Another Organization Thread

ColleenSwerb

ColleenSwerb

Brodo gettin her Swerb on
Ok let's talk tips :)

I decided (like, 15 minutes ago) that instead of keeping individual alpha packs sorted by designer, I'm going to make one big SSD Alpha folder. I'm mostly a kit scrapper, but I don't always love the alpha that comes with the kit. Before, I had everything in the SSD folder sorted by designer, and having to go through all those folders was kind of daunting. I'm excited to get all my alpha's into one spot so I can actually USE them now! Lol! Before it took so long to find something, I usually ended up giving up!

Ok so what tips do you have for organization?

Also, a few weeks ago I pulled out all of the QP's and FWP's that I've accumulated, and stuck them in one big folder too. Then if I ever do need to find a set for a quick album or something, I've got them all in one place instead of in the folder with the kit it goes with.

(La and Jamie, this is the condensed version :p)
 
I'm just going to keep talking to myself ;)

Also? I don't keep upper/lower/number seperate. 1 alpha in folder. If the alpha comes in multiple colors, then all of the black stuff goes in the black folder, all the blue's in the blue folder, etc etc. I try to keep the fewest number of subfolders I can.
 
so far you are hitting the nail on the head for what I do. I do leave a copy of the alpha with the original kit it came from though. I copy the alpha folder into my "master alpha folder" and it lives there for browsing and perusing. Then when I want to shop my alphas they are all in one place. Like you I combine all the upper, lower, and numbers into that one folder and grab from there.

It really works well for me because I often will use 2 or more alphas in a single layout.
 
BrodoNY0123 said:
I'm just going to keep talking to myself ;)

Also? I don't keep upper/lower/number seperate. 1 alpha in folder. If the alpha comes in multiple colors, then all of the black stuff goes in the black folder, all the blue's in the blue folder, etc etc. I try to keep the fewest number of subfolders I can.
Click to expand...

I do this too. I get a kit, I download the parts and put it all in one folder. Like if I got an alpha zip, element zip and paper zip, it all goes into one folder titled KitName, which then goes into it's designer's folder.

I do like the idea of the SSD alpha folder Col. I am a kit scrapper too, but alphas are harder for me to find!
 
LOL... I was thinking of doing the same thing... pulling out the alphas into a separate folder! I spend like an hour going through all the folders trying to find the right alpha for the last page I did! I do like your idea, Emmy, about keep the original copy in the kit folder! I'll be watching this thread closely!
 
Sounds good Emmy. I haven't pulled out the alpha's from kits yet (just working on solo alpha packs I've bought so far), but I am def going to. Excellent idea to leave the preview in the folder with the kit!

I'm doing a major overhaul of my big backup EHD. My main one is almost full, and I want to clear it off completely and then stock it with some of my basics (not doing that just yet though). I'm deleting all of the piracy notices', the multiple previews and TOU's in each kit, etc etc. Anything to save a few kb's of space here and there.
 
Jamie, I keep my papers and elements separate within each kit. I get tweaked seeing everything all mashed together, lol. So within the kit folder are AP, EP, and PP folders. I pull the preview out, rename it "FOLDER" and stick that outside the subfolders too, so I can see it clearly. But with alphas it doesn't bother me, so that all gets thrown together.
 
lol yay you posted it ^_^

anyway......... before I wiped my computer, that's how I my alphas organized too. I never sorted by designer, I don't know how people do that, it would make me insane! (well o ther than like my L ct folder.. stuff like that I'd keep seperate till I did my ct reqs with it).
 
I just use ACDsee. I'm a kit scrapper, but my alphas I just tag them by color, so if I want a purple alpha, I just go to that sub category.

I mainly just tag by Designer, holiday, season, themed kits, wordart. Stuff like that, stuff I use a lot. Stitching, staples.
 
I've never stuck with using ACDSee. I really should, I just don't. Lol!

It's so funny how people organized differently, La. I used to keep all my kits in one giant kit folder, element packs in a giant element folder, etc. That was back when I first started, and it did NOT last long, lol. I didn't like seeing all the different kits and styles all mashed up together.
 
BrodoNY0123 said:
I've never stuck with using ACDSee. I really should, I just don't. Lol!

