I (Katie) have been a digital scrapbooker for almost 5 years now and I quickly learned once I started collecting supplies on my computer that I would need to have a good organization system in place. I tried several different methods before I settled on a folder based approach back in 2007.
I love the system that I use, but I also realize that there are many other ways to effectively organize digital scrapbook supplies so I thought it would be fun to show you 3 different ways to organize so you can find the approach that works best for you!
KATIE’S SYSTEM:
I’m a very visual person, so for me it is nice to have folders set up with preview images. When I open each folder I can quickly glance at what I have stored inside without having to open each individual sub-folder. I store my entire system on an external hard drive to keep my laptop working at top speed. When I’m working on a project (such as all the digi files for the month) I make a copy of that file for my laptop and work from that copy so I don’t have to always have my EHD with me.
My system is probably most useful for the digital scrapbooker that has a BIG collection of supplies from a wide variety of sources. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I have more than 142 GB of digital scrapbooking goodies (not photos or anything else) stored on my EHD – and that’s after I cleaned off tons of older files I wasn’t using! I may or may not have a bit of an addiction. lol! 
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Here’s a list of my folder categories:
The numbers in front of each file are to keep them in a certain order since windows likes to organize the folders in numerical and alphabetical order automatically. I wanted the first folders to be related to the months of the year (holidays) so I numbered them that way. I decided to put Birthdays at the beginning of the year.
- 1 Birthday
- 1 Winter
- 2 Valentines and Hearts
- 3 St. Pats
- 4 Easter (even though sometimes Easter is in the 3rd month)
- 6 Summer and Beach (June is the first month of summer)
- 6 Travel and Camping (This just seemed to fit next to the summer and beach file)
- 7 Independence Day
- 8 School/Art/Music (August is back to school month for us)
- 9 Fall
- 10 Halloween
- 11 Thanksgiving
- 12 Xmas
Next I have files of individual elements. I put a 13 in front of all of these so they stay in alphabetical order based on subject; alphas, buttons, frames, etc. So continuing on with my list of files:
- 13 alphabets/numbers/dates
- 13 buttons and brads
- 13 flowers
- 13 frames
- 13 journaling/quotes/tags
- 13 misc. elements (the ones that just don’t fit anywhere else)
- 13 overlays and masks
- 13 ribbons/trims and bows
- 13 shapes and borders
- 13 staples and fasteners
- 13 stitches
My paper and kit files all have a 14 in front of them to keep them nicely in place behind the element files.
- 14 misc. kits – (for all the kits that didn’t fit into other categories and yes, it’s a big file, but that’s ok!)
- 14 paper prints and packs
- 14 paper solids
And a few more misc. categories
- 15 templates more on this file below *
- 16 albums, calendars, and quick pages
- 17 actions (even after you load them, it’s helpful to have a place for the instructions)
- 18 CU (commercial use stuff from my designing days)
- 19 TDD – The Daily Digi I keep all the past Digi Files in here rather than separate them out. They could also be filed under 14 Misc. Kits, but I like quick access to TDD stuff since I’m part of the team here.
*A further explanation of my template folder:
This is probably the area that took me the longest to organize but it is the one that has had the biggest payoff for me! If you read my Power Scrapping Secrets article you will see how having templates sorted by number of pictures they hold can save you oodles of time. I will give you a peek into my template folder so you can see what I’m talking about.
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I have filed all of my templates by the amount of photos they are designed for. I realize that some templates might fit in more than one file depending on how you use them but I just tried to stay basic with my filing system. No need to over-think this and you can easily browse through a few folders in just minutes. I can’t tell you how useful this system has been. Even if you think the rest of my digi organization is bunk, I bet you will find this part useful.
These folders are not pretty when organized this way, but they are very functional! When I go to create a page that needs to have 3 photos on it, I just open up that folder and start browsing. Even if I don’t use a template, it at least gets my creativity working.
