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Old 06-14-2014, 08:51 AM
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Default Should I do it!? -Separating Alphas

I am really struggling with if I should put ALLLL my kit alphas in a separate file. There are so many of them that would work great with different kits. I probably have 100+ different alphabets between all the kits and separate ones I have bought. I don't have a practical way to view them all so I usually just stick with whats in a specific kit when I do my layouts.

I feel like I would use them so much more if I could see them easier. Right now I have 3 separate folders for all my digital:

TOOLS ~ All tools (templates, overlays, assorted single elements etc)

COLLECTIONS ~ mostly subdivided by company (SSD, OScraps, Ginger, JSS etc. and then by designer if there are several from one designer)

ALPHAS ~ all the alphas I have purchased individually that don't come with a kit.

I used that Img2icns app to switch most of my folders to icons so my Alphas folders are all letter "A" showing what alpha is in the file. (can I say here how I wish all designers would include the full alpha as one image, in addition to individual files)

If I had space on my HD I would duplicate it all and keep one set with the kit and one set in the alphas folder. ir if I have a ton of time I could turn them all into full page alphabets and duplicate that but it would be crazy time consuming. I have way too much on my hard drive as it is and Im pretty much out of space. If I add much more everything slows down but I like having everything at my fingertips. Im not much of a planner.

So should I keep everything as it is or move it? How do you store yours!?!?

Thanks!
Tracey (who really needs to make a signature)

Last edited by sastampink; 06-14-2014 at 09:21 AM.
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Old 06-14-2014, 09:04 AM
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I do copy any alpha that I love and can imagine me using elsewhere in a separate alpha folder. Alphas are one of my favorite things to use, so I make them a priority for me and keep an additional folder for them. I don't copy all alphas into it, just the ones I love.

PS - if you've got an issue with space, try using an EHD to store things you don't access as much, or think about paring down what you have. If you haven't used it in a year, you're probably not going to!
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Old 06-14-2014, 09:14 AM
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Hi Darcy! First of all LOVE your sig- Big Dr. Who fan here. I even have a Dalek knitted hat!

Thanks!
I do have an EHD, but after my toddlers threw it down a flight of stairs I realize it's not immortal. I plan to buy another EHD for just my digital scrapbook stuff because right now it's where i dump everything. In addition to the EHD, I plan to do some online storage as soon as I figure out where i want to put it. My other thought was to copy just the first letters so I can have a sort of preview folder but then I still have to go hunt down the alphas to use them.

My problem is I just CAN'T part with all the awesomeness that is my digital files. I need it all at my fingertips lol (since I keep adding and adding to my stash there is going to come a time when I have to start putting some stuff away). I am thinking I might start pulling off the seasonal stuff and just keep either winter/fall or spring/summer on the HD etc.

So many options for organizing.

I am also running into that same issue with my paper project life supplies, I'm seriously considering sorting all my papers by color rather than by kit. I always struggle with this. Way back when I used to subscribe to club scrap and I have probably 40 kits still in their original pizza boxes (or bagged separately) because I love things to coordinate. Then I don't mix and match because it takes too long to look thru everything. 20 years of scrapbooking and rubber stamping has accumulated a massive stash. That is why I started digital scrapbooking in the first place, I can do it without digging thru supplies and having to block my toddlers from "helping" / stealing them.

Last edited by sastampink; 06-14-2014 at 09:18 AM.
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Old 06-14-2014, 02:11 PM
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I have an alphabet folder where I keep standalone alphas and previews of alphas that are part of a kit but that I think I would use again. If there's no preview of the alpha in the kit, I'll either make one by taking a screen shot or put a copy of the A in my alphabet folder. Good luck finding a system that works for you!
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Old 06-14-2014, 02:22 PM
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I keep alphas in their original folder and tag the previews so I can use them with whatever kit... you need to find you own system, maybe you could move the previews, or copy the letter A, to a separate alpha folder and thus both keep them with the kit and have an overview...

I agree it's a very good idea to GET an alpha overview, they are totally usable outside the kits! Good luck with finding a system that works for you!
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Old 06-14-2014, 02:39 PM
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if i like the alpha in a certain kit and it's very versatile, I copy the folder and add it to a folder of just alphas. I do keep the alpha with the kit though because i like to keep those together as well.
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Old 06-15-2014, 09:49 AM
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Not sure why I never thought to copy the alphas over to my alpha folder if I love them from a kit, but I don't. I tend to keep everything where it came because I know what designer style I am looking for when making a layout and if I want a KCB kit, chances are I am not going to like other people's alphas with her style and would use hers. I do have an alpha folder though with alphas I love but they tend to be alphas that are really versatile and could squeeze in anywhere without looking out of place ya know?

