Organize, Organize, Organize

[jk703]

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.

Yay! When I get to exporting 2015, I will look into this... or just bother you!

 

[jk703]

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).

Phew - sorry, that was long winded.

I might have to follow something like this Trina... at least going forward. Do you use the facial recognition?
Thanks for the insight!

I seem to be a bit "typative" when typing!

 

[tjscraps]

Yay! When I get to exporting 2015, I will look into this... or just bother you!

Lord knows I've bothered you enough with my Mac questions lol Ask away! I think it gives you an option on what to name the files too, which is exciting to me, because in the album I put things in the order I want, not necessarily chronological, but it looks like when exporting you can choose to rename them in sequence (which I'm hoping means the order that they appear in my album lol)

I might have to follow something like this Trina... at least going forward. Do you use the facial recognition?
Thanks for the insight!

I seem to be a bit "typative" when typing!

I have not used 'Faces' yet - it seemed like it was just an endless stream of "Is this Kaitlyn?" and since I have them tagged/keyworded I didn't really need it. It's interesting though!

 

[Cath_]

any input for step 1, when just starting

 

[gonewiththewind]

I've heard that tiffs take way less space, is that true?

@chloe_digiscrap

With proper compression (LZW compression), TIFF files can at times be significantly smaller in size than PSDs. Generally speaking, a TIFF version of one of my templates can easily be 50% smaller than the PSD version. LZW compression is a "lossless" type of compression, so you don't lose quality like you do when compressing a JPG for web. Having said that, without proper compression, a TIFF file can be significantly larger than a PSD.

Both TIFF and PSD files are layered (you can save TIFFs as flattened images though, so watch for that when you are saving and preserve your layers for future editing).

 

[gonewiththewind]

any input for step 1, when just starting

I would start at what's most current and work backwards, making sure you keep up with new photographs and newly acquired supplies at the same time.

 

[rdjrneace]

All I can say is WOW - boy some of you are very extensive detail; I feel like I am the worst organizer. I want to tag items better and I have ACDsee but am having problems pulling things in.

Does anyone have a process they can share on how to pull things in and how that works with the kit stored on your computer or EHD?

 

[gonewiththewind]

@rdjrneace

You don't really move anything into the program. It accesses the items that you have saved on your drive, so nothing is copied over.

Aaron, of the TLP Site CTM's, had a post on The Daily Digi from a long time ago, but I believe the information is still usable now. https://thedailydigi.com/organization-acdsee-style

 

[Aussiegirl]

On my computer, I have a folder for layouts, new downloads, and photos. I group my photos by subject/activity (month, year, and small description). My layouts are organized by year, and than each year by individual months. This makes it really great to see what photos I've scrapped when I don't do a full grouping together and to see if I have enough done for an album (when I actually print albums).

I also have 2 EHD. One is just for downloads and layouts. The other one is for layouts and photos. The downloads one is has a few folders. CU items (in case I ever want to try my hand at designing), Disney kits, and Downloads. My Disney kits are organized by theme- Adventureland, Princesses, Fab 5, Food, Fantasyland, Space, Movies, Christmas etc. My Downloads folder has changed a LOT over the years! It's been organized by themed kits, designers, stores, etc. Right now, it's mostly by designers.

My photos EHD is organized the same way as the photos on my computer. A folder for each year. I also burn disks of my photos about every 6 months. I burn disks of my layouts too.

If something were to happen to my computer or EHD, my layouts and photos are the one thing that I would hate to lose. While I would hate losing my kits...they can be replaced. My layouts and photos can't!

Sometimes, when we go on an extended vacation, I'll move my EHD's and my disks to a fireproof safe just for them.

 

[chloe_digiscrap]

any input for step 1, when just starting

For scrap supplies, I would first think about how I would use whatever system I need: are you a kit scrapper or do you mix and match? How do you remember kits: by designer? by store (although that can change, so take it into account)? by theme? by color? What program do you have, know how to use, enjoy using (that's important if you want to keep going: it needs to be accessible and easy to use for you)? Then as Cheryl said I'd start with the most recent downloads and work backwards. If you don't know where to start start with what you need / what frustrates you most right now. For example start with identifying TLP products somehow if you want to make it easy to participate in MOC.

