ACDSee or Bridge

Discussion in 'Scrapping Pad' started by littlekiwi, Jan 18, 2022.

  1. littlekiwi

    littlekiwi I charge by the hour for anything before noon

    Messages:
    8,548
    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2012
    I've had a play with both and I'm realising neither really fit the bill for me right now so I'm not sure what to do....possibly some of the issues are stemming from my laptop being old but I don't know

    ACDSee I've used more so am more familiar with it but I've lost the database approximately once every month in the past 6 months or more for no apparent reason. I've talked to ACDSee Support and they "tried" helping for the span of one email which I replied to then dropped the ball from then on in regards to helping so I still have no idea why it happens or any solution. It's marginally better now I've embedded the metadata on a regular basis every time I shut ACDSee down. It also takes forever to start up and can be prone to hanging (not nearly as bad as Bridge though)

    @cfile suggested yesterday I give Bridge a go....it gave me a chance to redo some of my categories which was good (though now I feel like I've gone OTT on them to the point of too detailed) but Bridge hangs and crashes something fierce - I don't think I've had a single time I've opened Bridge without at least one hang or crash

    Sooo I'm not sure what I should do.....I know I need a decent level of organization otherwise everything falls into the "black hole" known as my laptop hard drive

    Maybe the solution is simplify my categories and stick to ACDSee but losing my database isn't ideal. How I simplfy I'm not sure - Here is a rough outline of what I tag....its extensive which is why I hate having all of the database and crashing issues

    BYOC by month & year
    Document Your December by year
    Month of Challenges
    Designers & Stores > TLP etc > Designer Name
    Alpha>Style of Alphas
    Colours (tagging papers and alphas by colour)
    Embellishments
    Arrows
    Attachments (Miscellaneous)
    Banners
    Beads
    Bookplate
    Brads
    Buttons
    Clips - Paper Clips, Clothes Pegs, Bulldog Clips etc
    Doodles
    Ephemera
    Flags
    Flair
    Flowers
    Foliage
    Frames
    Hearts
    Labels
    Lace & Fabric
    Mixed Media & Art Journaling
    Paint, Ink & Gesso
    Paper Pieces & Tears
    Photo Corners
    Pockets
    Ribbon & Bows
    Scatters
    Sequins
    Staples
    Stars
    Stitching
    Thread
    String
    Tabs
    Tags
    Washi Tape
    Vellum
    Wire
    Wood & Veneer
    Stamps
    Words > Word Art > Word Strips
    Journaling > Labels > Journal Strips > Doodles, Stamps etc
    Templates
    One Photo
    Two Photos
    Three Photos
    Four Photos
    Five Photos
    Six to Ten Photos
    Eleven Plus Photos
    Pocket Pages
    Albums
    Styles
    Glitter
    Paint
    Stamped
    Gesso etc
    Papers
    Patterned
    Checks
    Chevron
    Cork
    Dots
    Floral
    Graphic
    Hearts
    Houndstooth
    Notebook & Composition Book
    Numbers
    Painted & Messy
    Stripes
    Triangles
    Woodgrain
    Words
    Plain
    White
    Black
    Kraft
    Coloured
    Textured
    Themes
    Achievement
    Adventure
    Bad, Awful etc
    Beautiful, Pretty etc
    Best
    Bored
    Changes
    Childhood & Teenage Years
    Chores
    City
    Habits
    Hobbies
    Local
    Mood
    Happy
    Sad
    Angry
    Frustration
    COVID-19
    Relaxation
    Shopping
    Op Shopping
    Sleep & Rest
    Daily/Everyday LIfe
    Details
    Document
    Exercise
    Explore
    Fashion
    Food
    Cold Drinks
    Fruit
    Meal Planning
    Food Allergies & Intolerences
    Baking
    Breakfast
    Comfort Food
    Dessert
    Dinner
    Eating Out
    Fast Food
    Groceries
    Hot Drinks
    Italian
    Mexican
    Asian
    Bread
    Kitchen Appliances
    Lunch
    Recipes
    Sweet Treats
    Vegetables
    Thanksgiving (Turkey etc)
    Iced Treats
    Friends
    Best Friends
    Girl Friends
    Family
    Mum/Mom
    Grandma/Grandmother
    Fun
    Laughter etc
    Gatherings
    Go
    Goals & Resolutions
    Goodbye etc
    Good, Nice etc
    Happy
    Health
    Eyes & Glasses
    Respiratory
    Sickness
    Hospital
    Heart
    Mental Health
    Hello, Hi etc
    Heritage & Yesteryear
    Home
    Moving
    Rooms
    Staying Home
    Hair & Makeup
    Healthy Eating
    Luck
    Pets
    List
    Look, See etc
    Love
    Mail
    Me, Myself & I
    Girl & Woman
    Single
    Attributes
    Facts
    Horoscopes
    Self Love
    Memories
    Moments
    Music & Podcasts
    New Year
    No, Nope etc
    Noted
    Outside & Nature
    Photography & Cameras
    Positive
    Progress
    Reading & Books
    Remember
    Review
    Routine
    Day/Week in the Life
    Sport
    School
    University
    Graduation
    Scrapbooking & Creativity
    Scrapbooking
    Digital Scrapbooking
    Art
    Creativity
    Disability
    Sign Language
    Sleep, Rest etc
    Start & Finish
    Story
    Talking
    Thank You
    Surprise
    Birthday
    Celebration
    Time & Date
    Dates
    2022
    2021
    2020
    Blank
    Stamped
    Handwritten
    Days
    Monday
    Tuesday
    Wednesday
    Thursday
    Friday
    Saturday
    Sunday
    Weekdays
    Weekends
    Later
    Months
    January
    February
    March
    April
    May
    June
    July
    August
    September
    October
    November
    December
    Today
    Tomorrow
    Week
    Yesterday
    Travel
    Flying & Planes
    Buses & Trains
    Cars
    Staycation
    Road Trip
    Hotel
    Luggage
    TV & Movies
    Seasons
    Summer
    Autumn
    Winter
    Spring
    Yes
    No
    Maybe
    Weather
    Clouds
    Cool
    Hot
    Rain
    Snow
    Wind
    Sunshine
    Forecast
    Writing
    Adventure
    ANZAC Day
    Basketball
    Brave
    Canada
    Christmas
    Halloween
    Thanksgiving
    Dream
    Technology
    Computers
    Laptops
    Mobile Phones
    Money
    Working
    Job Search
    Office
    Volunteer
     
