How do you remember to use your new kits?

Mine are alphabetical, by designer, but I also have them categorized. Alphas are all together, Christmas is all together, templates are all together and retired products are all together. After Christmas in July, I moved all of my Christmas files back to my EHD.

 

I used to have a "To Be Used" folder. Now, I usually scrap immediately after I download. Otherwise, I might keep the preview somewhere on my desktop so I know I need to scrap with it - if 1/2 the previews, if more, in a folder.

 

Yes, but my Kits folder is so big, I wonder how long it would take my PC to sort them for me. My Kits folder on my laptop is 106GB...I doubt even my wonderfully zippy SSD and Intel i7 could sort that much instantly. And who knows how big my EHD's Kits folder is?

I have a "Purchased" column in my Kits Excel spreadsheet where I put the year-month of purchase. (So anything purchased this month will have "2018-09" as the date. I do year first so that it's arranged by year, not by month.) I only starting doing this like last year, but that works in my favor because when I sort the spreadsheet by the Purchased column, I'm able to see my most recent purchases.

 

I typically only purchase kits that I know I'm going to use ASAP, for my budget won't allow me to purchase anything otherwise! I seem to purchase mostly templates these days, and I use them all the time.

 

All of my unused kits go into a 00-To Be Used folder on my EHD.

If I pair them up with some photos from my 00-To Be Scrapped folder, they go into a To Make folder. After the page is made, the copies of the photos are deleted & the kit is moved into the designer's folder.

 

Oh, I see. I just clicked to sort my entire laptop contents (400gb) and it was instant - probably because it doesn't actually move the files, it just reorders the metadata associated with them. But I wouldn't want to experiment if you're planning to use the laptop for anything else in the meantime.

 

That's true--nothing is really "transferred," but instead "rearranged." So in this case maybe my 100+GB aren't the issue I worried they would be. But like you mentioned, I'll still wait until I know I don't need my laptop for awhile lol!

 

I keep all my photos in 1 folder for the year. It auto sorts for me, but just for you, I told it to sort backwards (newest to oldest). My folder is 55 GB big. It took less than 2 minutes to change the sort. So, it probably wouldn't take as long as you think it might! After the initial change, it took 5 seconds to reverse the process (literally. I pulled out a stopwatch).

 

Currently: I lightly tag. I tag kits/previews to use - "New - Use Me". Since they are also tagged by whatever, I find I'll use them when I'm looking for summer kits, or water play, or whatever.

(Windows) Prior to using Acdsee, I would create a shortcut of the kit preview and drop it in a folder on my desktop called "New - Use Me". Because it was a shortcut, if I double clicked, it would take me right to the folder where the kit was neatly stored. Also, I would rename the kit shortcut in the desktop folder if I bought it for certain photos. Like, I might call it "Port Stanley 2014". This didn't affect the original kit, but a quick glance and I could see if I bought a kit for certain photos.


Also me: I like to randomly look through my TLP Visual Order History. I'll change one of the sorts (the top one is a lot of fun to play with), and pick a page and see what I want to use. Sometimes I'll go "I forgot I had that kit" or "I don't think I ever used that one!"

 

Thanks, @bestcee Courtney!

 

When I purchase things, (for this discussion, from the Lilypad), I open the preview file to find when it was created, then rename the folder in this order-
yyyy-mm-dd- designer name- kit name- elements/alpha/papers/templates. Then, I keep the folder in my "New" folder (under my "The Lilypad" folder) Once I use at least 3 items in the folder, I will file it under the designer's name (which is also inside the store folder.) Here is an image of my folder system-

I have a folder titled "BYOC", with each month's BYOC previews inside. Each month, I keep the current BYOC supplies inside the current folder, then when the next BYOC comes out, I move the individual folders into the folder for that designer. This way, I can look at all the BYOC stuff together. Plus, I can look back through prior BYOC stuff to see what all I already have that goes together-- I am NOT a one kit scrapper and usually use at least 3 designers and about 5 kits per page.
Here is what my September 2018 BYOC folder looks like:

I hope this helps! Oh- and I do not tag, but I probably should!

 

@KayTeaPea I rename my BYOC folders too! I add BYOC MMYR (BYOC 0918) to the end of each one so I can make Windows search and find all my BYOC for each month.

Well, now I make ACDsee search, but same thing.

 

I am terrible at remembering to use them. I fall back on my old standards...

I kissed a frog!

 

By kissing Bart?