Organizing files

[julia]

Are you keeping your files well organized? I thought I had somewhat of a decent system of my finished LO's... So today when I decided to finally go ahead and create a new book for printing I was appalled by the lack of structure I had left my finished LO's in :blink: I've spent more or less all day re-organizing, pulling out my printed books to check which LO's I already have printed, which ones are the right size (3600x3600), which were from what date and year etc. I'm still not done. I hope this is a lesson learned from now on.

The system I had been using was just my son and his 1 yr LO's, 2yr LO's, 3yr LO's. Now I'm getting way deeper than that and going for the year, 2009 LO's, 2010 LO's, 2011 LO's, along with psd/600x600 and 3600x3600 files. I'm also creating a printed file for those LO's I do not have to "worry" about anymore, but just to keep the original file available.

What a mess! I need to get better at organizing. Anyone in the same boat or am I the only one not on top of this? :sleep:

[origami]

Are you keeping your files well organized? I thought I had somewhat of a decent system of my finished LO's... So today when I decided to finally go ahead and create a new book for printing I was appalled by the lack of structure I had left my finished LO's in :blink: I've spent more or less all day re-organizing, pulling out my printed books to check which LO's I already have printed, which ones are the right size (3600x3600), which were from what date and year etc. I'm still not done. I hope this is a lesson learned from now on.

I have been pretty organized with my kits but not with finished layouts. I think I'll spend some time this weekend working on getting them sorted and filed.

[neenee]

I have been very organized since the start of 2011. I seriously need to find the time to go back and organize all my stuff since 2008. But, I need a clone of me so I have time to do it! ;)

[rach3975]

This is one of the few things that I feel like I'm on top of. Just don't ask about my photos. I've got a good system, but sorting and deleting photos is so time consuming!

For layouts, I have a "projects in progress" folder called My Layouts. Everything lives there until it's printed (which happens every couple of months). Eventually layouts move from there to a folder that corresponds to the printed album it's in. My earlier layouts are organized by child and age (like Jason's 6 year old album) and newer layouts are just by year. Pre-printing I store the psd and jpg in My Layouts. After printing the psd gets deleted and the jpg is filed. Web versions have their own folder (Web LOs) so that I can't accidentally confuse them with the full sized version and can easily delete them periodically. Hybrid projects also have their own folder subdivided into cards and everything else.

[crecia27]

I need to do this! I have some Shutterfly books I need to order by the end of June but I'm daunted by the fact that its going to be a hassle. I thought I had a good system but alas, no. You've inspired me though, tomorrow is the day!

[BrattyMeg]

I save LOs by year in folders so mine are organized that way. I don't scrap chronologically though so my pics aren't nec from the year they are filed lol

[ColleenSwerb]

My EHD is SUCH a friggen mess. I've been meaning to sit down and organize it for AGES now, but every time I do it something else comes up. I was gonna do it last weekend and then I ended up helping DH outside all day saturday, and had to clean the house all day sunday.

Next weekend though? It's GOTTA HAPPEN! Lol!

[Sarah8914]

mine are pretty organized. I have folders by year and then I save layouts by the date of the pictures on them. Then, the flattened ones, sized and ready for printing, I add -p on the end. I print books by the year, so I can keep all my files for that year together until I print the whole thing. If I printed by the page, I would create a folder within my year folder for ones that HAVE been printed. Like, filing them away. It works for me!

[color of my heart]

i don't save my psd files. i used to. but not anymore. i also don't scrap chronologically, or in any sort of regular timeframe (unfortunately). but here's my system.

i have layouts from 2011 separated into two folders on my computer- print (300dpi, full size), and web (72dpi, 600x600). also in the "print" folder, i have a list of layouts which have been printed already, so i don't do it twice.

older layouts are stored on my EHD, which, like colleen's, is a disaster. and needs to be organized.

[Stacey42]

My completed layouts are organized first in folders by year I made them, then in sub folders by date of the subject with an additional 'printed' folder with subfolders for size.

I keep my .psd files because I never know if I am going to print 12x12 or 8x8 or some other book size. I keep albums of some layouts & others get printed in books & some get printed in both if say I am created a gift for my parents.

I've been digi since 2005 & for the past year I have been thinking I need to just go with year of subject folders because it's getting harder to find things.

