Shutterfly - what's your uploading process ?

[Blossom]

I have made a couple of albums lately and have not uploaded before the entire project is done. That really makes it difficult as I have not scrapped the pages chronological and the naming is not helping in sorting.
So when shuffling the pages around I have seen suddenly that a page is not very it is supposed to be etc.

So what do you do - upload and put in the pages when they are made or do you do it as me and how do you then keep it organized ?

It's not difficult I agree with 20 pages, but when making 50-101 pages.... help me out

[dugarner]

I am doing this very project right now. I just realized today that since I scrap chronologically, it might make sense to name my files with the beginning of the filename the month---so instead of "Bailey 8th Birthday" which I do know comes in March, I should name my file "March Bailey 8th Birthday." And our San Antonio vacation should be "August Sea World . . ." because I can't remember if we went in July or August. Then when I upload, I know that I should put that page in the March area and August area of the book.

With the book I'm uploading today, I'm going on memory of all the major events. If I can't remember, I pick a photo that I've scrapped on that particular layout and pull up the EXIF information, then I can see when I took the picture.

Your post is going to help me be more organized! I've needed to change my file naming convention for a long time, and this is the catalyst I've needed. I have a 100 page book this year (they are usually 50-60 pages, but Project 365 gave me an abundance of pictures!) and it is definitely more frustrating than in the past.

[susiecw]

I try to scrap a page within a few days after taking a photo. As soon as I finish a layout, I copy it as a jpg and upload it to Shutterfly and place it in the book I'm making. I immediately turn off vivid pics, too. My albums are in order and will be ready to print as soon as the last page is uploaded. It's just easier for me to do it this way.

[MIDA78466]

for the most part, I try to upload to Shutterfly as I complete a LO. Just makes it a lot easier for me.

[dorah]

I try to at least upload as I go because it seems whenever you upload a lot of pages at once to Shutterfly, they always end up out of order and it drives me insane. As I create my pages in pse, the date is always the first part of the file name: ie today a lo would have 011910 followed by whatever the page is.

[anke]

that is a really good point Dorah. I realized that when doing the 365 book, I had to have my folder open next to the Shutterfly so I could see what page went where, very annoying. So if you can do it as you go, you will be much better off. This time I will follow Janet's advice and lighten all my pages, they were still pretty dark this time....

[SarahDanyelle]

I upload as I go, but if I know I'm skipping something, I change the page from full bleed to one where you can type on Shutterflys website. Then I type whatever that page will be. Then once I go back and do that page I change it back to full bleed and put my layout in! I also turn off vivid pics as I go. Otherwise I'd forget.

[Scrapbird]

I finish them all first, but I start each file name with a number, (01Ireland, 02Ireland) and keep them all in the same folder. Then uploading is easy.

[carollee]

I have a Word document with a table in it, all set out like pages. Particularly as I was scrapping my family album I was all over the place and wanted double pages to at least look okay together rather than clashing. So I placed thumbnails of each page where they would be. Easy to mix around before setting up the final book.

I would upload to Shutterfly as I go, but only when all was uploaded and I was ready to make the book, I would be able to refer back to my Word document table to know which page went where and next to what.

I'll take a screen print after work tonight and show you.

[muddygirl]

I had this problem with my DS's first book, I had to check the date on each page, or find the photo and look for the date in the metadata to work out the order. Now when I scrap I save as eg." 8 January Trip to the park.psd". This way they are in order in the months and easy to identify where they go. For my december daily book, when I saved as jpeg for shutterfly, I changed the file name to page 1.jpg, page 2.jpg etc. So much easier. Then when I uploaded, I was able to shift them around in the album before I made my book. I tend not to upload until i'm finished all the pages, because I have trouble commiting to a page being finished.

[Jen D]

Since I print single layouts and put them in an album this isn't really a problem for me because the date is on every layout. But, like with my 365... I labeled each beginning with 365-week... so 365-1 ... all they way up to 52 =)

I tend to upload my pages every other month. I put them in a "printing que" folder by size 12X12 folder and a 8X8 folder. I find this way I don't forget. Then when I have printed them I upload all to flickr for offsite safe keeping and back them up on an EHD.

I think everybody's process is a little different depending on the finished product =)

[MeEmMom]

I upload as I make each page, turn off vivid pics and the place in an album on shutterfly. It also helps me to see pages side by side as I make them so I know if two different pages are going to clash with each other (I don't always do 2 page LO's, but I can't stand if I have two pages next to each other that really clash!)

My books are always chronological, but I don't scrap chronologically. I skip around quite a bit, so I always name my files "MMDD Subject". That way they are always in chronological order (I have them filed in folders by year, which is why I don't add the year to the file name.)

I am always afraid that if I don't upload to Shutterfly as soon as I finish a LO, I might forget to include it in the book!

[Blossom]

I think Carollee's word document will be the idea I bring with me on

I have a file name system - with year and then the number of LOs I have come to - e.g. my latest LO was called 2010-32 as it was my 32nd LO of the year.
All my LOs are in folders under the different subjects if I am making a book so all pages are in one place.

But I think using the Word document might help me with getting the pages together without ruining my filename system

[carollee]

Not sure if I'm allowed to display from my photobucket here, but this is an example Blossom, of how I set it up, just a screen print I took tonight. I have the amount of boxes in my table for approx how big a book I want to make. My project 365 was all done in order of course, but other books I've been able to cut/paste the thumbnails and switch them around to wherever I want to find a pleasing set out. Also on the way to finishing a book, you can see at a glance how you're going, where the gaps are, etc. Works for me anyway.

[Blossom]

Thank you so much for posting this carollee. Now I really know how to do this. Even more easy than I imagined