It's so funny how people organized differently, La. I used to keep all my kits in one giant kit folder, element packs in a giant element folder, etc. That was back when I first started, and it did NOT last long, lol. I didn't like seeing all the different kits and styles all mashed up together.
Click to expand...

Mine crashed a couple months ago and I had to upgrade and do it all over again from scratch, but I couldn't live without it.

I do my pictures to scrap, CT kits to use, kits I haven't used, etc.

Mine is really pretty basic, since I am so much a kit scrapper.
 
BrodoNY0123 said:
Jamie, I keep my papers and elements separate within each kit. I get tweaked seeing everything all mashed together, lol. So within the kit folder are AP, EP, and PP folders. I pull the preview out, rename it "FOLDER" and stick that outside the subfolders too, so I can see it clearly. But with alphas it doesn't bother me, so that all gets thrown together.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I do :) And any alpha that's rockin' gets copied into my master alpha folder like Emmy.

I also have a folder that are my basic elements - staples, connectors, tags, basic frames - anything that I use over and over - they go into one folder for me to quick grab from if a kit I'm using doesn't have some of my most basic things. I only keep a small selection of any of those elements, but they are my absolute go-to pieces.

I also have this folder for each of the designers I work for, so I have some go to product when I'm working on layouts just for them, I can try to use just their stuff.
 
Darcy, I just started a "basics" folder. As I was going through some of my "outside ssd" stuff, I realized I was keeping kits just for certain pieces. So I've pulled those bits out, and dumped the rest. I'm getting better at purging, lol.

But I LOVE the idea of having a basic folder for each designer. That's GENIUS!
 
I have a folder called "digital kits". In that folder, i have these sub folders:
1A_Things I Love
A_Alphas
A_Sketches
A_Brushes

I put all my solo alphas PLUS alphas from kits that are really awesome (i.e. all of Dani & Zoe & La's alphas, lol) in the A_Alpha folder. My Things I love Folder has these subfolders:
Borders&Overlays
Dates
Buttons
Ribbons
Splats & Splatters
Stitches
Tools (this is where mmy Layered Up in You collection lives)
Word Art
Overlays and Masks
Doodles
Frames
Flowers & Hearts
Papers (papers I love plus paper packs)

Then I pull things I really like from kits before I banish them to my EHD and put them in the right folder in TIL.

I put the A in front so it will always show up at the top.
 
Just to add on to my earlier comments - I don't copy an alpha from the original kit if it's not compatible with other papers or kits. If it's totally specific to that kit then I leave it.

As Darcy said above - I have a basics folder for my favorite staples etc. When I'm on a CT I do keep everything by designer - then if I am doing a layout for XYZ and I want to make sure and use only that designer's extras I go that designer's folder and do a search for "staple" or "stitching" or whatever I need.

Non CT stuff I do not sort by designer.
 
Will y'all stop making my brain hurt? I have several folders on my EHD under the heading "Scrapping Essentials". I used to have CT kits to be used/Kits to be used/Kits, which were kits for my CT requirements, Kits I bought but hadn't used, and Kits I'd actually used at some point. Since I quit almost all my teams, I only have a "Kits to be used" folder, and now I'm thinking I need to go pull my favorite alphas out of those and put them in my "alpha" folder, where I keep stand alone alphas.

I do have all my templates in a folder, and within that folder they are named numberofphotos_designername_templatename. So a 2 photo template by Bree would be 2_bclarkson_inspiredbyKellie or whatever. That way, when I have a certain number of photos I want to use, I can easily find the templates with that number of photos.

Yes, Kim, you should now spend the next two hours organizing alphas. You actually scrapped 3 layouts today, which is... oh 3 more than you've scrapped in the last month, so you deserve to spend some time wasting time.
 
Ooooh kim brought up templates! I remove the PSD template file from all the outer folders and packaging and I move it to my "templates" folder. Inside the templates folder I have them divided by number of photos. I can then browse the templates when I want to find one.
 
I have all my SSD kits organized by designer but I also have a "Sweet Shoppe Elements" folder where I have subcategories...

