Organizing Digi Supplies
 

Who else's hard drive is a hot mess?
:D

I'm taking some time today to organize my newer supplies. It looks like at one point I tried organizing by theme (epic fail), but find that I tend to search more for products to use by designer/store. So I'm going to keep going down that path.

With my change it thought process, I wonder if anyone organizes their supplies differently (other than by theme/designer/store)?

I have the easiest method ever. I'm on a Mac, so I just tag everything with the designer name, store and theme (and product type if applicable) right after download. That eliminates the need to put things in folders, etc.

May seem easy to you Sheri but that method scares me to death!

I do use the store/designer/kit folder system to organize my supplies and it works great for how I scrap since I am a kit scrapper. Everything digi scrapping related is in a main folder called "Digi Scrapping" and easy enough to copy to EHD's when needed. I have copies of that folder on several EHD's.

Good luck in your reorganizing. Been there, done that. When done I was glad that I took the time to do it.

I'm also a kit scrapper - though I occasionally mix and match.

You don't have to answer this, but because I'm an innately curious person, I feel compelled to ask you why tagging scares you :D :wub:

What I particularly love about my method is that you don't have to choose folders, a product could fit several categories and you'd still be able to easily find it. For example, if I'm looking for an alpha, I don't have to put them in their own folder, they can stay with the kit.

There is a scrapper here that introduced me to DigiScrap Catalog. Here husband created it for her. I love it! I have everything organized by theme then tagged...the tags for each kit list designer, store, and theme items, popular words. It is awesome bc if I want a kit with a rainbow I just search rainbow and they all pop up and I can open which I want.
You can find her on facebook if you search DigiScrap Catalog. It took me a week or so to get it all organized but I have over 700 kits in there too. I have a bit of a problem. LOL

It's Biancka (the sugarbabe). I have her program too but I'm too lazy to get it to work and try to understand how it works. I'm sure it would come in handy when two kits could fit in two categories, because I do classify by theme.

Sheri, is tagging a kit Mac specific? I wonder if we can do that directly with a PC.

I don't use any other programs but if I'm looking for a kit with a rainbow I just search "rainbow" in my scrap folder with File Explorer and if the rainbow is named rainbow I can find it as easily.

I am not a kit scrapper...I love to mix and match.

I have mine organized in my files as:

Digi Supplies/Store/Designer/Kit Name/Folders for Elements, Alphas, Papers, Cards, Glitters. I try to keep it to just a few folders under each kit.

Then I tag everything in Bridge...and it opens easily into PSCC. I can also see all my PSD files easily on Bridge rather than the big blue PSD in file explorer. So when I'm working on a layout I can just click on SSD File and then type in flowers, or templates, or a color or whatever keyword I'm looking for and it will pull all of those things up in that folder and all its subfolders. It really only takes me about 3 minutes to tag a kit in Bridge.

Right now I'm cleaning things out since I have supplies from the stone age. This is the only site I'm active on so that makes the store part easy right now. I do have some things from some other designers - I just need to find out if they're still active and where so I can file them correctly.

The type of tagging I do is Mac-specific and is part of Finder. I have never looked into tagging on a PC so I'm no help, sorry!

I don't use a Mac, so I just do a search when I'm looking for something as well. I can usually find what I need.

The more I keep going through things, I keep finding some really old gems! So now I have 1000 kits I want to scrap with. hahaha

Lea, adding metadata to a file can be done easily on a PC. I do it by right-clicking > Properties > choose the tab Details. