Cleaning out my digi files

Discussion in 'Chatty Pad' started by QuiltyMom, Dec 11, 2018.

  1. QuiltyMom

    QuiltyMom I'll never run out of things to do!

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    I've been in hiding the past few days! I've been spending this week cleaning out my digi files, and I'm not talking about my kits. I'm trying to organize all the pages I've ever scrapped (yes, I've kept most of them to delete the ones I never used, move others to the projects they belong in. Basically getting everything in the proper place. I scrap by yearbooks or events, so when I'm in a rush I use a "working files" project and then move the page to the proper place "tomorrow". It's always a nice thought but I guess that "tomorrow" is now!

    The hard part is I'm having to work with all the different versions of StoryBook Creator and Artisan to figure out what's up. What a headache! But Onward I Go!!!

    Some of the pages I made years ago are definitely cringe-worthy. But I'm keeping them because it's how I scrapped at the time, especially my first-ever speed scrap page that I made using freebies I had picked up around the web. I think I just about broke every rule, but everyone was so nice to me about it.

    Back to the trenches!!!
     
  2. Kat

    Kat Seeking wine/shopping/teeth brushing support group

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    Been doing something similar but I'm a bit afraid of the "pages" folder. I have some organized by year but the rest I don't even know. I've deleted digital kits and supplies that I'd never use or were freebies from AGES ago. I'm trying to get EHD's organized. It's a huge undertaking and my drives keep kicking off which makes it even harder.
     
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  3. QuiltyMom

    QuiltyMom I'll never run out of things to do!

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    @Kat - I love your new siggie! That's adorable!

    I lost a lot of pages a few years back when I lost and EHD. I didn't do as good of a job of keeping things on separate drives back then but I've learned my lesson. Now I have things everywhere! I'm also having to go through thumbnails to see if I can recreate the lost pages. That's a job in itself.

    Next will be my photos. I've dumped so many photos onto my computer saying I'll edit them "later"... Yikes!
     
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  4. bcgal00

    bcgal00 Say, "birdseed!"

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    I've kept old digi pages too even though they are cringe-worthy :) Like you said, it shows how our scrap styles have changed over time and each page is cherished even if the actual design isn't. It's like watching really old movies and shows that we loved at the time. We watch them now and they seem hokey and old-fashioned with terrible music and graphics but....at the time we thought they were amazing LOL.
     
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  5. QuiltyMom

    QuiltyMom I'll never run out of things to do!

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    Oh, I know! I used to look at a page and be amazed that I made it! Now when I see it I just laugh and laugh...
     
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  6. keepscrappin

    keepscrappin ScrapWithTheWind

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    Jan, I need to go through and do this too. I've got digital files on an old desktop and 2 old laptops. My hubbys says I can't get a new laptop until I get rid of some of the old ones in my computer/laptop graveyard... hehe! We have a desktop and 2 old laptops of mine and 2 more old laptops that were the older kids' laptops. If I get rid of the my old desktop, he said I could talk about getting a new laptop for Christmas and give my current 3 yr old laptop to Megan.

    I just need to take the time to move all the stuff off the old internal harddrive to an EHD, but there's something wrong with the graphics card and it keeps freezing up when I'm transferring files. I think I'm gonna google solutions today and see if I can get an adapter or enclosure for my old drive so I can get rid of the rest of the desktop. I just need to open up the desktop and determine if it's an IDE or SATA drive. Yep, my desktop is that old. The service tag says it was manufactured in Dec 2009! I think I'll add that do my to-do list for today.
     
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  7. Cherylndesigns

    Cherylndesigns All glasses should be bigger than 1.5 oz

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    It's quite a job! Besides all of my digi pages (also cringing at a lot of mine), I photographed most of my paper pages, cards, mixed media, etc. I'm in the process of putting all of those in folders. I definitely want to keep them, they're fun to go back and look at. I made a lot of albums back in the day - some from scratch. I'm sending links (when I get each album finished) to my granddaughter, Ava. She's been "my apprentice" since she was about 8. Haha I really used to call her that. She's now 19 and already knows how important family history keeping is.
     
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  8. BevG

    BevG If I can't remember it, it didn't happen

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    I worked on organizing photos some last night. Hope you get your pages straightened out, @QuiltyMom. Sounds like it is time to print...

    I usually work on multiple projects at a time, but I keep the pages in separate project folders. I am a chronological scrapper so that helps.
     
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  9. krscraps

    krscraps I'm a nerd.

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    I need to do this. I want to upload the finished pages to Lightroom CC so that they're backed up there. I also want to go through my Disney photos since 2010 (as you can imagine, there's a lot) and upload them to Lightroom CC and tag/organize them. That's one heck of a project too.

    And this is the craziest time of the year. Eep.
     
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  10. QuiltyMom

    QuiltyMom I'll never run out of things to do!

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    Wow! That's a lot to do, especially if your computer is that old and having problems internally. We just recycled a couple of old desktops without looking if I had transferred everything over properly. At this point I just wanted them out of the house! Good luck getting through all of that. I know you'll be glad when it's done!