  2. HavaDrPepper

    HavaDrPepper Space. The final frontier

    Messages:
    3,264
    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2015
    All I gotta say is I got a headache reading through that list! That is way too much tagging for me.

    I did notice that there are some categories that might be on there twice but I'm not sure as I can't tell if some are top level and others are sub-level keywords. I see Paint, Ink & Gesso then later Paint is listed on its own as is Gesso. Words is also on there multiple times.

    I pulled up my keyword list in Excel and I have 69 tags. But then I don't tag every single item. My tags are for the previews only so generic tags work.

    Don't know what to tell you about the programs crashing.
     
  3. littlekiwi

    littlekiwi I charge by the hour for anything before noon

    Messages:
    8,548
    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2012
    @HavaDrPepper the duplicates are there for a reason - ie: gesso png files are separate to gesso paper which are separate to gesso styles
     
  4. gonewiththewind

    gonewiththewind I choose joy.

    Messages:
    11,692
    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2009
    @littlekiwi Remind me what version of ACDSee you have, and also let me know if you use Lightroom.
     
  5. littlekiwi

    littlekiwi I charge by the hour for anything before noon

    Messages:
    8,548
    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2012
    @gonewiththewind ACDSee Photo Studio Home 2021 and nope never used Lightroom but I'm willing to consider it if it might be an improvement. I did open it and got overwhelmed so closed it again....literally all ideas are welcome cause I'm sick of losing weeks/months of work (slow and steady gets it done)
     
  6. HavaDrPepper

    HavaDrPepper Space. The final frontier

    Messages:
    3,264
    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2015
    That's why I said I couldn't tell.
     
