Sweet Shoppe Community - How long do you save your layout PSD files?

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- - How long do you save your layout PSD files? (https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93831)

Quote:

Originally Posted by StacyLynn (Post 1063040789)

I JUST went through all my old old kits and finally deleted most of the freebies from way back...... I also stuck all old kits that I bought in a separate folder.... thinking maybe I will delete them... but I'm a hoarder of digi.... so who knows if I will.

I'm the same. Who knows when you might need a bobsled or some other completely random thing that was in a kit you never used but thought - hey I might need a bobsled in a kit some day! It's weird that some of those really old kits have a sentimental attachment. Like when it was all so new and finding something digital that was 'pretty' was so exciting. Now there's so much 'pretty' out there I don't have the time or money to grab it all!! :D

I save my layered files (TIF) untill I get the album printed, so I can still alter stuff if I want to. Once I've printed them, I only save the JPG files.

I’m a saver. I keep all my PSDs and I have gone back and used them. Mostly because I do end up printing some pages more than once, like if I’m making a photo book as a gift for someone. I’ve used several different companies for printing, and every one of those has different “bleeds”, and I like to rework the page according to those dimensions, at least as far as background papers go. I don’t always print my pages in a super timely manner either, so I need to hold on to them for a while anyway. I may get to the point where I feel safe to delete, but it would make me anxious. Go with your gut. During the times I’ve lost data and older pages, I have seen it as an opportunity to make new pages in whatever current style and skill level I have, and I do enjoy that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmieN1 (Post 1063040806)

I think I'm the minority here- but *whispers* I never save a thing layered.
https://the-lilypad.com/forum/images...backingout.gif

.... not only less 'stuff' in my storage, but less things to do in my workflow! ;)

lol No need to whisper. We won't throw things at you. :p The "less stuff in storage" really calls to me. :thumbup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by bienejen (Post 1063040812)

- hey I might need a bobsled in a kit some day! :D

Ha! I had to chuckle at that. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by annet83 (Post 1063040841)

I save my layered files (TIF) untill I get the album printed, so I can still alter stuff if I want to. Once I've printed them, I only save the JPG files.

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by allyanne (Post 1063040842)

I’m a saver. ... I may get to the point where I feel safe to delete, but it would make me anxious. Go with your gut.

I, too well, identify with that first comment. lol And the anxious part. :rolleyes:

I did, last night, go through and delete the web versions of the layouts except the most recent ones. I also deleted a number of layered files. None of those were within the past couple of months. And I just couldn't get myself to delete some older ones that I had done something particularly "interesting" on. lol So far I haven't felt any anxiety. :w00t: Now, will suddenly be the time, for the first time, that I "need" to pull up an old layout for something. :eek:

I might be an oddball...actually I think Amie is in the same group with me. lol
I don't save PSD/TIFF's at all. When I'm done with a LO I save the high res and the web version and that's it. I have never went back to fix a mistake, I actually don't mind a mistake or two. That's part of life to me. So if I misspelled a word or two. or the button doesn't have a shadow. Oh well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiana (Post 1063040847)

You exude confidence. :thumbup: I like that. lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by StacyLynn (Post 1063040789)

I deleted all those freebies I downloaded in early 2008 when I found digital scrapping. I also have moved a lot of the kits I purchased back then into another folder. There are also folders for designers that have retired but I love their stuff. I put this folder on an EHD and it is also backed up to 2 other EHD's.

And, I have used things from that folder several times! I was looking for a rainbow in Dec 2016 to do a page about putting my dogs down. It was mostly journaling but I wanted a rainbow and in a kit from a retired designer I found what I was looking for. All other rainbows I had just weren't right for the layout I was doing. So, yeah, I'm glad I've kept this stuff.

Edit to add this thought. I did a small book for a cousin's family 8 years ago. I love the cover I made for it. Fast forward to 2020 when I started scrapping more of the photos that pertain to their family with the thought to do a bigger Shutterfly book. Lo and behold, I have more layouts than can fit in a book! So volume 1 is printed and I used that same cover page. I'm halfway through volume 2 and I pulled up the layered file for the original cover page and added the "Volume 2" to it. Both books will have the same covers so will look coherent on their bookshelf.

I'm confused... I've always scrapped with PSDs, and I've always been able to see previews... it sounds like some people can't see previews with PSD? I am on a Mac if that makes any difference. I must admit, I know nothing about TIFF, sounds like it is a file format I can use in Photoshop CC instead of PSD? Is it significantly smaller?

***Just finished a layout and did a test...
Layered File size:
PSD 185.2 MB
TIFF 101.5 MB

Flat File size:
JPG 11.3 MB
TIFF 24.3

I am kind of amazed... the TIFF is significantly smaller as a layered file. Does it operate exactly the same?

Also, the flat file, why is the TIFF so much bigger? Is it better?

Thanks for the info ladies!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TracyBurtt (Post 1063040873)

... it sounds like some people can't see previews with PSD?

I've never been able to see a psd preview just some blue ps icon. :closedeyes:
As to the other questions...I have no idea. lol I was testing saving a layout last night and the tiff file was huge compared to the psd file. Then I tried again using some other options: clicking LZW at "image compression" and, I think, ZIP at "layer compression." I think that worked much better. I need to play more to get familiar with it.

Like many of you, I save all mine... but now I'm thinking I don't have too... it's hard for me to delete them though!

I save my TIFF, jpg and the 700x700 or 600x600 in forever. Even if I have already printed them, I still save them, maybe I will delete the smaller file someday.