    My problem is that I jump around when I scrap, mostly due to photos fitting CT assignments. I'm hoping to get a few yearbooks done soon. I haven't yet started scrapping 2018 yet because I want to do that on PSE18 when I get around to learning that. Hopefully this task will make me less scattered!

    Yes, it is crazy. I still need to finish a few presents, wrap them and bring them to the post office. Hopefully that'll happen tomorrow. I'm the world's worst procrastinator!

    And good luck getting through the Disney photos!!
     
  11. keepscrappin

    keepscrappin ScrapWithTheWind

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    I googled it and found out what I needed and it's ordered from Amazon.
    [​IMG]
    Thanks for the push to get this done Jan! I only broke one nail taking the case off my desktop... hehe!
     
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  12. QuiltyMom

    QuiltyMom I'll never run out of things to do!

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    Break out the super glue and fix that nail!!! lol! Wow - that's a lot of cables. I'm glad that I inspired you to get started on this! Hope it all goes well and it does the trick for ya.
     
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  13. IntenseMagic

    IntenseMagic Some grannies cuss a lot. I'm some grannies.

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    This has been on my to-do list forever!! I want to dig in and organize my pages by the years in the photos instead of the year I created the page. I guess I keep putting it off because I need loads of time and never seem to have that. Maybe I need to just set aside a few minutes here and there and chip away at it. You are motivating me!
     
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  14. SeattleSheri

    SeattleSheri Movers, cleaners, great hair. I'm a socialite!

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    I have a very systematic process in place for my pages. Everything is named by year and date (ex. 20181211_Product) and files are automatically saved to certain folders (I use actions when I complete my pages) and I archived both monthly and annually. I save everything too (including TIFFs of every page I've made dating back to 2008). My process is probably cringe-worthy to many, lol, but it works for me. I print photobooks for Christmas every year, so I never have anything outstanding. Good luck with your organization!
     
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  15. QuiltyMom

    QuiltyMom I'll never run out of things to do!

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    I'm happy to be motivation for you! All it takes is a little bit every day and it'll happen. I've been procrastinating at doing something ickky, so I'm doing this instead!

    That is amazing!!! Good for you - I'm glad that at least one of us is on top of things!
     
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  16. bonnenuit

    bonnenuit Why do I always have to be Captain?

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    I share your pain. I just ditched some more old kit freebies that I know I won't use. I also dumped a bunch of freebie templates that I didn't really care for. I have at least four designers that I used to be on their page file template conversion teams. For one of them, I had hundreds of templates that just weren't my style but felt I had to keep them. In the past week, I cleared out all of those.

    Next, I need to tackle deleting jpg files of pages that I've already printed. I still have the pages in the Artisan project files so I don't need the individual jpgs.
     
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  17. QuiltyMom

    QuiltyMom I'll never run out of things to do!

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    Well, since I wrote the first post in this thread I've deleted over 70G of unnecessary files! The big files were duplicates of albums in different versions - sometimes I had three! EEk! I'm making good progress at getting things where they need to be, but it sure feels good to have all those extra files gone.

    Oh, I need to get rid of all my old .page template files! I did get rid of 3, and I need to do more. One I was going to delete but kept it at the last minute. I'm glad that I did because I'm trying to recreate pages that I lost in the Great EHD Crash, and many of the templates I used were in there. Once I'm done with that I'll keep the few I know I'll use, then trash the rest. My style has changed a lot over the years, and getting rid of those simply makes sense!

    Now I need to decide about deleting old kits, the ones I used to love but haven't used in years. I'm too sentimental!
     
  18. LeeAndra

    LeeAndra A total Betty.

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    All of my photos and pages are organized by year. I save the 12x12 JPG with the year in the title on my hard drive, and when I move them over in batches to my EHD, I rename them (once they're in their year folder) with the number of the month (so all the Januarys are first with 01-Snow, etc. within the '2017' folder). I usually only date by month and year. When I upload to Shutterfly for their unlimited pages sales, I will tweak the organization slightly if I need to (like making sure my son's May birthday shows up at the beginning of the May pages).
     
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  19. BevG

    BevG If I can't remember it, it didn't happen

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    @bonnenuit - It is okay to delete those old .page files --- or you can archive them off to an EHD that sits on a shelf somewhere. That is what I did with all of mine. I could not bear to just delete them. I have been using PSE to scrap since July and am loving it. I try not to think of it as "money spent/wasted" but as making room for "new toys".
     
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  20. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

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    Yep! I have those. From both paper and digi days!

    Ugh! Is it a setting on the computer? I know you are on a Mac, but one of my windows updates set a default "time out" for USB ports on the laptop. So, after 30 minutes, it would kick off. So annoying! But something easily googled and fixed!

    I've been doing this too! I love knowing my paper pages are backed up. And I want to print them out in a nice skinny photobook!

    :byayThat takes skills! I hate clearing out old kits because it's so hard! Way to go!!!

    Can I ask why you kept the project file instead of the jpeg? I intend (someday) to delete the .psd and just keep the jpeg once it's printed.
     
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