Organizing Digital Supplies - SUCCESS!

[AllynD]

I tried ACDSee Beta, but it won't open for me anymore, so I just got rid of it. iPhoto has worked great for me as a visual catalog for my supplies (many thousands of files) and I have never had a problem. I do recommend importing without copying (iPhoto preferences>advanced). That is my only issue with iPhoto.

[faerywings]

Lynn, did you try uninstalling and reinstalling?
Betas are known to be glitchy- hence "beta" *wry smile*

I don't have a Mac, so I don't have experience with iPhoto. However, I have been an ACDsee use for many years.

I did use Bridge and Picasa on my PC and neither of them every really worked well for me.

Have you checked out the ACDSee Forums for Mac Beta? There is a lot of good info on all of the ACDsee forums, but this one would be most helpful to all of you.
ACDSee Pro for Mac Beta

[Maybelline]

No one has mentioned Picasa for Mac. I am using it and I love it. I purchased Shoebox which was a disaster...Anybody there using Picasa?

[Cheeseliz]

I recently switched to a Mac and upgraded to PSE 8 for Mac which comes with Bridge. I used to use Picasa on my old PC and it worked great for me. I don't demand a whole lot., just a easy viewer and simple tags that I can search for.

Now, on my Mac, Picasa for Mac is just glitchy - no way around that - I've tried, but it isn't picking things up timely, it crashes, hangs, re-scans the entire drive, loses my album data regularly, etc - and it is common problem with Mac users from what I've read. So, I abandoned Picasa and, after reading a lot of reviews, have invested time on Bridge which came with my new PSE for Mac.

OK, so after spending time with Bridge - and have found it to be the MOST unreliable & frustrating program I have ever used. It is worse than Picasa in reliable - and Picasa is freeware!!! I have spent some time organizing and tagging my kits, etc. (not all of them Thank God!), but now that I want to use the program to search and view items, it "quits expectedly" every time. It is officially NONFUNCTIONAL. I can't search without it quiting, and it has become a gigantic waste of time and the worst program I have ever used. I've googled trying to fix the problem with Bridge, but again, it is a common problem, many people say has happened ever since the upgrades. The Adobe website offers some suggestions, but none have helped.

***** PLEASE .... Someone help me with a RELIABLE organization program that will just work with a MAC !!! And if someone says iPhoto I will scream!!!

[maureenreynolds]

Ok, I won't say...iP...but it's what I use. I have one library for digital supplies, and one library for photos. Works for me.

I won a copy of ACDSee here on one of the chats this year, last year?, and am still waiting for the Mac version to arrive. PSE9 has Organizer rather than Bridge which kept crashing on me but I decided against updating so soon.

[HeatherPrins]

wow i have been using bridge forever and never have had a single issue.

[nmartin1]

I used to use bridge and it worked so well for me. As of late, however, when I search in bridge (no matter what I search for or where I search for it) I get a message that there are no items to display when I know that is not true. Any thoughts on why the search feature might not be working anymore? I am on CS4 on a Mac

[droseball]

Hey, this might be a late response for your question but I notice when I get that response, I need to check which folder it is browsing. If you previously "looked" at an item in a folder, the default for where it searches for next is that folder unless you change it. This may not be your problem but I have noticed this happens to me when I am in a hurry or not careful about where I have it searching from.

[Romy]

Originally Posted by Cheeseliz

I recently switched to a Mac and upgraded to PSE 8 for Mac which comes with Bridge. I used to use Picasa on my old PC and it worked great for me. I don't demand a whole lot., just a easy viewer and simple tags that I can search for.

Now, on my Mac, Picasa for Mac is just glitchy - no way around that - I've tried, but it isn't picking things up timely, it crashes, hangs, re-scans the entire drive, loses my album data regularly, etc - and it is common problem with Mac users from what I've read. So, I abandoned Picasa and, after reading a lot of reviews, have invested time on Bridge which came with my new PSE for Mac.

OK, so after spending time with Bridge - and have found it to be the MOST unreliable & frustrating program I have ever used. It is worse than Picasa in reliable - and Picasa is freeware!!! I have spent some time organizing and tagging my kits, etc. (not all of them Thank God!), but now that I want to use the program to search and view items, it "quits expectedly" every time. It is officially NONFUNCTIONAL. I can't search without it quiting, and it has become a gigantic waste of time and the worst program I have ever used. I've googled trying to fix the problem with Bridge, but again, it is a common problem, many people say has happened ever since the upgrades. The Adobe website offers some suggestions, but none have helped.

***** PLEASE .... Someone help me with a RELIABLE organization program that will just work with a MAC !!! And if someone says iPhoto I will scream!!!

I used to have problems with Bridge on Mac (sometimes CS4/5 too), it kept crashing and it was terribly slow, but with the latest updates (S. Leopard and Adobe products) - works perfectly now. Try to check the versions. I heard it had something to do with the older version of Snow Leopard.

- for tagging ( I'm an organized person and I have a very detailed keyword system), I use Bridge only
- for searching and browsing I use both Finder and the Bridge, depending how I want to search and I like them both.
Finder has multiple "WITHIN" criteria - as I call it - for example: 1.st criteria - jpeg files, 2.nd - flower (=my keyword) it will show ONLY jpg files that have flowers on them (in the current folder)
Bridge has "FILTERS", it would give me all jpg files AND everything that is a flower or has a flower on it

Picasa was driving me crazy!

