Template files?

[usaf_wife10]

I'm trying to organize all of my templates, and I'm confused as to why there are so many different files of the same template in my folders! I have a JPEG, a TIFF, a PSD in one folder, and in the other one I have all of the little pieces to the template. I just use the PSD files when I use my templates, so can I delete the other files? What are they for?

Thanks, ladies! You are the best :)

[Darcy Baldwin]

Those are the different files used by different programs -

I keep .tiff files because they are smaller and just as stable as .psd files. The .png files that are 'in pieces' are for other programs that can't do layered templates. Delete what you don't use :)

[NeverendingJen]

TIF is another kind of layered file- it actually takes up less space than a PSD file, and if your program supports it, you can also see the file without opening it, unlike a PSD. You can delete all the PNG files if you don't use them as well. I only save my TIFF files, everything else gets tossed.

[Amber1279]

I only keep tiff and delete the rest (except for Janet's cuz hers are only psd)

[whites19]

Like others have said, you can get rid of whatever you don't use.

Here's my process:

* Whenever I purchase/download a product, I keep the original .zip on an EHD (because of instances such as: at least once a year, I end up obliterating a template by opening it and altering it and saving it accidentally without renaming it, etc... never fails... LOL! ...and also, if I ever have a computer meltdown/hard drive failure, I know I have all of my original digi .zips available, and I can restore everything).

* Then, on my computer's HD, I just keep the files I actually use. For templates, I use the .TIFFs -- set to "LZW" and "ZIP" for compression. They take up waaaay less space than the .PSD files (a 30MB .PSD template becomes a 5MB .TIFF, give-or-take), and I can browse my templates visually (without the product folder/previews) in Windows Live Photo Gallery (WLPG), which is what I use to organize/tag my digi images, and I keep it open alongside my PS/PSE when scrapping.

* When I am actually scrapping, I convert the template to .PSD (that way I can save my work as I go, and it will save waaaay faster while I'm actually working... layered .TIFFs set to LZW-ZIP take a million moons to save).

* When I'm finished w/ a layout, I convert it back to .TIFF so that it takes up less space on my hard drive.

I converted all of my templates to .TIFF last year, and saved so much HD space it was just silly! :)

[Txcorey]

Those are the different files used by different programs -

I keep .tiff files because they are smaller and just as stable as .psd files. The .png files that are 'in pieces' are for other programs that can't do layered templates. Delete what you don't use :)

I've wondered what those pieces were for. Good to know.

[nun69]

I do exactly what Darcy does :)

[kscwgirl]

I keep only the tiff if it's an option AND if it's saved correctly... drives me NUTS when designers save them wrong.. otherwise I keep the PSD and convert it to TIFF myself, I have an action that does it for me.

[NeverendingJen]

I convert all my templates to tiff, saved correctly.

[nun69]

I keep only the tiff if it's an option AND if it's saved correctly... drives me NUTS when designers save them wrong.. otherwise I keep the PSD and convert it to TIFF myself, I have an action that does it for me.

this too :)

[Amber1279]

Sara did you make your action or buy it somewhere?

[ripal]

I keep only the tiff if it's an option AND if it's saved correctly... drives me NUTS when designers save them wrong.. otherwise I keep the PSD and convert it to TIFF myself, I have an action that does it for me.

Great idea! I need to create the action for this and convert all my LOs to TIFF!

I delete all the files except TIFF unless TIFF isn't included. Haven't got around to converting them to TIFF yet.

[Traci Reed]

Fyi zips get corrupted over time so it's not a reliable back up method to save those to EHD

[whites19]

Traci, I actually back-up my regular non-zipped files to 2 different sources all the time, too (I'm a compulsive backer-upper) :) ... the "throwing of the .zips onto an old EHD" is just the "in-case-of-extreme-emergency" failsafe. Well, and a way to have any files I won't use (for instance, template .PNGs) in the future if something changes and I decide I do want them, but they don't take up space on my computer's HD now. But I don't rely on it... it's just there b/c it's easy enough to throw them on there, so why not. :)

[Sherri Tierney]

Sara did you make your action or buy it somewhere?

I bought one from Wendyzine to convert .psd to .tiff It does batch files and is super fast. :)

I only save the preview and the .tiff files (making sure they are saved correctly) and I convert .psd files to .tiff.