[NeverendingJen]

Oh gosh. I'm super OCD about my organization. Layouts are organized by year, or by event if for a specific project(i.e. my wedding album). Within the year's folder, there are three folders: Print, Web, and Layered. Print layouts get an P added to the end of their name once they are printed(so the layout would become MyReasonP) so I know which ones are done just by sorting quickly.

[color of my heart]

Print layouts get an P added to the end of their name once they are printed(so the layout would become MyReasonP) so I know which ones are done just by sorting quickly.

okay, i like this system better than mine. mind if i copy it? (:

[jaylensmom]

i need to organize everything including my layouts...my layouts are in a folder with the year i created them. i do have a few folders for my december daily, my son's preschool, kindergarten and first grade layouts but they aren't completely organized.

[KateD]

My layouts are pretty well organized. I name the layout with the date of the newest photo (or journaling, if more appropriate) in yyyymmdd format so that they'll show up in chronological order in my folders. Each year has its own folder with sub-folders for the full-sized JPG and layered files.

I'm about to change everything, though. I recently decided that I have no desire to hang onto the web versions or layered files anymore. I've started saving the full-sized JPG (12x12) and archiving the layered file until I have the layout printed and I'm happy with it - then I'll delete the layered file (gasp!). All my completed layouts (full-sized JPG) will go in one folder and will be imported into Lightroom where I'm tagging them with the supplies I used to make them and with the date and anything else that seems appropriate. I'm taking Stacy Julian's Finding Photo Freedom class and I might tag the layouts with the LOM album/tab they'll be in so that I can pull up a virtual copy of my albums if I want.

[nun69]

I save LOs by year in folders so mine are organized that way. I don't scrap chronologically though so my pics aren't nec from the year they are filed lol

thi sis EXACTLY what I do...and if they are old pictures they still just go in the monthly folder I scrapped them in :) If I am working on a project {themed book or something} then my LO's go in that themes folder {Disney, Paris, Sam's graduation, etc}

ETA: I also have a seprate folder for the web versions and just delete those at the end of the year...but I do keep my layered TIFF's because if I want to do another LO, I usually just oipen that one and pull elements off of it since they are already shadowed :) Saves me LOTS of time!

[scrapperjade]

I only scrap 2-3 layouts a month (I am so unmotivated & mojoless right now), so I never have too much of a problem, lol!

I just dump all my 3600x3600 layouts into a subfolder called "To Be Printed" in a main folder called "Full Sized Layouts", haha! Then when I print them, I zip the layouts I've sent off and delete the individuals.

[Jengerbread88]

I have the worst organization ever.

[cardinalskate]

I've spent all my time organizing my kits and haven't organized finished LOs yet, really. I don't scrap chronologically, so I'm unsure how I wanna do it. But I'm not so far into the game yet where I couldn't go back and organize (I have less that 300 finished LOs), so I better do that!

[mariewilcox]

I have a folder that is labeled FINISHED LAYOUTS. In that folder I have the following subfolders:

PSD FILES
FOR PRINT
WEB SIZE

Then under for print I have folders for each year for DD, starting with 2000 and going to 2011.

For layouts I do that aren't for DD's books, I have a subfolder for each with their name (my niece, nephew, granddaughter, son, wedding, etc.) Each of these subfolders has 2 folders in it - PSD and FOR PRINT.

Sounds confusing, but it works for me - LOL.

As for photos - once I'm doing scrapping a photo (which are all stored by year in their separate folders) I simply rename the photo to SCRAPPED, and then it goes to the bottom of the folder and I know I've scrapped it already but still have it in case I want a print or want to use it on another layout.

[mummytothree]

well I don't scrap chronologically and I don't print chronologically so my "system" is really simple. I have a folder named "MY LAYOUTS" and within that folder I have a folder called "IN PROGRESS" and "TO BE PRINTED".

After I am done scrapping a page I save a full sized version (3600x3600 and 300dpi) in the "TO BE PRINTED" folder. I also save the layered TIFF file and a web sized file (600x600 and 72dpi) in to the IN PROGRESS" folder.

Once I upload the websized file to my online galleries I move the TIFF and web sized files to "MY LAYOUTS" folder and they stay there till I back everything up (once a month). Once I back them up I delete the TIFF file and move the web file to a folder called "2011 JPEGs" within the "MY LAYOUTS" folder.