[thelegacylady]

I've been working on digital supply organization for awhile now, and after studying Peter Krogh's Digital Asset Management, the first thing he teaches is that with any software you spend time organizing things in, the first thing to consider is that if the software you want to use were gone tomorrow, how much of your tagging would you lose?

I was so excited to see that Bridge tagged PNG files but I decided to test it further - so I tagged a file and moved it - the file retained the keyword

Next I decided to save it as is - no changes. Poof the keyword tag was gone.

So I add it again in Bridge and then open the file in Photoshop and choose File > Info and no keyword.

I also opened it up in the new PSE9 Adobe Organizer - no keyword.

This is because PNG files do not hold metadata - there is no standard place for them to do so. The Library of Congress has abandoned the PNG file format as an archive format because you cannot reliably add metadata to it.

So for a visual example, the PNG file format is like a house plan. JPEG, TIF, PSD house plans all have similar closets where metadata is stored so different programs know where to look for them. However, the PNG format doesn't have any closets.

So while it may look like your PNG supplies are organized and tagged - the reality is when your software is upgraded, the file changes, etc. You can lose all that work.

The only reliable way to do this is to change your file format to PSD or TIF. The bummer is that the file sizes increase, however, for long term organization I have found it to be worth it.

I also use Lightroom to organize all my supplies. Love it! I even changed my file format from PSD to TIF midstream - having to reimport completely new files and all my keywords stayed!! So I am excited to have a system that actually works long term no matter what software program I use to organize my stash!

hth!

[carlalee]

Originally Posted by thelegacylady

I've been working on digital supply organization for awhile now, and after studying Peter Krogh's Digital Asset Management, the first thing he teaches is that with any software you spend time organizing things in, the first thing to consider is that if the software you want to use were gone tomorrow, how much of your tagging would you lose?

I was so excited to see that Bridge tagged PNG files but I decided to test it further - so I tagged a file and moved it - the file retained the keyword

Next I decided to save it as is - no changes. Poof the keyword tag was gone.

So I add it again in Bridge and then open the file in Photoshop and choose File > Info and no keyword.

I also opened it up in the new PSE9 Adobe Organizer - no keyword.

This is because PNG files do not hold metadata - there is no standard place for them to do so. The Library of Congress has abandoned the PNG file format as an archive format because you cannot reliably add metadata to it.

So for a visual example, the PNG file format is like a house plan. JPEG, TIF, PSD house plans all have similar closets where metadata is stored so different programs know where to look for them. However, the PNG format doesn't have any closets.

So while it may look like your PNG supplies are organized and tagged - the reality is when your software is upgraded, the file changes, etc. You can lose all that work.

The only reliable way to do this is to change your file format to PSD or TIF. The bummer is that the file sizes increase, however, for long term organization I have found it to be worth it.

I also use Lightroom to organize all my supplies. Love it! I even changed my file format from PSD to TIF midstream - having to reimport completely new files and all my keywords stayed!! So I am excited to have a system that actually works long term no matter what software program I use to organize my stash!

hth!

Too Funny! I was half way through your post before I saw it was you! I'm going to get Peter Krogh's book. I was looking at it on Amazon and really like having the preview on my MBP but they don't sell it for the Kindle. I was going to try and look around to see if the publisher has an electronic copy for sale somewhere. If not I'll go back to Amazon. I too spent time tagging in ACDsee, then lost everything when I switched to Mac this past summer. I then went the same route of "hey I can tag my png's in Bridge and Finder" only to find out that was a lost cause too. If only there was a class on how to utilize Lightroom for the BIG workhorse it is...

Happy New Year!
-c-

[GodBlessAmerica]

I wish someone that digi scraps would design the perfect software just for
Mac and PC users. I have had horrible experiences with the 4 PC versions of
ACDsee and refuse to pay them for any other programs. They have terrible
customer service. Just go on their board and see for yourself.

Can't some software designer out there see that they could make a zillion
bucks if they designed an organizing program for digi kits, with no editing
software included. And while they are at it we need a Mac version also.
By the way I am taking the Mac plunge. I am sick of PC's.
Thanks so much for the thread. I have learned a lot.

[Debi]

I am planning on moving to a Mac for scrapping. I use PSE Organizer for all my photos and supplies. Doesn't the Mac version of PSE 9 include Organizer? Is there some reason one needs to have a different software to organize?

[maureenreynolds]

PSE9 is dual platform - i.e. for Mac and PC - and does include Organizer instead of Bridge.

[lizj]

Originally Posted by Debi

I am planning on moving to a Mac for scrapping. I use PSE Organizer for all my photos and supplies. Doesn't the Mac version of PSE 9 include Organizer? Is there some reason one needs to have a different software to organize?

Yes PSE9 on Mac has the Organizer for the first time. BUT (and it's a big BUT) it's in its infancy on Mac. Which means glitches. So, for example, when I tried to convert my PC organizer catalog to the Mac, I got nothing but errors. I have 90,000+ digital elements in my organizer. You have got to be kidding that I can't convert that catalog onto my Mac, but that's the truth. I tried three time, errors every time. It's ridiculous that no one has developed an organizational program that is easy to use for digital supplies on both PCs and Macs. How hard can it be?