Same thing with the pictures: figure out what YOUR ideal system would look like (do you take pictures everyday or only on "events"? would you need to know who is in the pictures or just a general idea of when they were taken is enough?) then start implementing it on the most recent images.

Don't forget to put a system into place: have processes for each time you download scrap goodies or upload your pictures from the camera, remember that you have phone pictures or photo from other members of the family too, set up reminders for regular back ups (AND BACK UP!!!) and other recurrent tasks, etc.

 

[HavaDrPepper]

I have a folder on my C: drive called Digi-Scrapping. All items relating to scrapping are in the folder. Then I've got the following folders:
Canon Downloads*
Dig Scrap Kits Most Used****
Digital Layouts*****
Images 1***
Images 2***
Images 3**

*Canon Downloads is the folder that all camera photos are downloaded into. I chose when I set up my first Canon camera to have them put into folders by date, i.e. 2016_01_01. I keep the most recent photos here, usually no more than a year. Then I move them to the Images 3 folder.

**Images 3
Folders by year
Within each year is a folder for each month
All folders are then sorted into the correct month.
I currently have folders for digital files from 2005 to 2014 in this directory. Time to move 2015 there!

***Images 1 and Images 2
Images 1 contains photos that have been shared with me by others. Each folder has a name that tells me what is in the folder.
Images 2 are photos that I have scanned over the years. The folders are named with the year and event so they sort somewhat chronologically.

****Dig Scrap Kits Most Used, at this time I have:
_Lily Pad
Disney Type Kits
Gotta Pixel
Sweet Shoppe Designs
TDC
and several other miscellaneous folders

For the store folders, each one has a folder for each designer. Within those designer folders are folders for each kit. I also put a copy of the preview in the main folder for each designer. I am then able to tag the preview in Picasa.

This really worked for me when SO closed and my 4 favorite designers all moved to TLP. I renamed the main folder from _Scrap Orchard to _Lily Pad. I then moved the folders for the designers that went elsewhere or retired to another folder. I usually scrap by kit so keeping the kits together works for me!

*****Digital Layouts
I keep changing how I store layouts because I haven't found a system that works for me. Currently I have the following folders:
_Challenges, contains 600x600 sized jpgs
_Layouts, contains the 12x12 jpgs for printing
_PSP Layout Files, contains the layered files in the pspimage format that Paint Shop Pro uses
and several other miscellaneous files

I also use an excel spreadsheet that I track what products I use for each layout. I have tabs set up for each year or special project that I've worked on. I loosely based it on a spreadsheet I had read about back in 2007 or 2008. I have the following columns on each page:
Date
Layout Title
Preview (insert the 600x600 image here)
Paper
Alphas/Work Art
Embellishments
Brushes
Fonts
Sketch/Template
File Name
Printed (3 columns... 8x8, 12x12 Album) I color code these columns so I know what needs to be printed, has been printed, who I used to print them or if I'm not printing them at all!

Just the other day I was certainly glad I had this spreadsheet. I wanted a rainbow element and none of my current kits had what I wanted. I knew I had done a layout several years ago that had what I wanted. I found the preview of the layout and looked at the kits that I used for that layout. I found the rainbow element I wanted on an EHD that has kits from designers that have retired or that I do not use much any more.

All these folders show up in Picasa so I can tag and search if needed.

Sorry this got so long!

 

[kraezd70]

Everything is stored on an external drive (3 TB) and is backed up by Backblaze.



I do get rid of kits. Sometimes my tastes change and sometimes the product just dates itself and needs to be purged. Either way, it's always an ongoing process.

And yes, I know I have an organizational problem. I do it with my home as well.

@gonewiththewind Cheryl you have been, are and will continue to be my idol!!

 

[Scrapping with Liz]

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!

This is very similar to how I organize my kits and photos!

 

[klee73010]

I think one of Courtney's original original questions also asked what I'd ideally like my organization to be....
What I would really like, is my own "store" for "shopping" i think. I'm happy to have all my kits in designer folders and individual kit folders, but I struggle to remember what I have for using it purposes... so I need to start copying previews into a preview folder. I was going to start tagging things, but that isn't realistic, when I have 300 GB of stash to start from scratch. stuff from before my purchasing days (all those freebies I've downloaded but haven't necessarily purged yet), i renamed all sorts of random things, mixed together, moved... Also, I keep PSE (organizer) on my computer, but stash on my hard drives, and I move my EHD sometimes, so Organizer gets lost on my files.