I don’t use subfolders here and all I keep is the preview of the template and the actual template file right next to. Sometimes I have to rename them to get them to stay next to each other in the file. Every once in a while I have to make a jpeg image so I have a preview of the template so if you are a template designer – PLEASE include a preview of each template! My very favorite templates are in TIFF format because you only need that one file to serve as a preview and the actual template. This really isn’t as complicated as it sounds – basically, I just like to see what each template looks like at one glance through the folder it relates to.
If you are interested in how I organize my digital photos you might want to check out this blog post.
As I download digital scrapbooking goodies, I unzip them to be sure I have everything included in the purchase (a good idea in case you need to contact the store because of a mistake). Then I leave all my downloaded kits in that same folder for about a week, or until I have a little bit of time to file them in the right folders. When I have some time I just move them all the appropriate places. It doesn’t take long and it’s a task I can do while I’m talking on the phone or even watching television.
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ALI’S SYSTEM:
In Ali Edwards’ Scrapbooking With Your Computer series she shared her own organizing system that is also folder-based. (She also has some step by step instructions on how to download and unzip files and even has something fun for you to download!) I asked Ali if I could show you her system here and she was happy to share it with all of us.
Ali uses a MAC and her folder system is not too different than my own, but she displays hers in a list format instead of a folder view. She also keeps her folder system on an External Hard Drive and backs it up to another drive as well.
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Here’s the list of her folder categories:
Actions
Albums
Alphabets
Brads, Etc
Christmas
Embellishments (includes subfolders: Butterflies, Circles, Clocks/Time, Dates, Element Combination Packs, Hearts, Metals (no words), Ribbons/Strips, Stars, Tags, Words)
Journal Templates
Layered Templates
Masks
Negative Sleeves
Overlays
Paper_Patterns
Paper_Solids
Photo or Frame Clusters
Stitched
For a full explanation of her system, be sure to read her blog post because she does a great job of keeping it simple and to the point.
Ali is still fairly new to digital scrapbooking and probably doesn’t scrap with such a wide variety of designers like I do, so her more simplified approach is probably more than adequate for her needs. Her system is best suited for someone with a smaller stash or one who prefers a minimalist approach.
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STEPH’S SYSTEM:
I (Steph) tried many different approaches to organizing until I found one that worked for me. I tried similar systems to both Katie’s and Ali’s, but they didn’t work for me. I think that’s one important things to know, not every system works for everyone! You may need to try a few different things until you find one that works for you.
One thing I realized early on, was that when I wanted a certain product, I could often remember WHO designed it (that’s why putting my kits in files by theme didn’t work for me, nor did breaking up the kits by product type). I also found that I usually always start a layout with photos and/or a story THEN come the supplies. When I start adding supplies to a layout, I am usually looking for certain colors that will coordinate with the photos that I am about to scrap. Those things are what helped me figure out a way to organize that works well for me.
I keep everything (scrap supplies or not) on an EHD. On my EHD I have different folders for: Actions, Fonts, Styles, commercial use, and Scrabook Downloads. My Scrapbook Downloads folder is where pretty much everything goes (all kits, papers, elements, etc.). Inside that folder, I have folders by designer name, because when I am looking for a specific product, that is what usually comes to mind first…the person that created it (there have been a few instances when I put things in a store folder, but that was before I started my “New Downloads” folder…more on that in a minute). Here’s what that looks like (this is not my entire collection….shhhhh don’t tell):
Anything I buy that is created by that designer goes in their folder with their name on it. If it is a collab., then I usually just pick one designer’s folder to throw it in.
When I download new products, they go into my “New Downloads” folder. Once everything is downloaded, I use UnZipThemAll to unzip all of the zips at once. Then, I keep the products in there until I have time to go through my steps of organization. Here’s what that folder looks like right now:
When I am ready to download, I simply go into each folder, right click on the preview, copy it and then go to my {Digital Supplies Previews} folder and past them there (this is why I love designers that include BOTH a FOLDER preview AND a preview with their name and the kit name on it). I also copy all of these kits to my network drive, so I know they are there as well (two in house copies and an online back up as well).
