If you organize by folder rather than tagging

My files are set up by TLP>Designer>Kit

I search windows in my TLP folder if for example I need a camera... it will then bring up all the cameras in that folder. Then I look through the ones it brought up and I pick the camera I want to use.. Because I am using File>Place it will then place the item/element in my workspace.



If I want to use more stuff from that same kit, then if I do File>Place again, it opens that last folder I got the camera from so in this case it would open Soco's Welcome Element pack for me. Then I would choose say the polaroid frame or a flower to scrap my page with.


Otherwise I just look at my Lily Pad Folder > Designer and then I have my view set to Detail for name of kits but you can set your view to small / med/ large view for the folder picture so you can see the kit.


With the extra large icon chosen so you can see the kit pic.. then I click on the folder and choose the items I want. They will be seperate windows in the workspace as I did not choose File>Place for this example, I chose File>Open.


Hope this helps.

 

I just added above another screenshot re the File > Place or File > Open and then you would view the files that way.

 

Sorry Jennifer. I have never used ACDSee.. I never saw the need for it, and I never tag files. I have only searched the way I showed you, and if needed for the few times I use Bridge for a PSD file if I truly need it, but I keep the tiff files of templates so the amount of times I use Bridge is very very minimal.

Re photos you can tag them through lightroom.. Cheryl @gonewiththewind has a great tutorial re doing that for Lightroom. I store my photos based on year/month.. I am usually pretty good with time frame of things I look for, otherwise I just view the folder with the larger icon to see pictures to choose what I want.

Good luck.

 

I sort of do the same as @cfile except I don't search since I'm usually a one kit scrapper and I use Picasa.

Where I differ is that in the designer folder I put a copy of every kit preview and use the Large Icons setting on every folder on my computer whether it is for digi scrapping or not. So in explorer I could look at my Bella Gypsy folder and see the previews for all the kits. If one catches my eye, I can then go to the kit folder, open it and look at everything. I have also started renaming the preview in the kit folders to "folder" so that it shows on the folder (one reason I don't want to go to Win11).

Even when I use Picasa, I look at the previews in the designer folder first. I do use Bridge to tag the previews in the designer folders and I can search on those tags in Picasa. The search will also bring up items like shown above if the word is in the file name.

As for photos, they are downloaded from my computer into folders by date i.e. 2022_01_01. Started doing that with my first Canon camera in 2005 and kept it ever since. I won't go into scanned photos organizing!

 

Yup, pretty much the same here as the other two...I just search in my file folders. Since I tend to 1. scrap with one kit and 2. know what I mostly have in my stash....
it's easy
I do use Bridge and have the kit previews all named the same = folder. That way I just search folder in my stash inside of Bridge and I can find a kit by theme that way by looking at the previews.

 

This is what Microsoft took away in Windows 11. So very, very sad.... You no longer get a preview of the kit peeking out of the folders.

 

Oh that is terrible.. I have not updated.

 

I do it the way @cfile does. However, I scrap using drag & drop from file folders. So if I see a piece in the search results I like, I do a right-click, Open File Location, and it opens to show me the entire kit folder. I drag from there into PS.

Just be aware that some designers do not name their elements with descriptive names. They number them instead, i.e. xxxx_element34.png. In those cases, I will rename a few of the elements, especially word art, to reflect what is on the word art. Example: word strip with "peace" on it becomes peace.png instead of element34.png. Now the file explorer search can find it. And once I find one element, I can open that folder to see what other goodies are in there.

I have also modified the name of the kit file folder to hold a descriptive word for the entire kit, i.e. winter, beach, nautical, flowers, etc. I put my alphas in separate folders so I name them: Alpha - kit name - descriptive words. That way I can easily tell what is in the folder without opening it. Again because they are in file names, they will show up in searches.

I too have been burned multiple times on tagging and categorizing kits - so many, many hours lost. Never again.

 

I have a large collection from some designers. So I have categorized their kits by renaming the file folders. This way all of the kits of one type sort together. I could have made sub-folders instead but since you can have really long file names, I use really long file names for each kit. I am not pulling kits apart (except for the alphas). These are kits that are just frames, or just dates, or just flowers, or just papers, etc. I will add the descriptive words often.

I have the following prefixes:
Alphas - kit name - descriptive word
Dates - kit name
DYD - kit name
Effects - kit name (this is where masks, brushes, overlays, etc. live)
Flowers - kit name
Frames - kit name
Paints - kit name
Paper - kit name
Paper tops - kit name (only Lynn G has these - tee hee)
Then all the rest are just under their kit name and maybe some other words.

I also add "- Retired" or "- Freebie" to kit names so I know their status for MOC.

 

I move everything from a kit into the main kit folder (except alphas are a sub-folder). Then when they are retired I just edit the folder name and add "z-" before the folder name. In Windows explorer and Picasa, they then sort to the bottom of the list. I do also add the "z-" to the preview in the designer's main folder so it also sorts to the bottom. Then if I just scroll down my kits in Picasa, I know that everything at the top is still in the store if I would be posting any layouts.

 

One last piece of advice -- try something for one designer and see if that works for you. Do you use the organizing helps you have set up? If so, then do the rest of your content. If not, then try another method.

I was "told" to organize and given tools to do it, and spent hours doing it. But - I found I rarely used those organizational tools when searching for something. So when I lost that organization (it did not move to the new laptop), I said I would only organize a minimum amount - no more hours tagging and categorizing. I would rather scrap.

 

@BevG That is great advice!

All these years later I'm still refining my organizing process. I tried tagging everything a couple years ago. Doesn't work for how I scrap but I found that tagging just the previews as to the type of kit it is can be very helpful for me. I just figured that out in the last 6 months!

 

My organizing seems similar to what @BevG described, but instead of naming the folders I tag the previews. I only rename preview folders that are named folder

you used to be able to add tags to jpg files in windows, you could try tagging only the previews for one designer and see how that works for you.
It’s been a while since I’ve done much on a windows based computer

i do use Lightroom. Initially I used it for photos, but added supplies after failing with other options. I could never grasp ACDSee and it seemed to require a lot of maintenance. Many, many years ago, I used to tag everything, but one day I was doing searches in order to tag elements and went. Hmmmmmm, why can’t I just search. I’ve been using the search method when I want specific items ever since.

 

I didn't read everything here but you have mentioned your laptop not having enough resource to run bridge. Do you have all your files from your laptop backed up somewhere? I use Western Digital My Book or My Passport and keep a 2nd one as just a back up (and a third for important things like photos). If you store everything on your laptop, this could be part of your resource issues. This may be of no help b/c I don't fully know your laptop situation/issues... however... when my old PC laptops would have issues, I would make sure all my files are safely backed up and then restore the laptop to factory settings. Then I would reinstall the most important programs and only keep files that are needed on the laptop itself. Sometimes the reset of it can clear all the little issues that come up with use or clear the space that may also have it messing up. Keeping most of the files on externals will also help.

Now if its overheating or has a broken something, that's different. Have you taken it to someone for a repair check to see if there are things that can extend the life? You could then still get your friend to build the desktop and then hopefully keep your laptop going a bit longer for when you do need to use it outside the room. By using externals, it allows you to keep your files more portable between machines.

 

Sorry I meant to say all that BECAUSE I like Bridge sooo much better than ACDSee program.
I organize differently tho. I put everything in a categorized set of folders with a few designer folder exceptions (for CT purposes or b/c I have a ton of stuff by them). I use tags via my macbook pro but I find that Bridge has a wonderful search option once you learn how to use it properly. I'd like to eventually tag in Bridge.

 

I just use the native search bar in my files.