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Organize, Organize, Organize

I use Lightroom to tag. I have a catalog for photos, a catalog for supplies, and a catalog for completed LOs. Each catalog has separate keywords and smart collections. Smart collections tell me which stuff needs to be tagged yet, so I can just do whatever tagging I feel like whenever I feel like it and it knows where I left off.
 
I am an organized person by nature. I lean toward simplicity. I keep my photos and scrap supplies in separate libraries in Photos - a Mac software.

For my pictures, I keep one year on my laptop, otherwise they are on an EHD. This is where I need to tweak my organization, cause right now, they are sorted into yearly folders and then daily folders. In Photos, my current year pictures are sorted into daily folders. Sometimes, with multiple events/same day, there are a few folders, with a note of the event in the album title. In the software, I can search with facial recognition and tag photos, but that doesn't translate when I export for back up (will have to investigate this, not sure!)

For my scrap supplies, it's sorted by store, designer then product, alphabetical. Each kit (collections - paper, ellies, alpha are combined) is an folder, and the previews are the "folder covers." This way I can scroll by and look at all the previews looking for what I need. I don't tag since I can search based on the file names. I don't really do anything except import the items in and make a kit folder.

As for layouts... I have a PSD folder sorted by years (of the images on the layouts). These are deleted usually a year after the album has been printed. I've actually never gone back to fix a printed album. Then I have a WEB folder that has both the WEB versions of layouts and the Album Layouts, separate into folders per year of the images. As the Album Layouts fill up, I print them into a yearly album. I also have a Singles Album Layout folder... I'm hoping to print these as single layouts and slide them into an album. I just have to get over the non-matching sides of the album, that's why I put it off. lol! Oh.. for easy sorting... I add the year of the images to the name of the file.

Sorry... I seem to be wordy!
 
I have photos on one EHD, then scrap supplies on another. My photos stay on my laptop for about a year, then I purge them to make room.

I have them date-event for camera photos, then by month-event for iPhone photos. I need a better way to organize my scrapbooking supplies though.
 
I think for any system, you have to kind of think backwards. "When I want something, what do I want?" If you are a kit scrapper that uses mostly themed kits, you might not have to do much of anything. Maybe add a tag like "Christmas" when the kit name is "Holiday Magic" and that's about it. If you like mixing and matching and you're more likely to think "I want a doodled flower with a stem and pink petals" then you will probably need to do a lot of tagging.
 
lorryfach said:
I think for any system, you have to kind of think backwards. "When I want something, what do I want?" If you are a kit scrapper that uses mostly themed kits, you might not have to do much of anything. Maybe add a tag like "Christmas" when the kit name is "Holiday Magic" and that's about it. If you like mixing and matching and you're more likely to think "I want a doodled flower with a stem and pink petals" then you will probably need to do a lot of tagging.
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I used to tag EVERYTHING. And I really mean EVERYTHING: a paper would be tagged by pattern and colors (all of them... Ugh!!), each element would be tagged by type, the previews would be tagged by colors. It was crazy time-consuming and totally pointless as I'm a kit scrapper. So I agree with you and @gonewiththewind: you have to create the system that works with how you scrap, how you think, how you will use it, how you will search it. For example I can't remember kit names for the life of me, that's why I need a bit more tagging than a kit-scrapper that would have a better memory than me! LOL
 
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My LOs are saved in 3 various folders: layered, jpg full size, web version(s). I number them in the order I create them (I'm not a chronological scrapper) and add the title (or a shortened version of it). When a year is over I just delete the web version and back up the jpg and layered in a yearly file. I could delete the jpg too (once they are printed) since I have the layered files but it's way easier to browse through them in windows explorer than having to open a special software to read psd.
 
That's why I save in TIFF, so I can see them in Explorer. I only keep web versions until I upload them. I can always make them again and I so rarely need to.
 
I am a bit tripped out by Cheryls organization, except for the excel, that is what I do! I feel so happy! lol
I have the photos in order like her, but then I get real techy...
3x5 cards
one column date - then a brief synopsis of what is in there
0705-e/rach open pres/Abby's dinner
0708-lib w/qs
0709-j no teeth-boo-eric@work
0711-childrens church panorama
I go thru these cards when I have a new kit or challenge or just want to scrap. After I make the page and save as HIGH rez jpg (in my folder to print by months). I take a pink highlighter and cross out. Once I have 30 pages for that group of months, I go back and see if there is anything else I NEED to scrap, I circle with blue pen, and that week, I concentrate on those memories for pages.
I don't scrap chronologically, but I print that way.

I also have a throw back folder..I get a kit and think oh I have an old photo, I may or may not have scrapped, but I will rescrap it from a different perspective, with much better product! lol I toss those in to the bi monthly books as I can!
 
Photos - Year | Month | Date
Kits - Store | Designer | Product
Layouts - Year | Date and I only keep TIFF for a year, otherwise it's all JPEG. I rarely go back to actually "fix" anything so no need for an editable version.
 