25atge0.jpg


When I unzip a kit I organize it - alpha goes inside elements which then goes inside papers all in one folder with kitname.designer. I then go through the kit and anything that I think I may use to mix and match I copy to one of the subcategories in my elements folder.

and then my alpha folder is broken down like this...

e874no.jpg


I've been doing it this way for several years and it's worked for me :)
 
Emmy said:
Ooooh kim brought up templates! I remove the PSD template file from all the outer folders and packaging and I move it to my "templates" folder. Inside the templates folder I have them divided by number of photos. I can then browse the templates when I want to find one.
Click to expand...

I do this, but in tiff cause they take up less space :)

Oh...a big help - I dumped my ACDsee and went back to my original method :) (a lot like Cindy's). The only thing I added as a folder of previews of VERY specific kinds of kits that I'd have trouble finding later.
 
I have never been successful with tagging in ACDSee, I use it more than anything as a previewer than an organizer.

I break down by designer and normally, because I have a really good memory, I'm able to remember who made what I'm looking for. I do have two seperate folders called "CT to scrap" and "To scrap" so that nothing gets put away without being used. I pull out FWP and QP's into their own folders also.

I do like the idea of pulling out alpha packs though, I might have to try that, or at least copy the previews so I can see those all in one place. I've become more and more a kit scrapper, so I rarely go looking for alpha packs, which is a shame because there are so many amazing ones... like that gorgeous doodble bets by Shawna! LOL!
 
omg....my head hurts :) I just have a Digital Kits Folder and under that I have them subtitled like ACOT/SSD/DST...then I just downlaod the file and unzip it like it is into the folder where I got the kit from....but I do keep the individual folders under that kit seperate...1.e. alpa/elements/.paper all have there own folder under the kit~

but I have WIndows Photo Gallery and use it when I want to look for a kit that I want to use :) and I LOVE it!
 
When I started I broke everything out into separate folders; papers, elements, alphas, etc. and then had sub folders for colors, etc. It got really tedious and the folder got so huge that it took forever to open. Now I leave everthing with the kit. I use me search function a lot and will probably start tagging them.

I also have a folder called: New Stuff that contains everything that I've bought but have not used yet. Let me tell you, I've been shopping so much that folder is the biggest one I've got!
 
I do pretty much what Emma & Darcy do. I;ll copy out alphas from kit that I think will work lots of places. & put them in an alpha subfolder. I have them broken down by type - fabric, sticker, acrylic, chipboard, metals, round, square.

I alos have my favorite frames, staples & stitches copies out of kits and put their own favorites folder.

I tag in acdsee but only word art, alphas and kit previews so I can quickly find kits good for autumn, appropriate word art and a metalic alpha for a layout.
 
I wish I had a better system for organizing...I know that I need to just spend some major time organizing and purging, but there is just so much scrapping to be done, you know? :)

I love the idea of renaming the template folder so that you can see how many pictures it can hold. That would save me some time for sure.

My system is pretty much like several others. I have a main Scrapping folder that is divided into subfolders of designers. I have a CT folder that has subfolders of all my designers and when I get a new kit or something to work with, it goes in that folder, and then within their main folder I have another folder with all of their designs, so that it is all in one place for me to find. Then, I have a stash folder with all my alphas, brushes, overlays, buttons, frames, stitches, etc.

I think that I need to make myself just spend a week with no scrapping and just organizing my EHD and then my photos, because that is whole different issue!
 
nikkiARNGwife said:
and then my alpha folder is broken down like this...

e874no.jpg


I've been doing it this way for several years and it's worked for me :)
Click to expand...

I use Nikki's method only they are "tags" in my ACDSee. When I'm looking for an alpha I am looking for something specific (paper, cardboard, painted, stamped doodled ect....). I just keep individual alpha packs in a folder called "Alphas" and I keep kit alphas with their kits. If I didn't have ACDSee I'd totally do the folder system like Nikki's!! :thumbup:
 
Nikki's method is far too involved for me, lol. But whatever works for you, works! Very cool to see the different methods :)
 
Hahaha, probably true. I just don't search for alpha's by type like that. I just think hmmm....I need a different alpha, and looking around until something clicks. I rarely think hmmm...I need a cardboard alpha. Kwim?
 
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