One question that I get asked a lot is how I keep track of all of the supplies I use on a layout for crediting when posting in a gallery or here. For a very long time, I was able to remember what supplies I used on a layout. That was, however, back when I was only using supplies from 3-4 different designers on a regular basis.
Last spring, I had a reader email me and tell me about some scripts she was giving away for free on her site. I waited a while before downloading and trying them, but once I did, I was kicking myself for not doing it sooner. Christy Vanderwall has several scripts on her site, but the ones I use the most are the “Copy and Close” and the “Supply Tracker”. You can find the scripts for free on her site, they have been tested in PSE 6 and up and PSCS 2 and up. She has very detailed instructions for installing them as well.
Today, I thought I would show you what you can expect when you run the scripts.
This is how my window looked with all of the papers, elements, and photo that I wanted to use on my layout open:
I created a new, blank canvas, save it as a psd file, and then ran the “Copy and Close” script (see the tutorial on installing, which also shows how to run the scripts). Here’s what I ended up with:
All of the opened files were copied onto my blank canvas, their layer on my canvas was renamed to the file name, and the files were then closed. Here’s a close up view of the layers pallet with their new product names:
Now, I go about my usual scrapping. Moving things around and figuring out what I want things to look like. If I decide I want to add something new to the canvas that is not currently there, I just open the file and run “Copy and Close” again. If I want the font names to be part of the supply list, I change the text layer name to the font name, by double clicking on that layer’s name.
When my layout is all finished, I run the “Supply Tracker” script. This will take all of the layer names and put them on a new text layer as well as adding them to my metadata. Here’s a look at the text layer:
You can see the info. added to the metadata by going to file>file info., here’s what mine looked like:
You can go through and edit out the unimportant layers, but I leave them in there and will edit them after uploading. Just turn off the text layer by clicking on the eye and then save and save as a new jpeg file to get ready to upload.
The really great thing about having this information added to the metadata is when you upload to Flickr, that metadata is uploaded with it as part of the description. You won’t have to copy and paste the supply list at all!! Just edit out what isn’t necessary and you are good to go!
Well, there you have it in a nutshell! How I keep track of what I used on a layout. I love using these scripts and they have made my scrapping life easier! 
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These are just what the doctor ordered. Even if I am not posting online, I’ll now be able to find a paper or element that I want to reuse because I’ll have the file name Nothing as frustrating as trying to remember the exact paper or flower that I used on a previous layout!
I’ve been using Christy’s scripts for over a year. I couldn’t live without the File Save1 and File Save2 scripts. Saving for the web and/or print is accomplished in one or two clicks. If I want to make changes to my psd, I just use the script again to save the low res version. Quick and easy!
Can’t wait to try these. I always feel guilty posting with out credits but because I mix kits, I don’t always remember where things came from! Thanks
How fantastic these are. I’m so thankful that I read this post today! Thanks to you and Christy
I followed your link and especially loved loved loved the Save 2 script!
How awesome that I can now save all the different sizes/resolutions in one step instead of taking the time to resize resave and so on.
Thanks so much for this!
thanks for alerting us all to this wonderful resource!
I didn’t even know that such scripts exited, how naive of me not thinking that about all digi scrappers have same problems. It’s a boring and annoying task when you use often elements from several kits&products as I do.
I’ll def try these scripts!
Wow, that’s amazing!!
Love this! What a great script! Especially since it uploads the information to flickr. LOVE IT!!!!
I went and downloaded all Christy’s scripts and now I can’t wait to play !!! I, like another poster, had stopped uploading to galleries because of all the frustration of typing out the credits and such….now I’m excited to do some uploading !!!
Wow! I am bookmarking this post so I can check on these scripts. It sounds like it does exactly what I do manually: name the layers, and then create a text layer that lists all the credits. I like the second step, in that I don’t need to keep the PSD file, once a layout is finished, because all the credits info is added to the JPEG file description. Yay!
Thank you, Christy, for posting this!!!
Part of the reason that I don’t post to the galleries is this the additional time it takes to track the credits. Thanks for the info. Also, THANKS CHRISTY! What great tools for our community!
I use Anna Forrest’s Credit Tracker, found here: http://www.pickleberrypop.com/shop/product.php?productid=7948&cat=0&page=1
I like it because you enter the data for each supply folder *once* and a small data file is stored with it and you never need to enter data for that folder again. The credits come out in a beautiful format too. They look like:
“Retro Fall by Designer ABC available at ABC Designs; Falling Alpha by XYZ Designs available at 123 Scraps; Fonts: Arial,CenturyGothic”
I can just copy and paste it straight into the galleries with no modifciation necessary! (You have the option of saving the data into the metadata of the file, saving as a text layer in the layered file, or saving as a separate text document.)
Wow… this is the reason my galleries are so empty: I tempt to scrap multiple pages in a row, and in the end I forget what I used and am too lazy to find out. Let alone upload to galleries and typing out the credits! Thank you so much for this info, I might even start to use Flickr more often!!
ugh tempt=tend LOL