  7. gonewiththewind

    gonewiththewind I choose joy.

    Messages:
    11,692
    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2009
    Thanks for answering. I was hoping that an upgrade with ACDSee might solve your problems, but you are almost current.

    I have tagged using ACDSee, Bridge, and Lightroom. With ACDSee, I've had similar problems losing tagging. Bridge is a resource hog so if you don't have a up-to-date computer, you're going to experience lagging and possible crashing with it. Lightroom is the last program I used for tagging. I don't like that I'm unable to drag right from LR into PSCC. I have to request LR open up the supply in Explorer, and then drag from there.

    I am currently using ACDSee Photo Studio Home 2022 as a trial. I'm not tagging or anything at this point. I keep going back to ACDSee over and over again because it IS so very easy to add and remove keywords, and I love the viewing capabilities for various file types.

    I don't know if that helps you or not. I think I'm in the same boat with you, trying to make SOMETHING work.
     
  8. littlekiwi

    littlekiwi I charge by the hour for anything before noon

    Messages:
    8,548
    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2012
    @gonewiththewind thanks for your two cents....I only upgraded ACDSee in July because of my new hard drive. I went to reinstall it but had no record of my previous ACDSee serial numbers for some strange reason in my email that I've had for over 15 years which is highly unusual for me. Yeah given my slow iffy computer currently Bridge won't be the right fit either - I was so drained trying to use it earlier (not because the actual program was bad but the hanging and crashes made it unbearable). It might just be back to ACDSee but somehow simplfying my very long list of categories
     
    gonewiththewind likes this.
  9. littlekiwi

    littlekiwi I charge by the hour for anything before noon

    Messages:
    8,548
    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2012
    Really struggling on how to simplify my categories but with close to 200gb of stuff it won't be easy....cause I think less categories plus ACDSee is about my best option
     
  10. LeeAndra

    LeeAndra A total Betty.

    Messages:
    3,901
    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2010
    Jennifer, do you actually scrap/look for supplies at such a small detailed level? It's nice to be organized but only to the extent that it helps and not hinders.

    For instance, you have several very specific food/meal-related tags that could be combined into a simple "Food" category. Unless you're going out to eat several times a week and/or scrapping every meal in a separate album, I'm not sure you would be looking for a tag like "Vegetables" or "Bread" often enough to justify their existence. The same could apply to your multiple traveling tags that you could combine into types of travel like "Air" and "Road" vs. "Luggage," etc. I'm not sure what the "Go" or "Hello/Hi" tags are for but for feelings vs. facts-type kits or elements, I have an "Emo" category with a "Whining" (negative) or "Winning" (positive) tags that encompass everything.

    I tag kit previews vs. each element in a kit to save time/space, too.
     
    bestcee and HavaDrPepper like this.
  11. littlekiwi

    littlekiwi I charge by the hour for anything before noon

    Messages:
    8,548
    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2012
    Probably not, it's more that if something isn't tagged then I won't realise I have it. I probably only roughly know what I have in maybe 20% of my total stash if that. I'm very much a if its not visible (ie: tagged or organized in a way I will remember) I won't know I have it and use it even if its for my own layouts
     
  12. Pachimac

    Pachimac Give me all the cliché Christmas movies

    Messages:
    3,839
    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2016
    Am I the only one that does not use tags at all?
     
    michelepixels likes this.
  13. HavaDrPepper

    HavaDrPepper Space. The final frontier

    Messages:
    3,264
    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2015
    I don't for the most part. I have started tagging my previews in a generic way, i.e. Christmas, Summer, Fall, Birthday, etc. Why I did it was because I wanted to know how many kits I had for a specific theme since I've been scrapping a lot of photos for my cousin that fall within themes and I kept using the same kits (lots of Christmas photos). Also for some previews I add the word "Kit" (Football Kit, Dog Kit etc). Then in Picasa I can do a search for Dog Kit and all my previews will come up and I can try to avoid using the same kit all the time.

    But to look for staples, flowers, ribbons etc using tagging. Nope. I'm a one kit scrapper.
     
  14. bcgal00

    bcgal00 Say, "birdseed!"

