Do You Stay Organized?

[Traci Reed]

Take a little look at how I organize my files on the tutorial blog today!

https://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/tutorials/index.php/2012/06/digital-organization-so-many-methods-so-little-time/

How do you organize?

[origami]

Oh, this is wonderful! I've got my Sweet Shoppe folder all organized by designer, but hmmm....I like this, I like it a LOT! I love it. I think I'll be reorganizing again!

[taracotta7]

Traci, this makes me VERY VERY HAPPY! Thanks for the tut! :)

[Lindsay]

Awesome post...I'm considering reorganizing my templates because they've gotten totally out of control :)

[nun69]

omg...I love the template organization tip...I so need to do that one...almost everything else I do :)

[Sherri Tierney]

I've been working to organize my stash lately. Its a daunting task. I'll be glad when I'm to the point of just maintaining it instead of trying to get the initial set-up done! I have started separating out my templates by # of photos though. I USED to sort things by theme but then I want to use something for a challenge here and I can't really go in to my 'theme' folders because inevitably I will find a kit I want to use that isn't SSD and then I get bummed because I know I have to use something different for the challenge. LOL I am using Hummie's One Note style of tagging things which really seems intuitive to me. I'm finding things much easier than I used to e able to. :)

My photos... my photos are just a MESS. See, I had them organized once up on a time. Then I had a hard drive crash and I had to re-download my files from my online back-up and that's when it got crazy. Now I have folders with the date of upload but all those folders are just kind of puked in to my drive. I really need to work on that. I also need to delete all those lovely shots of the floor, the ceiling, etc. My kids take way too many of those kinds of shots and I never end up going through and deleting them.

[Traci Reed]

Thanks girls! Glad to help! I spent some time tonight breaking down my themes even further! :wub:

[Arual]

Traci, loved the info!

I thought I'd share that I too love to have my preview icons on my folders (Im on a mac) and I got tired of doing it via the 'get info' page for each folder by doing the select, copy, paste, etc. Sooooo... now I use a little free (and sooooooooo easy!) app called img2icns. Its just an easy drag and drop - drag the preview and drop onto the app.... then drag the blue folder and drop onto the app.... and bingo, your preview is now on the folder!

HTH!

[talktoheather]

zomg! that is the most beautiful thing i think i have ever seen in my entire life. do you contract out? or wanna get married? you know... either way. ;)

[Traci Reed]

LMAO Heather...it kinda makes me tingly too!

[Lindsay]

Tackling the template situation today...normally I go in already and delete the .psd files because I work with .tiff, but is there any reason why I need the smaller .jpegs? I think I'm going to save Cindy's inspiration image because she usually inspires me by seeing a layout in action, but trying to think what else I would need before I start going delete-button crazy!

[Sherri Tierney]

I save only the .tiff files. I delete everything else. I do keep ONE copy of a designer's TOU if it isn't readily available on their blog, at their store, etc. I don't keep a copy for each kit though.

[Lindsay]

Yes, I have a folder just for TOUs - this and the little extras are usually deleted as soon as I unzip a new purchase.

[Jen22]

I thought I'd share that I too love to have my preview icons on my folders (Im on a mac) and I got tired of doing it via the 'get info' page for each folder by doing the select, copy, paste, etc. Sooooo... now I use a little free (and sooooooooo easy!) app called img2icns. Its just an easy drag and drop - drag the preview and drop onto the app.... then drag the blue folder and drop onto the app.... and bingo, your preview is now on the folder!


I could kiss you right now, lol. The whole process to add a thumbnail to a folder on a mac is one of my biggest peeves with switching from a PC. This app is amazing - it's so fast and easy! And I love the preview a lot more than the one I got using the cmd+i way! Thank you!! :D

[Jen22]

Traci can I ask you a question about how you do your photos? So you have them in folders like you do - do you also use iPhoto, or do you just stick with your own folder system. My organizing system is really similar to yours, but I can't see the date of the photos without going through iPhoto, so I feel stuck using that ...

[Traci Reed]

Lindsay - I don't save the preview images...those IMO are really only for ppl with PCs who save the PSDs and don't have thumbs

Jen - I don't use iPhoto. If you hit cmd I and bring up the info on a photo, it doesn't have the date taken in there? That's how I look it up if I don't know the date...If it's not there then I drag it in to PS and look. Those are generally only my cell phone pics that need that.

