I tried the spreadsheet method of tracking kits and what I've used but even though I love spreadsheets, it wasn't working for me.
So I made a previews folder (putting a copy in there and leaving a copy with the kit folder). Then I used Adobe Bridge to read just that folder. That way it doesn't bring in the thousands of items I've bought over the years.
Since I shop at multiple stores, I made sub-folders in the preview folder for each store and put the applicable previews in those folders. For the couple of template designers that I have a huge stash, they also got their own folders. Yes, this was a big job to get everything organized but I it has totally been worth it!
The previews are named with the designer initials and kit name. For example, Studio Flergs kit Oceanic is "SF_Oceanic". For Kristin Cronin Barrow who does multiple kits under the same topic (i.e. A Scenic Route), I use the name "KCB_ASR-Rugged Beach". This way all kits by the same designer are shown together.
Then I set up a generic tagging system by themes. For example, "Oceanic" is tagged as "Adventure and Travel". "Rugged Beach" is tagged as "Beach" (which is a sub-keyword under Nature).
After tagging all kits, I can now do a search on any keyword to pull up the previews. I also set it up that I can add a color label to each kit when I've used it. Red is for Kit Used. Yellow is for Template Used. Then after I do a search say for "Autumn" and it pulls up all my kits, I can choose to only show the kits that have no label.
This has helped me to use up a lot of the stuff that has just been sitting there not used for awhile.
When I buy new kits, I put a copy of the preview in that folder as a part of my unzipping process and get it tagged so that it shows up right away.
The time I spent doing this has been totally worth it. Wish I would have done it sooner!
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