Gutted....ACDSee

If you have embedded your metadata Jennifer, all may not be lost. Your tagging info should be embedded in the files now. If you have to reinstall ACDSee, you can still go to Tools, Database, Catalog files, then select a few of the folders which you have tagged already and have ACDSee catalog a section at a time. I've had to do this a few times when upgrading to a new version. Hope you can recover your info!

 

@littlekiwi To ensure you don't lose any cataloguing info again - go to Tools, Options, Database and tick the box marked below. That way, even if your database gets corrupted, you will be able to retrieve your cataloguing info. Backing up doesn't ensure the info is embedded just backed up.

 

Ack! So sorry Jennifer! I'm sorting things in ACDSee now, but definitely concerned about something like that happening. I set a weekly reminder to backup my database but didn't know about the embed feature.

 

I'm so sorry, Jennifer! I wonder if you did add info to the metadata? Have you right-clicked on a file you know that you tagged to check the properties? I'm crossing my fingers your info is there (probably under the Details tab)! I stopped using ACDSee for this very reason. It just stinks to have all that work just...gone.

 

I am thinking about either using Lightroom versus ACDsee - any resources that compare the 2?

 

@janedee Thanks so much for that tip! I knew I could embed, but I forget all the time!

 

IDK of any resources. But I know that @gonewiththewind Cheryl prefers Lightroom because she lost her ACDsee catalog.

I prefer ACDSee because I like keeping just my photos in Lightroom, and my supplies separate. Lightroom takes more computer resources for me than ACDSee. So, personal preference for me.

 

I knew there was another thing that annoyed me about Lightroom!

 

I have been tagging in Bridge, which has seemed to work. However, I tend to forget to open Bridge and search for my items that way; and instead, just search in my Lilypad folder for specific words/items. I have been working on it when I think about it, but don't think about it often as I tend to get distracted online and go off on rabbit trails easily...
Thanks to @gonewiththewind 's suggestion, after I get the supply list with links to products in the store (when I upload a layout), I now am adding the full list to the "file info" section in the layout file. This helps make sure I know exactly what I used on a layout even if I do not save or lose my layered file. Currently, I save the layered file (as a .tif) and then a flattened jpeg. I keep my web-sized files for a year or so, but those are not as important to keep long term.

 

thank you @gonewiththewind and @KayTeaPea - I need to improve my storage and tagging. I am forcing my self to move to Photoshop (from PSE 11, lol...) so now is the time to improve all my processes!

 

I will admit I know nothing about the program but is there a way that you can export a txt file of the tagging? Then when it would act up, you could just import that file? You would have to do an export whenever you make changes to your tagging.

I lost all my settings for all programs 2 weeks ago when Windows thought my computer was a new setup. It is still not where it was before. A couple weeks before that I had used Bridge to tag previews only. Those tags carry to Picasa (yeah, had to rebuild that database as well). I lost the keywords in Bridge. From some research I found that I could import a file of keywords. Eventually I found a file on my computer (I didn't lose data just no links of program settings nor were they working right) that had the keywords. I dug through the previews using windows and created a txt file with my keywords. I then did the import and everything was back to where it was. After Picasa rebuilt its database the keywords are there as well.

I now have multiple copies of that txt file saved so it will be an easy fix it it happens again.