I'll admit, I still have plenty of .psd files on my drive but its just old ones I haven't got around to converting yet.

[Sherri Tierney]

Fyi zips get corrupted over time so it's not a reliable back up method to save those to EHD

I noticed that, I had saved a bunch of OLD kits all zipped up to discs (some of yours, for example, from ScrapMommies :D ) and for kicks I tried to open them, nada.

On the same note, discs fail too and become corrupt over time. I lost a whole year of pictures of my daughter that way. :( I don't back up to disc or dvd now because I don't really feel they are stable. I use online backup for the most peace of mind as well as two EHDs at home. However, one EHD isn't a backup, its original files as I don't use my internal drive for anything other than program files. I don't know why as I have plenty of internal hard drive space, I just don't. LOL

[usaf_wife10]

Thanks!! I went through and deleted everything except for the previews and the .tiff files. I feel so much better since I can find everything easily now. I cleared a ton of space off my computer too :)

[kscwgirl]

Sara did you make your action or buy it somewhere?

I made it. It was super easy. :)

[4noisyboys]

I only save tiffs and if there are none, I convert my psd's to tiffs.

It bugs me though that there are still template designers out there that save the tiff files with the photoshop default tiff setting. That makes the files huge and if people aren't aware, it eats up all their hd space.

[AmberK]

how do you save a TIFF file correctly???? Im not in the know on this one. LOL

[Sherri Tierney]

I only save tiffs and if there are none, I convert my psd's to tiffs.

It bugs me though that there are still template designers out there that save the tiff files with the photoshop default tiff setting. That makes the files huge and if people aren't aware, it eats up all their hd space.

I actually had some templates that ended up in my store like that. I had to reinstall photoshop and I didn't remember to change the default settings. I emailed customers and gave them the option to re-download them. Its so easy to have it happen! The files are a lot bigger though, a big pain.

[whites19]

how do you save a TIFF file correctly???? Im not in the know on this one. LOL

If you change the settings to "LZW" under "image compression" and then "ZIP" under "layer compression", it shrinks down the file size considerably.
http://www.digiscrapwishingwell.com/TDC/TIFF-settings.jpg

It takes up less space on your hard drive for storage, but it takes a lot longer for your program to save it each time you click "save". Layered .TIFFs are funny... you sorta trade file size for speed of use. When you leave the default PS settings, it saves them a lot quicker (like a .PSD), but the file is HUGE. When you change the settings to make the file smaller, it ends up saving slower. This is why I always save my templates in .TIFF format... and then scrap in .PSD format (so I can obsessively hit CTRL-S while scrapping! LOL :) )... and then convert back to .TIFF for storage. My .PSD layouts usually end up being between 500MB--1GB, but when converted back to .TIFF it usually shrinks them down to somewhere between 200MB--400MB, give-or-take.

[usaf_wife10]

^ Thank you for sharing that! I tried to save a tiff file last night and that window popped up. I had no idea what to save it as, so I just saved it as a PSD file! On Byte Order I see that you have the IBM PC option clicked. I'm on a mac, so would I do the macintosh option?

[NeverendingJen]

yup, you can save as a mac instead.

[AmberK]

Ok! So these are the settings that are automatically chosen for me when I save my TIFFs so Im good! :thumbup:

If you change the settings to "LZW" under "image compression" and then "ZIP" under "layer compression", it shrinks down the file size considerably.
http://www.digiscrapwishingwell.com/TDC/TIFF-settings.jpg

It takes up less space on your hard drive for storage, but it takes a lot longer for your program to save it each time you click "save". Layered .TIFFs are funny... you sorta trade file size for speed of use. When you leave the default PS settings, it saves them a lot quicker (like a .PSD), but the file is HUGE. When you change the settings to make the file smaller, it ends up saving slower. This is why I always save my templates in .TIFF format... and then scrap in .PSD format (so I can obsessively hit CTRL-S while scrapping! LOL :) )... and then convert back to .TIFF for storage. My .PSD layouts usually end up being between 500MB--1GB, but when converted back to .TIFF it usually shrinks them down to somewhere between 200MB--400MB, give-or-take.

[dailydwellin]

Wow...I didn't know any of this!

Thank you so much for this thread. Looks like I have some work to do on my templates!!!

[NeverendingJen]

Once you get used to having your templates and layered files this way, you'll wonder why you didn't change sooner!