This is easiest to do if you have TWO windows open, one in the New Downloads Folder and one in the Preview folder. You can see from the above image that I also have a {Hawaiian Theme} folder. I have a Hawaii vacation album that I have been working on FOREVER, so I also put previews that are tropical related OR have colors I know I can use, in that folder. This is what part of my {Hawaiian Theme} folder looks like:
Here you can see part of my other previews folder:
This makes it really easy to just scroll through my previews looking for the colors that will work with my photos! It also makes it easier to SEE what I have! When I find what I want to use, the designer and kit name are included in the preview (sometimes I do have to rename after pasting).
There are many different organizing options, the trick is to find what works for you, your personality, and your scrapping style.
TO TAG OR NOT TO TAG… THAT IS THE QUESTON:
It might surprise some of you to see that all 3 digital scrapbooking systems I’ve shown you here don’t involve any tagging. When Steph and I were discussing this in preparation for today’s post, we both made the comment that we would just rather spend the time it would take to tag our supplies for other things like scrapping. I believe that tagging photos is worthwhile (so you can find pictures of a certain family member), but for me it just isn’t worth the time investment to worry about it for my supplies.
My own collection of digital supplies is probably one of the biggest out there (not to brag lol it’s just that I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’m a HUGE junkie!) and I honestly don’t spend more than a few minutes looking through my stash before I find what I was looking for – or something even better. My files are organized and I can easily see what I have to work with. (See Steph’s P.S. below)
Finally, I want to emphasize that there is no “right’ or “wrong” way to organize your supplies. Spend some time thinking what your digital scrapbooking process is and what kind of workflow you prefer. It’s important to set up a system that is easy to maintain so you don’t have to spend all your creative time filing supplies. The goal is to find what you are looking and get to the fun part of creating!
P.S. It’s Steph again and I just wanted to add a note that I had a conference call with the folks at ACDSee yesterday and they assure me that tagging doesn’t take that long (I remain a little skeptical though). I bought and downloaded their software and you can rest assured that IF it is fast and works well for organization, you will hear about it from me. Honestly, having my digi supplies all organized and tagged in a program like ACDSee is a dream, but I don’t want to spend a lot of time doing it. I will keep you posted!
We would love you to share your method of organizing that works best for you!
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Wonderful write-up and nice layout, is this a normal template?
I tag and use collections (in pse) for my digi supplies. I don’t really find that tagging takes that long as long as I do it when I’m importing the files into PSE.
I have a blog post about my “system” if anyone wants to read more about it.
http://quakingaspen.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/digi-scrapping-organization/
Thanks so much for this post. I am so UNorganized with my digi stuff!
This post could not have come at a better time. I am drowning in all my supplies. I forget or can’t find what I buy.
The tip about organizing the LO templates by number of pictures on the LO is genius! That will save so much time.
Thanks again for the post. I will be referring back to it several times.
I have to agree with others that I could NOT live without ACDSee….tagging is easy if you know how, I have a friend who was doing it the long way…the fast way, just drag and drop! Jessica Sprague has a whole class on how to use ACDSee.
Also, in ACDSee you can see PSD files so no need to create previews or rename anything the tags take care of that and all downloads can stay in the file they came in. This really saves time in my opinion renaming takes forever in a folder set up.
Probably it amounts to you like what you are used to, but I know I couldn’t change!
Thanks for an awesome article!
I LOVE the template folder info about dividing by # of photos! That folder is always so daunting, but now I can break it down and it should make it much easier! THANKS again!
I organize everything on my EHD by designer name also. However, then I use ACDSee to tag and LOVE it. I like to mix and match kits . . . I very rarely stick to just one kit when I scrap. So, I like that I can click on my tags to browse for things. For example, if I wanted a button, I just click on my buttons tag and get to browse all the buttons in my stash, not just ones from a particular kit. Or I can browse for green paper, or green polka-dot paper . . . you get the idea.