    Messages:
    9,136
    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2010
    @Pachimac I use acdsee but don't tag either. I love it for viewing and dragging supplies onto my 12x12 canvas. I keep thinking I should learn more about it and learn how to tag, save my info, etc but just have never gotten around to it. One of these day though...
     
  15. elseepe

    elseepe I'll follow the sun

    Messages:
    2,192
    Joined:
    Jan 1, 2013
    I never did like ACDSEE and bridge drove me nuts because it has to browse everything every time you open it. I like Lightroom, but I only tag the previews (kit, element, paper, alpha, brush/paint, word art, and styles). I just use text search to find buttons, stitch, flowers, bows etc. I’ve been using the element previews lately to identify things I’m looking for. Then I can right click and go directly to the folder in Lightroom.

    I do have a subfolder that is newer stuff so I can limit my searches there or go up a folder level into my larger stash.
     
  16. littlekiwi

    littlekiwi I charge by the hour for anything before noon

    Messages:
    8,548
    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2012
    Thats a great idea
     
  17. dawnmarch

    dawnmarch Actually, no. You are not funny!

    Messages:
    2,371
    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2015
    I would stick with ACDSee for tagging but way simplify your tags. I have a tag for "food" for instance that covers pretty much all food, cooking restaurants etc. instead of particular types of food. And I have a category called "glitter,paint,sparkles" that covers all kinds of paints, confettis, scatters, etc. I have a lot of stuff and it's still relatively easy to look through without having individual categories for, say, types of paint. So, I would create some higher level categories into which you can combine some of your more detailed categories. Then get rid of the detailed ones. That will save a lot of tagging time too going forward. I do find ACDSee to be relatively unstable, though, which drives me crazy.
     
    bestcee and HavaDrPepper like this.
  18. michelepixels

    michelepixels A pun is not fully matured until it is full groan.

    Messages:
    8,197
    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2015
    Nope. I never have. Most designers give their items good file names so a simple search in my digistash folder works for me. If I had a lot of time to devote to it, I might like to tag for themes, maybe. But I can just scroll through my folder and see what I have, so it doesn't seem necessary to tag.
     
  19. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

    Messages:
    19,373
    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2013
    I'm going to piggyback off some of the suggestions above, and Michele specifically. There are tags you use that should come up in ACDSee because that's how the designer names them. Like Arrow, banner, bead, button, brad, etc. I would stop tagging those.

    Then, I would combine some of your tags down to one. You said above if it's not tagged, you won't see it. But, if you are doing a page on fast food or lunch, both would be "food". So, I would stick to food. You can tag an entire folder with a name pretty easily, so it's your scrapping style whether to drop the keyword onto each element in a kit or just the preview that has that as it's subject. I think that if you widen your categories, it'll make tagging easier too because it'll take away some of the decision making. Is this kit a girl friends kit? or a best friends kit? Or a friends kit? (Unless you mean the tv show). If you look at it and go "friends" then it's a quick decision and move on. The best part about broad categories is if you decide later that your food category is too big, and you are doing a lot of baking, it's easy to go to that food category and add another tag called "baking".

    Like, I notice you have a tag for each day of the week. You could instead have a tag called "Days of the week". The folder will be 7 times bigger than each one individually, but I'm betting that's not a huge category anyway. I'm making that guess based on the size of my Days of the Week folder from doing Project Life. You could do the same for Months. It probably doesn't save much time on the searching end to open up Days of the Week and find Wednesday, but would save a lot of time on the tagging side of individually tagging each day.
     
    gonewiththewind likes this.
  20. janedee

    janedee Is a craft project ever really finished?

    Messages:
    2,427
    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2016
    I have a huge number of categories too in my database. At one point, about three years ago, it was crashing regularly, but once I started optimizing and backing up the database regularly, it didn't seem to be a problem anymore. I have also stopped tagging every item in a kit but still tag the previews of the kits with all the items in the kit. If there is something quite different in the kit, (bingo card or charm) then I will tag or keyword those specific items. It has helped to keep my database smaller and more manageable.
     

Share This Page