As soon as I print, I ditch them. Scrapping & Printing since 2006 never had any issues to go back once they were printed. I know I have spelling mistake & grammar errors, but if I were writing it all by hand I would probably have more. LOL!

Quote:

Originally Posted by SweetChar (Post 1063040649)

Sooo...how long do you save the layered files for your layouts? Forever? Ditch them after a while?

I've always saved mine and still do. But, I have never gone back and opened up an old layout for anything. Except for something that may have been recently made and I saw a mistake or something I wanted to change before posting it. But, a year ago? 10 years ago? Nope!

I am currently, newly backing up to Backblaze my computer and EHD files. I'm down to something like 1,033 files to go and it seems to be all big files. Including psd files. And those take a lot longer to back up than smaller files. Which is fine. But it got me to thinking...

Here's my story:
My previous EHD is away in Ohio right now with a company (hopefully) pulling all of my files off of it. About 4 years worth of pictures that, unfortunately, were no longer being backed up by Carbonite. Reason being...we moved a couple of years ago. When getting the house ready and presentable to sell, I tucked my EHD away and it wasn't plugged into the laptop. Then we moved and it stayed tucked away for about a year. I wasn't scrapping during this time so I didn't think about it. Then, last February, I plugged it in and it was fine for a bit until it dropped. Then the computer wouldn't recognize it. I contacted Carbonite and turns out they didn't have the files because the EHD had been unplugged for soooo long that they didn't keep the files. Then, when I plugged it back in, they started to grab all those files again but only had some before it dropped. :crying:

Several online data recovery companies couldn't get to the files and a local computer repair shop couldn't get them. So, I've "ignored" the situation for a long time. When Lea posted about her EHD, I decided to do something about it. Even though I have Carbonite service, I signed up with Backblaze and plan to end service with Carbonite when Backblaze is finished grabbing my files. I'm not blaming Carbonite, just saw a lot of recommendations for Backblaze. And, I contacted a company that was recommended on Lea's thread and they seemed hopeful. Sent them the EHD and, after looking at it, they seemed confident that they could get my files. At least I won't have to pay (my arm & leg, and my husband's, too!) until they do retrieve them.

If I didn't have on that EHD all of my old layered layout files, I think the total space would have been significantly lower and not have bumped me into the next, higher payment level. And, maybe more importantly, I'd have more room on whatever computer or EHD I'm using without keeping all of them.

I'm talking myself into ditching old psd files. Of my layouts, not of templates or such. Maybe anything older than a year? And filter them out periodically?

Thoughts?

I really hope they're able to retrieve your data. I'm SO paranoid about losing files. I have several backups, including Backblaze.

I never keep psd files. I only use tiff because of the size difference. Also, for template files, tiff shows the template, psd doesn't.

I keep all of my completed layout tiff files (again...paranoid. LOL!).

Wouldn't you know it, I just went on my flash drive with the psd files to go back and correct a wrong date on a layout. I'm glad that I saved the layered files.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LynnZant (Post 1063041235)

Wouldn't you know it, I just went on my flash drive with the psd files to go back and correct a wrong date on a layout. I'm glad that I saved the layered files.

Wow! I'm glad you saved your layered file so it was an easy fix!!

I don't save them at all.

I read every post the other day, and my head was spinning! I save everything, and I kept changing my mind on whether to save everything or ditch a bunch. LOL Last summer I started deleting all those freebies that I got when I first started digi scrapping in 2006. That was easy to do. I've even started pitching kits that I bought years ago. I just can't bring myself to delete the PSDs. I honestly should think like a paper scrapper (which I was for about 8 years). If there's a mistake, "oh, well," and move on. My husband didn't like when I paper scrapped because I would buy and not use. He said he really didn't care how much I spent as long as I bought with layouts in mind. I'm a worse hoarder with digi! LOL

I've really enjoyed reading all of the responses. So interesting to hear the different perspectives.

For now, I'm keeping all versions of more recent layouts. Maybe several months back? Beyond that, I deleted the layout PSD file and the web version. Kept the original 12x12 size jpegs and the size I print at...8x8 jpegs. (I print at home and do it mostly right after I make the layout unless I run out of paper. Drats! lol That happened a few weeks ago and I wound up having to print about 20 at one time after I got the paper.)

Except for any layouts that I did something a little more "special" on. Like made myself a template for a shape or some layers or something. So, there's a handful of layout PSDs that I did keep.

And I DID switch to TIFF files for the layered files. If I open a PSD template, I save it right away as a TIFF and get rid of the PSD version. I'm saving my layered layouts, now, as TIFF. What a space saver! And I LOVE the previews!

Oh, and they supposedly were able to retrieve 186,670 files off of my busted EHD. I'm guessing more than half of that I don't really care about.

Thanks for all of the help, suggestions, knowledge shared and opinions. :thumbup: :wub:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TracyBurtt (Post 1063040873)

There is really no difference between TIFF and PSD, I've been using TIFFs for years. For flat files, there is no reason to save as a TIFF since the only benefit of a TIFF is that it preserves the layers. Even if there is only 1 layer, it's going to take up more space, so I always save flattered files as a JPG or PNG, depending on what it's being used for. JPGs are typically smaller than PNGs, so I only use PNG if I need it to be on a transparent background. HTH!

Um, I delete them all every few months :D
I haven't scrapped properly for a while but when I do I keep them for around 6 months then they're gone, I'm not even sure why I don't keep them, I have enough HD space.