So much easier for me.
Really enjoying this thread…fantastic info!! Matters of organisation for digi scrappers is always a hot topic. Like many others I have an overwhelmingly large digi stash. I love it all and have been collecting/purchasing digi stuff for 6 years now. Over the years I have tried many systems…I think it is something that evolves as your stash increases and there is always room for improvement. I’m glad to say in the last 12 months I think I have just about nailed it for what suits me.
One of the light bulb moments for me whilst not in the actual organisation was to add a second monitor. I love that I can see my sorted stash on the other screen and just drag what I need over. Saves so much time. You can have Picassa, Bridge or your scrapping folders open all at once and just drag and drop.
Off to check out some of those other links shared here…alway happy to pick up new ideas and tips re controlling my monster stash! LOL Thank you xxox
I am a definitely fan of ACDSee and having all of my products tagged. But, you should know that I am a person who could spend the rest of my life (along with my family, of course) in The Container Store, and would be quite content there. I find organization relaxing…it’s an illness, I know.
That said, I find that having my items tagged saves me so much time when I’m scrapping, it’s worth the bit of extra time up front to tag. For me, it really balances out…I can spend a bit extra up front getting things tagged, and save time while scrapping, or I can leave things untagged and spend more time finding what I’m after. I have tried both and tagging is the only way to go for me, as I enjoy the scrapping process so much more when I know exactly how to find what I need.
Question if i may for Steph….so with the daily digi files do you have a TDD file in your designer folder or do you break it down into each designer in the designer folder and the preview folder for the kit of the month? I just started with digi the last 2 months so i could easily go back and rename. Thanks for the help.
How do you keep the designer names for citing when packs are split? That is a problem I have with folders.
thanks.
My system is most similar to Steph’s. I have one big Digital Supplies folder, and in that are several folders – some by store, some by designer. If I have more than 4 or 5 kits from the same store or by the same designer, she gets her own folder. I do the same thing for templates. I also have a folder just for alphas, and whenever I get a new kit, I copy the alpha folder and paste it into my big alpha folder. I find that I use alphas away from their matching kits more often that I do papers or elements. I also number my folders similar to Katie so they always stay in the same order.
One thing I wish more designers did was to label their supplies according to what they are rather than what color they are or any other descriptor. That way, all the buttons line up together and all the papers line up together, etc. One thing that drives me nuts is when the papers don’t stay together. If you’re going to label your solids and patterns differently, at least put the word “paper” in the title before the word “patterned” or “solid”. I know some designers put their papers and elements in separate folders, but I like to dump everything into one kit folder. It’s nice when it stays organized after I do that.
Oh, I also wish designers would name the folder preview file “folder.” That way, I don’t have to go in and select the preview to be the thumbnail – Windows Explorer automatically chooses the file named “folder.” Ok, I’ll stop whining now! 
I enjoyed reading about all the different ways to organize!
I’ve had a few people email me to ask if I separate out embellishments or alphas from my kits. I don’t do that, although there are a few alphas that I have copied over to my alpha folder because I like them so much. I just don’t like to spend a lot of time organizing my supplies and I haven’t had a hard time finding what I need using my current system.
I am loving all the comments here! It is so neat to hear about what works for everyone. I learned a lot from this post also. I will keep using my system, but I think I will add in a folder for just previews like Steph does
Thank you SOOOO much. New to digi. THere are so many different ideas. I had started tagging in PSE7 but it was a lot of work i thought and then i could not figure out how to get them over to the edit screen, that’s another story. So i have started all over and already redid everything using the previews (wondered why those were in the kits duh) and designer folders plus also doing the templates by photo number. (shows you how few supplies i have!)I hope this works for me as i am not really sure. i guess i will find out the more I dig in and do digi pages. Keep up the good work. I am learning so much and it is so addicting.