My workflow right now is to download to my downloads folder, move into my scrapbooking folder, use "unzip them all", then as soon as that's done, I copy all the zipped files to the second hard drive, then move the zipped files to a spot on the computer's main drive. (this was not meant to last, but it's been in place since July - until I get a third hard drive)
Once the zipped files have been copied/moved, the unzipped files are in my scrapbooking folder (for the past month or so, at least, because my main EHD is full and I need to do some major cleanup)... when they finally get moved to my EHD, they are in their individual designer folders. Tagging is unrealistic because even if I tag what I have, everything is zipped in the back up places.

It's not so much that I need help finding something when I need it... it's not knowing what I have, in order to look for it anyway... Many times before TLP upgrade I would search for what I wanted and look for the green "already purchased!" thing... that seemed to work for me, so I need to do that for myself. LOL
Though, I'm still trying to decide for sure how I want to store/keep BYOC and my M3 subscription files. I thought keeping the BYOC pieces with the designer's folders was working, but I always forget I have another option, and have been absolutely horrible about remembering to place the previews in the BYOC folders. Or any previews in any folder.

Bahhh.... in any case. Back to the original point. If I had my own "store" when I was working on a page, I could pull up all my previews, and "Shop". My idea is, if I keep a previews folder on my main computer, I can use Organizer without issue... it would only need to load my previews folder. I could tag those by categories in batches (i think) by designer, store, whatever. Then, i could search easier and see what I have... then looking at the preview, know exactly where I stored it.

 

[Cath_]

reading reading.. more....

would it be handy, if i start keep track of when a kit is released new?

 

[bestcee]

Same thing with the pictures: figure out what YOUR ideal system would look like (do you take pictures everyday or only on "events"? would you need to know who is in the pictures or just a general idea of when they were taken is enough?) then start implementing it on the most recent images.

Don't forget to put a system into place: have processes for each time you download scrap goodies or upload your pictures from the camera, remember that you have phone pictures or photo from other members of the family too, set up reminders for regular back ups (AND BACK UP!!!) and other recurrent tasks, etc.

This? Mind blown!!! I love the questions you asked!

If I had my own "store" when I was working on a page, I could pull up all my previews, and "Shop". My idea is, if I keep a previews folder on my main computer, I can use Organizer without issue... it would only need to load my previews folder.

This is my plan with Lightroom. Not to add the kits, but the previews. And if a kit has something that I'm going to want from it, maybe add a keyword? I hope that will act as a storefront idea, where I can browse for kit inspiration.

reading reading.. more....

would it be handy, if i start keep track of when a kit is released new?

I don't see the need in my scrapping. I'm not worried about if a kit is new, I just shift a word when it's been retired. But that's me.

 

[klee73010]

I have a PC, and do not have light room, but I think windows /lightroom write to Metadata... some designers write out what is in each kit...
"This kit includes 17 patterned papers, 7 solids, 6 flowers, 3 stutches...."
I am thinking I could just copy and paste that for most situations, into the meta data. When I need to search for stitches, if I haven't added a tag in organizer, my computer will search the Metadata and find kit previews that have stitches in them.... idk. Toying with that idea.

 

[lorryfach]

reading reading.. more....

would it be handy, if i start keep track of when a kit is released new?

If that's how YOU think of kits, then yes. If it's not, then no. If you ever have thoughts like, "where is that kit that was released in 2012 that...." or "there was that kit released in the spring by...." then release dates are handy. If you never have those thoughts, then they aren't.

That's why any organizational system needs to fit you. If you never go, "I want a kit by Gina Miller" then organizing all your kits by designer doesn't make sense, no matter how many people in this thread say they do that.

 

[klee73010]

Cath, I know you've mentioned by colors before. Perhaps that would be a better system for you. ... by color instead of designer

 

[Lindzee]

All I can say @gonewiththewind is Holy $%*+ batman! That's incredible! Will you come organize my home, too!

Lol. Me next.