Once I upload the full sized Jpeg to my online printing gallery I move that file to a folder called "ALREADY UPLOADED" that is within my "TO BE PRINTED" folder. Once I get my pages printed and in my hand and can check that I have all my pages and they all printed "ok". I delete everything from the "ALREADY UPLOADED" folder and then I just start the process all over again!!!

Oh and if you got lost reading all that I only keep a years worth of web sized jpegs on my hard drive, at the end of the year I burn those to a disk and delete that folder off my hd. If I ever need to find a page again...I can usually find it fairly quickly in my online galleries!!! :thumbup:

[Nettio]

My layout files are in pretty good shape.

I have one main Layouts folder organized like this:
In-Progress: PSD files for layouts I'm working on. All layouts stay in this folder until they're printed.

To Print: JPG files for uploaded to the printer. I'm trying to be better about saving these as I go but I often do a bunch right before I print instead.

Printed: All JPG files get moved here from the To Print folder after I get my prints back. These are organized by year.

Finished: Layered PSD files get moved here after the layouts are printed to eventually get moved to the Finished folder on my EHD. I don't have them organized by year right now but I might eventually so I can find things easier.

It's pretty simple. I don't scrap chronologically and I use 3ing albums so I don't worry about which layouts I print when since I can organize them after they're printed. Printing bound books would make it a lot more complicated.

[origami]

Oh gosh. I'm super OCD about my organization. Layouts are organized by year, or by event if for a specific project(i.e. my wedding album). Within the year's folder, there are three folders: Print, Web, and Layered. Print layouts get an P added to the end of their name once they are printed(so the layout would become MyReasonP) so I know which ones are done just by sorting quickly.

Love this!

[nun69]

do you guys never print a LO more than once? And do you all use the SAME printer all the time? Sometimes I use shutterfly, sometimes I use Inkubook and sometimes I use Pernsicity depending on my needs....so I just save 1 HIGHRES file in the month folder that I scrapped it in unless it is my P365 album..I save all my P365 JPEGS in 1 folder and the tiffs in another....

I don't really have a "Print" folder since I print from different places....

[AmyG]

Didn't read the other posts, sorry if I'm repeating.

I just put my finished LO's in their folder (Family Album 2011, Baby Album, whatever). When it's finished it gets printed. I upload the whole album to Persnickety. At Persnickety I make another Album called Printed. As I print that album I move the LO's over to printed. When it's done I delete the whole thing on there (I backup elsewhere). Then I burn myself a copy on CD/DVD and add it to the CD/DVD box for that years photos.

[MamaBee]

Ugh - I used to be SOOO good at keeping my finished files organized - had folders for printing books vs. just printing to put into 3D ring binders... but something happened in the last 3 months and EVERYTHING is on my hard drive - I'm sooo playing with fire right now!!! :huh:

[jessica31876]

You could also add an underscore at the beginning of the name and that would make all of those that have been printed be listed first

Oh gosh. I'm super OCD about my organization. Layouts are organized by year, or by event if for a specific project(i.e. my wedding album). Within the year's folder, there are three folders: Print, Web, and Layered. Print layouts get an P added to the end of their name once they are printed(so the layout would become MyReasonP) so I know which ones are done just by sorting quickly.

[Andrea Gourley]

I wish I was as organised as some of you seem to be - but I'm not :p

[julia]

I've been working on re-organizing all day, but did actually manage to get a book ordered for printing. I didn't come up with the perfect system for me yet, but I'm getting there. SO is away till Saturday and I spend my *free* evening organizing :rolleyes: Awesome *insert irony here* I thought I'd get a ton of time scrapping :D

I'm thinking 1 file for printed LO's, and one file that contains my finished LO's, seperated into the year the photo's were taken. And one WIP file.

I also need to delete the psd files of the LO's printed. I just hate deleting... what about the what if's!? :D *lol*

[scrapsandsass]

You ladies amaze me. I wish I could be so organized.

DH is on my case right now because I've almost filled up my 1.5TB EHD. (Lucky for me, DD enables me and bought me an additional 2TB EHD for Christmas). I don't know what I'm doing wrong... maybe I need a hoarder intervention or something.

I was just going to go through and delete all of my PSD files, but I'm glad I didn't because I haven't saved them in "print" version. LOL. Now I will do that before I delete.

I bow down to you all and am going to steal all of your ideas in hopes of becoming organized.

[marlathrall]

I'm just starting out and not very organized at all. I loved reading this though because it gave me lots of great ideas. Thank you all for sharing. :)