Organizing

[slanger]

I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on keeping all of your digital scrapping items organized. I have tried a few things, but it just doesn't seem to work. While I'm creating a page it usually takes so long because I'm hunting through all my files to see which elements I want to use. Any suggestions?

[dugarner]

Everybody has their own methods that seem to work, but I use Photoshop Elements Organizer and create a separate catalog just for my Scrapbook supplies. I keep all my supplies in their original folders on my EHD, and I imported all of them into Organizer. Once in Organizer, I sort them by tagging them into categories, like Paper, Buttons---Brads---Fasteners, Textures, Overlays, Word Art, Alphabets, Fibers---Ribbons---Threads, Stitching. It makes it easy, when I know what I'm looking for, I search in that category and scroll till I find something I like.

[slanger]

Thanks. I'll try that. I have alot of photos in the organizer....can it hold ALOT of items...I'm still new to it.

[dugarner]

Well, I have 15,000 photos in one catalog, and about 10,000 scrapbook items in the other catalog. Since you're not actually "moving" the items when you put them in the catalog, it shouldn't be a problem. The only time investment is the first time you pull everything in, your computer will spend a lot of time creating thumbnails. It took my desktop about 2 hours to create all the thumbnails for my 10,000 scrapbook items.

I hope that helps!

[earlofoxford]

ACDSee is wonderful for organizing supplies. It takes a while to tag everything, but it is so worth it when you're done. I love being able to pull up papers of a certain color to scroll through for the perfect choice.

[dugarner]

Linda, has your ACDSee file ever crashed? I've had a lot of trouble with PSE Organizer corrupting my catalog files. Usually I have a good copy backed up, but several times (twice during a retreat!) it's completely crashed and I've had to rebuild it. Tagging 10,000 items is a real pain in the (*&$*!

Sarah

[Jen D]

I have Acdsee and it has never crashed on me. I do like it, but I haven't had the time to tag everything. So, far I have tagged all my paper and the embellishments I use the most.

[earlofoxford]

Sarah, I haven't had ACDSee long but haven't had any problem with it crashing. I have had some problems with not being able to open some items from ACDSee -- probably because I had moved them outside ACDSee -- argh! I know better now.

[anke]

I haven't had any trouble with it crashing either, just didn't put enough time into tagging yet. It is really awesome though once you get going! As it stands now it takes me forever to find stuff, need to take the time to tag.....

[SBrentnall]

I use Apple's Aperture, since ACDSee STILL doesn't have a mac version. I thought about using iPhoto, but they don't allow nested keywords and mine are pretty structured.

[Cassie Jones (1gr8muggle)]

Originally Posted by SBrentnall

I use Apple's Aperture, since ACDSee STILL doesn't have a mac version. I thought about using iPhoto, but they don't allow nested keywords and mine are pretty structured.

It's coming . . . ACDSee for Mac.

[hguenthe]

For anyone who has gone the Photoshop CS4 route, I would encourage you to check out Bridge CS4. It has made some very nice changes and collections make it soooo very easy to move between items. I can click my papers, see them all, then click masks and see them all. Mere seconds to pop around between my different sections of items. It also works wonders for my photo organization.

[AllynD]

But with iPhoto you can create smart albums that are intersections or combinations of keywords, like "blue" AND "paper," or "white" AND "button," or "label" OR "journaling." That's what I do. (I really don't get any commissions from iPhoto for my dedication, I just love it because it works so well for me.)

[hguenthe]

Hehe Lynn Think the main important thing is finding a system that works well for you. Bridge seems to be able to do the same things as iPhoto and if I had had your tutorial on how to get it to work before I figured out Bridge, I probably would be right there with you in iPhoto. Variety is the spice of life, right?

I now use iPhoto to organize my iPhone photos so that I can keep the low res and raw images separate... that and iPhoto is the only way I have figured to get my iPhone photos off.

[RatherBScrappin]

Originally Posted by earlofoxford

ACDSee is wonderful for organizing supplies. It takes a while to tag everything, but it is so worth it when you're done. I love being able to pull up papers of a certain color to scroll through for the perfect choice.

I use this program as well and sit and tag papers and elements while I'm watching tv

Originally Posted by hguenthe

For anyone who has gone the Photoshop CS4 route, I would encourage you to check out Bridge CS4. It has made some very nice changes and collections make it soooo very easy to move between items. I can click my papers, see them all, then click masks and see them all. Mere seconds to pop around between my different sections of items. It also works wonders for my photo organization.

I am about to upgrade from CS2 to CS4, so I'll have to check this out...is it better to use Bridge than ACDSee?

[hguenthe]

I have never used ACDSee so can't comment on the differences. Mainly, I fell in love with Bridge when it was the first one I finally figured out an easy and quick way to organize and get access to all the items I knew I had when I wanted them. If I had had Lynn's tutorial on iPhoto back then, I may never have tried Bridge and fallen in love with it. I would say when you upgrade, open it, play with it a bit and see if it works for you or not. There is no "right" way, just the right way for you.

[AbbyG]

Originally Posted by dugarner

Linda, has your ACDSee file ever crashed? I've had a lot of trouble with PSE Organizer corrupting my catalog files. Usually I have a good copy backed up, but several times (twice during a retreat!) it's completely crashed and I've had to rebuild it. Tagging 10,000 items is a real pain in the (*&$*!

Sarah

I have had my ACDSee crashed a couple of times, and had to reinstall, or upgrade in order for it to work properly again. I was like you had everything tagged and I believe that it overloaded the catalogue database or something. I've recently upgraded and plan on only tagging the preview images of all my supplies. Because it would take me a solid 2 days to re-tag everything!!