But...copy the file over... *facepalm*
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Old 06-17-2014, 06:25 PM
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It sounds like you're on a Mac? Mavericks added a new tagging feature that makes organizing supplies much easier. You could just tag them as alphas and then when you click on the tag you will see them all in one search. Much less hard drive space than copying the folder. HTH
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Old 06-18-2014, 01:32 AM
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I used to copy every single item from a kit into a category folder as well. So I had the complete kit and then had alphas, buttons, flowers, ribbons, lace, leaves, flairs, stitches, cards, word art, words strips, staples and a million other folders so if I needed something specific I could just go and grab. It took me SO LONG to copy and organize everything that I never had time to scrap whenever I bought something new. I finally gave up on that idea because of the time and space consumption but I did love having access to everything without having to dig through all of my kit folders. I have since gone through and deleted most of the stuff in those separate folders because I stay mostly in kit nowadays. But, the point is... I did keep most of my alphas! Some kits don't have them so it's nice to have them all at my fingertips!
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Old 06-18-2014, 08:28 AM
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If theres's something in a kit (alpha, papers, etc.) that I might want to use outside of the kit and would also like in a general folder, I create a shortcut to it in the general folder. That way, I can "see" it in both places but, since it's only living in the kit folder, it's not taking up double the space since the amount of memory the shortcut uses is negligible. However, keep in mind that if you delete, move, rename, etc the original file, the shortcut will no longer work.
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Old 06-18-2014, 12:16 PM
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I keep all my templates together. I leave the original file names but add the number of photo slots that the template holds in front of it so that they come up with the 1 photo templates first, 2 photo second, etc. Then when I'm looking for something that will accommodate a certain number of pictures it is easy to do.

I don't use alphas much. I like them but hate using them. I don't title my pages much either, to be honest. I used to feel like a page HAD to have a title. Now I just go with whatever works. If I had an alpha folder I doubt I'd ever touch it. If one comes with a kit, I at least look at it and attempt to work with it.
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Old 06-18-2014, 04:08 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NellahBean View Post
I used to copy every single item from a kit into a category folder as well. So I had the complete kit and then had alphas, buttons, flowers, ribbons, lace, leaves, flairs, stitches, cards, word art, words strips, staples and a million other folders so if I needed something specific I could just go and grab. It took me SO LONG to copy and organize everything that I never had time to scrap whenever I bought something new. I finally gave up on that idea because of the time and space consumption but I did love having access to everything without having to dig through all of my kit folders. I have since gone through and deleted most of the stuff in those separate folders because I stay mostly in kit nowadays. But, the point is... I did keep most of my alphas! Some kits don't have them so it's nice to have them all at my fingertips!
I copy anything I really love to a category folder, which takes a lot less time but still gives me easy access to ribbons, foliage, etc.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
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Old 06-19-2014, 08:41 AM
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Default good idea

Hi Liz, I am on a mac, I've never used the tagging feature, how do I do it!?


Quote:
Originally Posted by lizj View Post
It sounds like you're on a Mac? Mavericks added a new tagging feature that makes organizing supplies much easier. You could just tag them as alphas and then when you click on the tag you will see them all in one search. Much less hard drive space than copying the folder. HTH
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Old 06-19-2014, 09:28 AM
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If you have Photoshop, you also have Bridge and in Bridge you can tag as well. So you'd tag every alpha preview or the letter A if there's no preview as ALPHA and you'd have the cake and eat it at the same time - the alpha would remain with the kit and you'd have an overview of them.

I use ACDSee for tagging and I use a more detailed system (according to colours and style), but even just having them as alphas would be a cool thing. I find it's a pity just to use the alpha with the kit when you could use them more widely (most alphas mix well outside the kits).
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Old 06-19-2014, 09:33 AM
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OH WOW thank you everyone!!!! I figured out how to tag on my mac and have just tagged about 40 of them so far!! I am soooooo happy!!!! This is exactly what I wanted to do. Next i am going to tag all my kits by theme and/or season! LOL



Quote:
Originally Posted by adrianka View Post
If you have Photoshop, you also have Bridge and in Bridge you can tag as well. So you'd tag every alpha preview or the letter A if there's no preview as ALPHA and you'd have the cake and eat it at the same time - the alpha would remain with the kit and you'd have an overview of them.

I use ACDSee for tagging and I use a more detailed system (according to colours and style), but even just having them as alphas would be a cool thing. I find it's a pity just to use the alpha with the kit when you could use them more widely (most alphas mix well outside the kits).
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Old 06-19-2014, 03:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sastampink View Post
Hi Liz, I am on a mac, I've never used the tagging feature, how do I do it!?
If you have Mavericks installed there will be a little icon near the top of the screen that looks like a tag. So highlight/select an item (in this case an alpha; I'd use the preview), then click on the tag icon. You can create a new tag category right from there, and the next time you click on the tag icon it will be a drop down option. You can add the tag categories to your sidebar so the next time you want to run that search you just click on the category. Even if you still have Mountain Lion there is a limited ability to tag using the colors.

I used to have a very intense and well organized tagging system through ACDSee, but my version of ACDSee is incompatible with Mavericks. Apple doesn't really do well with ACDSee anyway (lots of spinning ball and shutting down the program at inopportune times), so now I just tag previews throught the Mac tags and it is way more efficient. HTH
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Old 06-19-2014, 07:56 PM
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I must still have one of the cat versions LOL because I have the colored tagging version. I spent the day tagging my alphas. Holy cow there were a LOT more than I thought there were. One company I buy from sometimes puts up to 14 alphas in one single collection. Spent several hours putting images on those files and tagging them. Now my "red dot" tag is every single solitary alpha I own (so far!)

Next step... I am going to get a new EHD dedicated to my scrapbook files and to set up some online storage.
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Old 06-20-2014, 02:57 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sastampink View Post
I must still have one of the cat versions LOL because I have the colored tagging version. I spent the day tagging my alphas. Holy cow there were a LOT more than I thought there were. One company I buy from sometimes puts up to 14 alphas in one single collection. Spent several hours putting images on those files and tagging them. Now my "red dot" tag is every single solitary alpha I own (so far!)

Next step... I am going to get a new EHD dedicated to my scrapbook files and to set up some online storage.
YAY! Good job! It feels great having a system, right? Loooove tagging. :-)
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