What is the best way to organize files?

[rsowers]

Hello everyone,

I'm a relatively new addict to digital scrapbooking, and as I've taken more advantage of Thrifty Thursdays, .25 specials on Sunday and Monday, and web freebies, of course, I've built up a little collection. The problem....I'm getting confused. I've created some folders, and that's helping, but some folders are bigger than others, and it's sometimes hard to locate items. I thought I'd ask if anyone had a special system for organizing. Should I create sub folders? Should I organize by elements, papers, kits, alpha, etc., or should I organize by item, overlays, stitching, epoxies, etc., or is it easiest to organize by designer? I know that everyone has a system that works for them, but I thought I could "steal" some ideas that might work for me.

The other question I have is...once I extract my files from the zip file, do is it best to save the zip file or delete it?

Thank you for any suggestions.

Renee

[justmp]

You'll get lots of different answers about this as I'm sure there are lots of different methods that work. I actually have all of my stuff organized by designer. That works well for me because I'm not one to mix and match very much and I tend to stay within kits most of the time when I scrap.

[digigrandma]

Jodi's right, you will probably get many answers to this question as you will see in this thread when the question was asked once before:

http://www.designerdigitals.com/ddms...organize+files

It's a long thread. Hope it helps give you some ideas.

I keep my files organized by category. ie frames in a frame folder, buttons and bows in a button folder. When I keep whole kits on my computer, I organize them by designer. Because the files take up lots of room, I am continually burning files to CD's and then deleting the files from my hard drive. (I do that almost weekly) I keep some basics and favorites that I return to again and again on my hard drive.

As for deleting zip files, I'm on a Mac and my zip files are automatically put in the trash after downloading a file so I don't keep them.

[shhbabymine]

renee,
i was thinking about the post that merr mentioned - i love cassie's screen shots....

and one thing to add is that i print a copy and put it in a 3 ring binder by my computer
and its catagorized by item (frames, papers, kits, overlays, etc)
that way I can thiumb through my book and scribble notes in my idea notebook and have it at the ready when i am creating a layout.

wow, merr, i guess i could spend a day just deleting zip files as I have NEVER deleted them - imagine the memory they are eating on my ehd!!!

[rsowers]

Lovely Ladies!

Thank you so much for the suggestions. They are SO helpful.

I appreciate you taking time to respond, and I'll get started organizing ASAP.

Gratefully,
Renee

[rsowers]

P.S.

Sarah, I LOVE the idea of printing a hard copy and keeping it in a binder. I'm going to do that. Thank you.

Renee