I am like Sara & also make a paper copy. I organize my computer by store/designer… then I also take the folder/preview copy..put it on a word table document that also has room for a list of specific items that are unique to that kit, and designer name.(3 columns).
So my structure is:
1. Download all files to a base file per month. (which allows me to back up once per month and I don’t miss anything, and allows the virus scan to run on all new items.)
2. Make a word spreadsheet with kit preview, unique items to kit, and designer/store name. (I try to do this as I open each new file.)Keep one preview sheet on main computer… & I also print it and put in a binder.
3. Once a month after backup, I move files to the appropriate store/designer on my EHD.
It’s interesting to see what everyone does!
I love iPhoto 08 for organizing/tagging my digi stash!
I’m much like Katie when it comes to organizing but I do something different that I didn’t see anyone else mention (does that mean I’m weird?!) I keep a paper copy of each preview for everything and print it off for a binder. Lots of times I have to go somewhere that I can’t take my laptop but while I’m waiting at the dentist, to pick the kids up after school or whatever, I can make a list of kits, papers, templates, etc that I’d like to use on a layout. This time spent getting organized means that when I am able to get down to work I can find those items and start scrapping right away.
not weird at all
I have a couple of friends who do the same thing. I’m just stingy with my printer ink so I prefer to have my on screen, but whatever works for you is the RIGHT system! 
I just LOVE our readers!!! This is so much GREAT information and so many resources!! Thanks for sharing!!
I wanted to note that I have tried Adobe Bridge and PSE Album organizer as well and for various reasons they didn’t work for me. But, again, I don’t think there is ONE solution for every scrapper!!
This is funny! I actually use pretty much the same organization as Steph, with the preview images all in one folder and everything organized by the designer. I didn’t know if anyone did it that way. I think it is really helpful to just click through the previews to find something I like or to remember a kit that I haven’t used yet.
Great topic!
Link for Hummie’s video tuts on the program:
http://blog.hummiesworld.com/2009/08/windows-live-photo-gallery-tutorials.html
I’ve had ACDSee for a while now and I’m still not organized (LOL). I do have folders by designer, though.
Another program that I’ve played with a little is:
Windows Live Photo Gallery http://download.live.com/photogallery
Hummie did a 3 part video of using this program.
A good thing about this program as Hummie points out is:
Tags are written into the files, not into a database as is used with other programs. What does this mean for you? This means that all the time and effort in tagging will not be lost should you have a computer crash, mess up your database, or move your files outside of the program. That is a huge benefit! In addition, it works with .png files as well as .jpg files.
It also has the face recognition capability.
Also wanted to add that the ACDSee course at Jessica Sprague is VERY worth it if you are lost getting started:
http://www.jessicasprague.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.pbv.tabs.tpl&product_id=12&category_id=21&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=85
Fantastic article!!! I use Bridge on an iMac to organize everything, which I love more than ACDSee (which I used on PC previously) b/c it actually alters the metadata of your files, instead of adding a tag that is only searchable in that specific program.
This is the thread that I learned all I needed to know to get started in Bridge: http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/community/general-digital-talk/11277-organizing-digital-supplies-success.html
For those interested in getting started with ACDSee, here are some tutorials Tutorials and organizing styles Organizing Styles
So many great tips! My favorite (so far because I haven’t clicked over the other resources you referenced yet!) is to organize templates by # of photos, I’m definitely going to do that!
Also, I need to figure out the organizing by store thing, so I’ll be working on that next.
I’m also using Picasa, and it did take some dedicated hours of tagging to get everything how I want it, but now I tag a new kit as soon as I download it. Being able to find a “red button” or “green ribbon” or “blue polka dot paper” with a quick search has been SO helpful!
I keep my kits together in their own folders, because there are many times when it’s helpful for quick scrapping to have coordinating items all together.
Thanks again, great article with lots of good tips!