I only really have organized my kits & even thats still in progress. I am not a kit scrapper most of the time or partial to only one store so I split everything up in to subject folders in windows explorer except for alphas, papers & filler cards which I do by color/design. If anyone wants screenshots I can add them later
 
I really only have 2 folders digiscrap and pixsort

digiscrap is divided in 10 ways...CU/buttons/flowers/paper/....and themes
I don't organize by store or designer...I scrap what I want when I want. each folder has the default designer name and at the end of the file I put the store abbreviation that way if I need something for a particular store I can see it. Plus I don't really shop around

pixsort is where I put my pix...year/dateevent so... in the 2015 folder I would find 12-25santagifts

When I am working I copy/paste all components into the pixsort dateevent file...never have to worry about where I got a product from

I know there is some concern about memory, but this works really well for me...I like to think I am shopping while I am copy/paste the items I want for my LO, and if I fill up my EHD...there is always another one to get LOL. Haven't been scrapping that long so don't really have any to get rid of yet, but I am starting a "used" folder, cuz I find I seem to go back to the same products a few times more than I should...once its in this folder...I force myself not to go there hahaha
 
This may not be a big help, but I use the former Creative Memories/Panstoria (now Forever) products for this, so it's a bit different. Memory Manager/Forever Historian allows you to file photos in as many folders as you'd like, while only having one copy of each photo and keeping everything in chronological order. So, I've a gadzillion file folders (main folders with sub folders). I just make up whatever I need when I need it.

For scrapping, I scrap everything in chronological order, scrapping by year, printing in completed photo books. This is the only way I can keep organized. I also have special albums for trips, events, etc., that would take up too much room in the annual album. Boring, but it's the only way it works for me.
 
My photos are in folders by month / year. My supplies are organized by designer with the store behind it (i.e. One Little Bird (TLP)). I have a previews folder that I copy the preview from each kit and put into the folder to glance through (the hundreds) of kits that I have.

I organize my projects by year and then by projects inside that year. I name my files by project and then by number (LV-DPL-16W01-A is Laura Vancura-Digital Project Life- 2016 Week 1- Side A). This has worked well for me for 4 years... I think the biggest part is to have a system that works for you and then keep it up.
 
jk703 said:
I am an organized person by nature. I lean toward simplicity. I keep my photos and scrap supplies in separate libraries in Photos - a Mac software.

For my pictures, I keep one year on my laptop, otherwise they are on an EHD. This is where I need to tweak my organization, cause right now, they are sorted into yearly folders and then daily folders. In Photos, my current year pictures are sorted into daily folders. Sometimes, with multiple events/same day, there are a few folders, with a note of the event in the album title. In the software, I can search with facial recognition and tag photos, but that doesn't translate when I export for back up (will have to investigate this, not sure!)
Click to expand...


Yes! You can export with keywords out of Photos (not sure if you are still using iPhoto or Photos). All of my tags from Bridge also showed up when I finally took that leap and imported my photos into Photos.
 
I'm similar to Cheryl in my organization, and I've tried the spreadsheet before after seeing her awesomeness and got annoyed that I couldn't sort/filter in Excel and have the images still show up, so I abandoned that lol

For my photos I just recently decided to start using my Mac as a Mac instead of a Windows-substitute. I imported all my photos into 'Photos', one folder at a time so I could create an album for each month (how they were arranged in Windows folders). I have a 'folder' for each year, with albums for each month inside. Once a month I go through my photos and tag them, delete the bad/blurry/extras (this takes maybe 10-15 min. a month). I tag the person, event, and "To be scrapped" if I think it would be good on a page. Then I can search by event, or person, or just look in the date folder. I LOVE that this all carries over onto my phone with iCloud photo library, even the organizational structure, and I can search keywords there too. After I've done the month I export them to my EHD as an on-site backup (including keywords).

For my layouts, I save them on my EHD as YYYY-MM - Layout name ... I do this because when I get it printed the title shows up on the back, then I always know when the layout was from, even if I forgot to put a date in the journaling. Plus I print individual layouts not in books, so it helps me organize them when I get them. I have folders for each year, and I keep a web size copy in Mac Photos in the month album so I know when I'm browsing photos to scrap that hey, I've already done that one.

For Scrapbooking 'stuff' I organize by Designer folder, then by Kit Name - Designer name. I copy the preview of the kit/template into Photos (a different library than my photos library) and tag the preview with 'New to use', theme/season, Kit/Template/Element, etc, etc etc. This takes just seconds after unzipping, etc. Then I can search by 'Spring' and everything spring will come up. I can see the kit name and such on the preview, so I know where to find it in my designers folder. If it's a collab I store it in the folder for the designer's folder whose name comes first on the preview. When I've used it I delete the 'new' tag and add 'used'.

Phew - sorry, that was long winded.
 
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