[Jen22]

You can look in Photoshop? I didn't know that. And no, cmd+I doesn't give me the right date. It has the date from when I moved them from my PC to my Mac as the date it was taken. And if I edit it - it changes it to the date I edit it. It was a huge issue when I first switched to mac. iPhoto was the only thing that seemed to give me the correct date each pic was actually taken on.

[Lindsay]

Ha, this really makes me rethink getting any new templates. Right after Sherri said she saves only the .tiff files, I tackled this bohemoth. 4.5 hours later, I've got 6 new GBs of space, and 451 templates all organized by number of photos! I'm lucky to get 3 good pictures, but I have 27 templates with over 11 pictures :confused:. And I got rid of a whole bunch of older ones that I really don't see myself ever doing.

[Traci Reed]

Jen - smd+shift+option+I and it's in the camera data

[Jen22]

Jen - smd+shift+option+I and it's in the camera data
You are awesome! I'll check that out when I get home! Thank you :)

[Leontine78]

Thanks girls! Glad to help! I spent some time tonight breaking down my themes even further! :wub:

Can you share all your folders with us? The themed ones I mean. I have a lot done already but I hate folders which are too full. I lose sight of what's in it.

[Jen22]

Can you share all your folders with us? The themed ones I mean. I have a lot done already but I hate folders which are too full. I lose sight of what's in it.
I would love to know how people break down the themes as well! I haven't ever organized my kits this way cuz I'm just not sure what themes I should go with (I'm afraid of ending up with way too many themes when I'm done, lol)

[Traci Reed]

Sure....I'll just list them. I have boys so you won't see a lot of girlie themes. :)

AAM
Activities (movie theaters, bowling, board games, etc)
Alphas
Animals
Arrows
Artsy
Basic Papers
Birthday
Boy
Buttons
Carnival/Disney
Characters
Christmas
Dad
Darcy Baldwin (so I can keep her fonts seperate - she's special)
Date Tools
Easter
Emo
Exercise/Weight Loss
Fall
Fonts
Food/Cooking
Fourth Of July
Frames
Garden
Grilie
Halloween
Home/Family
Inspirational (for the slightly themed girlie kits like Be True To You by myself and Nicole or Wildflower by Kristin)
Journaling
Kids
Lovey
Magazinees
Mats/Torn Edges
Mom
New Years
Outdoors (camping, fishing)
Paint/Stamps
Park
Photo Actions/Overlays
Photography
Pregnancy/Baby
Project Life/Project 365
Punctuation
Ribbons/String
Robots
School
Space
Sports
Spring
St Patricks
Stitching
Summer
Templates
Thanksgiving
Transportation (bike, monster truck, train kits)
Travel
Tropical
Weather
Winter
Word Art

[Traci Reed]

I'm not OCD at all, I swear LMAO

[Sherri Tierney]

I had mine broken down in to at least as many categories. I also had a few other categories that apply to some of my other interests BUT I had a hard time when things fell in to more than one category. It drove me crazy. Also, I never could remember which category I put things in so if I was thinking of a kit with specific colors or something I could never find it (unless it was seasonal, then it was pretty easy to look). I just have too much STUFF on my drive really. It makes organizing a nightmare. I'm finding that I can tag things through One Note with the designer's name, different themes (works great for those kits that fall in to more than one of my designated themes), colors, make note of any unique elements, etc. Then I can just search for 'Summer, Red, Blue' for example. That would bring up kits with red and blue that aren't necessarily patriotic. A lot of my summer pictures seem to call for those colors. LOL

I remember you saying on facebook, Traci, that you only use SSD kits. That would make things easier to sort, IMO. I think my problem is I use a huge variety from all over digi-land so it makes it harder because I can't even narrow down my search by maybe remembering who designed the kit. Back when I used primarily ES products it was MUCH easier for me to sort with the folders and themes. I could usually remember who made it and that would help me figure out what category I might have put it in. Some designers were great at grunge, for example.

This thread is pretty helpful. Though I'm not organizing the same way as Traci, I am getting motivated to get my organizing done regardless. I also gleamed an idea or two from the list of categories to use to tag my stuff. :)

[PrincessT]

Love these tips, great article on organization. thank you!!

[mnm_y2]

Traci ~ in your photo folders - after you've done the monthly folders within each year - do you have all your month photos just in that album or do you categorize further than that?

Also - do you keep your P365 photos (if you are doing this project) separate or again, just within the monthly folder?

Thanks!

[Traci Reed]

I don't categorize them any further unless we go on vacation or have a big event like that, then I'll create a subfolder for it.