I use Picasa to organize my items. So my actual folders are kind of messy, I have most of my stuff in folders by store I purchased it at. In Picasa, I tag my Previews with store name and the word “Preview” along with other characteristics (girl, boy, sports, winter, etc.) That way I can narrow down by the Preview and take it from there. Since I started doing it that way, the time it takes me to go through my stash has significantly dropped.
I organize by folder but just slightly differently
Here is my folder structure:
Albums – This is full album templates (either quickpages or templates) that I’ve downloaded.
Calendar – for calendar projects and also for those freebie desktop calendars that designers like to give away!)
Digital Scrap Pages – this is for my .psd’s and for my printable pages. – I use Stacey Julian’s method of organizing in this folder
fonts – cause I’m a huge junkie!
Full Kits – in this folder I have all the full kits that I’ve downloaded organized by kit name and designer.
Hybrid Kits – organized by kit name and designer
Just Elements – kits that I’ve just purchased elements. Same organization – kit name, designer
Just Paper Kits – kits that just have paper in them.
Non-Sorted Extracted Kits – Basically the same premise as Steph’s New Download folder. Unorganized supplies.
other – miscellaneous stuff… Things I’m not sure where to put..
Quickpages – I don’t have many of these.
TDD- as I like to keep these all together.
Templates – all my templates in one folder. I have these sub divided into 12×12, 8×8, 8.5×11 as well.
Word Art – This is a remnant of how I used to organize. When I took the kits apart and organized by item. So… I don’t normally put stuff in here anymore, but I do have word art stored in here for fast access to the older stuff.
Plus I use Bridge (adobe) and I’ve started tagging. Now, I don’t tag for hours at a time. I just tag when I have some time for the older stuff, and I tag a new kit when I have it sorted right away. So, eventually I’ll be able to use the tag system instead of the folder system.
Oh for goodness sake, I didn’t mean to write a novel. Somebody please go delete my previous post! *LOL* (I mean it, please?)
At home and on my portable EHD I file by designer name as you do, Steph. I tried the store approach for a while, but so many designers keep changing stores that I quickly learned designer name was much more stable.
The EHD I keep at my office as my backup is filed by date of purchase. Not a terribly useful system in general, but for my purposes it’s quite handy as an extra backup because sometimes I’ll find that I can recall more easily WHEN I purchased something than the designer name IF I have only a couple of things by that particular designer. It’s also the order in which I burn to DVD… on those rare occasions that I have time for such useful pursuits.
I’ve been kicking around the idea of using ACDSee to tag stuff because I dream of being able to call up every piece of orange paper I own or every staple all at one time. Oh, how joyful that would be.
But the idea of tagging a FULL EHD of stuff is a bit daunting. (Okay a lot of that stuff is freebies – I’ve lately finally stopped downloading them and will even begin to purge an enormous amount of everything soon… right after I get it all burned to DVD. Um, yeah, don’t hold your breath on that.)
I like your idea of a preview folder. I had something similar for a while, but it became cumbersome. I might just have to adopt your approach. It looks awfully handy, and a whole lot faster than tagging everything
Currently I use the folder view to show me the previews but that only shows me colors – I’d like a little bit more detail and I could get that by viewing the previews larger.
Previews! That reminds me. I have a ton of Michelle Coleman’s stuff from a time before she starting including previews. I didn’t realize until too late that I was missing those previews so if anybody’s got ‘em to share, I’d be most grateful!
My system is similar the Steph’s approach although I have never really thought of having a folder with previews only. That is a great idea and I think that would work perfectly for me!
Great article girls ! Very interesting … I use a similar way to orgize my folders but there are definitely some new ideas that I could benefit from !
Thanks for sharing
Great topic!! I too am a folder organizer, but I go store then designer… of course perfect system until someone moves and I don’t remember to move their folder… LOL! I just got ACDSee this Christmas, but haven’t tagged anything… just use it to quickly move around the folders. So far that is awesome!! I just don’t know where to start for tagging… so I’ll patiently wait to see what you find out!!
