sarah's style and deleted all the ones I knew I wouldn't use and added a few. Think about how you search for scrapbook items, then those will be the categories you will need. In fact you might just start with the larger categories, paper, previews, journaling, fasteners, embellishments, word art, overlays, etc. Once you do that then you can see how you need to break them down further. For example, under embellishments you might want a sub-category for flowers.

[sherryva]

you could start with a dozen or so basic categories- then later when time allows, create sub categories-

in my initial tagging -for example I started with a category for frames, but when that folder became time consuming to scroll thru, I broke it down, (circle frames, groupies, single frames, multiple frames, panorama frames etc). I also had a background folder, later I added subfolders by color scheme..etc, etc....

The question is when you are doing a layout what are you looking for? Do you scrap with just the "kit" or do you mix and match? I mix and match. When I find an element I like in acdsee I add it to my layout, but if you right click on the item in acdsee, you will get a fly out menu which has a "go to file" option- it will open up the original kit so you can see the coordinating items.

I also created another category I use alot.. it has the kit previews of everything I buy, (mine is broken down by category so I can look at only all my overlays, or quick clicks etc).

A few thoughts- wisdom borne of pain....
1. don't break up your kits on your hard drive-
2. don't move items in windows explorer, only do it thru acdsee,
3. optimize often (under the database menu)- and backup as you go along.
(you don't want to have to start over from scratch).

Let us know how you progress and we will cheer you on.

[Muma]

you could start with a dozen or so basic categories- then later when time allows, create sub categories-

in my initial tagging -for example I started with a category for frames, but when that folder became time consuming to scroll thru, I broke it down, (circle frames, groupies, single frames, multiple frames, panorama frames etc). I also had a background folder, later I added subfolders by color scheme..etc, etc....

The question is when you are doing a layout what are you looking for? Do you scrap with just the "kit" or do you mix and match? I mix and match. When I find an element I like in acdsee I add it to my layout, but if you right click on the item in acdsee, you will get a fly out menu which has a "go to file" option- it will open up the original kit so you can see the coordinating items.

I also created another category I use alot.. it has the kit previews of everything I buy, (mine is broken down by category so I can look at only all my overlays, or quick clicks etc).

A few thoughts- wisdom borne of pain....
1. don't break up your kits on your hard drive-
2. don't move items in windows explorer, only do it thru acdsee,
3. optimize often (under the database menu)- and backup as you go along.
(you don't want to have to start over from scratch).

Let us know how you progress and we will cheer you on.

Just out of curiosity why don't you move things in Windows explorer? [I assume this is when using ACDSee as I use the windows Vista gallery suite I move things about in windows explorer]

[Penny M]

Just out of curiosity why don't you move things in Windows explorer? [I assume this is when using ACDSee as I use the windows Vista gallery suite I move things about in windows explorer]

Once you start "tagging" in ACDSee, if you move anything in Windows, then ACDSee can't find them. You move everything within your ACDSee program so you don't "break" the link.

[Kathleen]

Ted, as far as styles go, it very personal to how you work. I had been scrapping seriously for about a year when I really got my stash organized. I started with the stuff I always found myself searching for - frames, tags, journaling, fasteners (like staples, brads, buttons), overlays, flowers. I opted not to tag colors because, ultimately colors can be changed. Kind of wish I had that, but it adds a lot of time to the tagging. Of course, as I went through the tagging process, I came up with more categories that I add as I have time.

[Ted]

Thank you all for answering!

I decided to go with Liz's style... it's a long style, but I like that it had categories for the actual photos. :)

[kaylaugh]

Hi, glad everyone is enjoying Speed Tagging (http://digiscrapinfo.com/wordpress/2008/01/22/speed-tagging-with-kristi/)! (I need to do an update for it though.)

Just thought I'd pop into this conversation about styles...the new Foundations Style I came up with is explained in a blog series (http://digiscrapinfo.com/wordpress/2008/10/27/new-organizing-style-called-foundations/)...you may not like my reasoning behind my style but I think it explains pretty well how you can take your own personal scrapping process to discover what categories work for you. My main goal with the tiers was to speed up the tagging by being able to do a fast pre-sort into parent categories then a more detailed sorting into sub-categories later.

Also, you can import more than one style and delete the duplicate categories. You can drag and drop them to change which category you think a sub-category belongs in. And if you want to add your own you can always repurpose a duplicate or unused category by just renaming it and dragging it to where it belongs. Drag to the word 'Categories' at the top of the pane to move it to the top level.

And finally, one more tip...to force an order other than alphabetical, use numbers or letters...for example, I like colors in 'ROY G BIV' order so I'd do '01-Red', '02-Orange', etc. I'm also doing a calendar-based album so I'm number-naming the months so they display in order rather than alphabetically. KWIM?

HTH!
Kristi

[Kathleen]

Hi, glad everyone is enjoying Speed Tagging (http://digiscrapinfo.com/wordpress/2008/01/22/speed-tagging-with-kristi/)! (I need to do an update for it though.)


You mean you have more good ideas to add to it???? Do tell!!

[kaylaugh]

LOL! OK, mostly I want to do a video version but I also want to show how it works with my foundations style and add the embedding step to the process for the PM 2009 version. The original tutorial was produced right before PM10 was released so it doesn't even show the new goodies from PM10 such as brushes.

I hope to get to producing the video version soon though now that I'm finally moved into my own office space...a quiet office space...lol!

Kristi