Love your ideas. I am semi organized, but a long way from where i want to be. On your template folder though I have a great tip. This is one of the few folders i have organized like i like. LOL Anyway if you change all your psd files to tiff files, you only have to have the file itself. You don’t have to keep the preview, (if the designer names her template) and tiff files take up way less space than psd ones do.
I’d also love to hear about tagging software other than ACDSee, as I didn’t like their reaction to the fact that their software doesn’t work well with Windows 7.
Having said that, I am currently using ACDSee and tagging doesn’t have to be a painful process! What I do is I just tag the previews! I generally scrap a layout with just one kit so this works for me.
I want to be able to get to things in my stash in various ways so I have a tagging system that allows me to tag by theme, color, designer, and store. I don’t have to add tags for all 4 categories to every kit. But, when I’m want to use something from a particular store for a challenge, I can see what I have from that store. If I want to see if I already bought a certain kit, I can search by designer and see (yeah, I sometimes forget what I’ve bought!). I can also search by theme or color when I’ve picked the photos I want to scrap with.
I also have categories for fasteners, templates, and frames so I can grab those if I need them. But, I don’t tag individual fasteners and frames from kits – I only tag the previews from fastener packs or frame packs.
Tagging only the preview saves a lot of time!
I love the preview folder idea Steph! I have an embarrasingly large stash as well and have tried a number of different methods, but still find myself searching for things instead of what’s most important – scrapping. I may just need to get moving on this idea!!
I really struggle with this because I’m naturally a packrat anyway. I keep all of my kits in a folder named digital kits and then by designer and then by kit. But, I rely on my Adobe Photoshop Elements catalog to find what I need. I have album groups by designer and then each kit goes into an album. For the digifiles, I have a separate catalog called The Digi Files. Then I have an album group called TDD #1, TDD #2. Then within each album group I have kit albums like Sunshine SuzyQ, A Hand to Hold CatScrap, etc. I used to also tag by item like ribbon, paper-orange, buttons etc. But, now I just go to find by filename and type in a descriptor like “frame” and since most designers use descriptions in their filenames all the frames come up. Or if I type a color I can usually find colors. I have two catalogs and I switch between catalogs when I am working on a page if necessary. So, The DigiFiles are all in one catalog and then most of my other kits are in a Digital Kits catalog with designer album groups and kit albums. Once in awhile I try to clean out older or unused kits. I have 1tb harddrive and 6gb ram and a couple external harddrives but they are just backup. Thanks for the post I can always use ideas to help organize and simplify!
*If* there are any future posts re tagging, I’d love to see reviews of other tagging software besides ACDSee as well pls
Specifically ones where the tagging data is not proprietary & can be read by other software & can be moved/copied in the ‘normal’ way & thus backup can be simply done via copy/paste with tag data intact.
I now use a combo of designer-based folders & theme/style/colour-based previews for my organisation & would like to add tagging for further detail if I can find a suitable software. More of a concern to me than just the time spent tagging is how after spending all that effort, you’re pretty much locked in & at the manufacturer’s mercy if the software is proprietary like ACDSee. I’d read mention of Adobe Bridge but was unable to find much info about this feature.
lol I’m very good about organizing elements (that come independent of a kit), it’s the paper kits that overwhelm me! I kind of like the idea of making an extra folder of just previews–that might help. I usually just randomly start opening folders to see if the papers match my pictures or theme. Thanks!
I do things very much like Steph, in organizing by designer name. But I seriously could NOT continue well without my ACDSee! I have everything put into it’s own folder in there: brads, buttons, ribbons, metals, solid papers, etc. It makes it so easy to find just what I want. Yes, when you first start out it will take some time to get everything organized, but it is SO worth it in the end. I don’t have to hunt through hundreds of files trying to find just the one – not to mention trying to remember who the designer was.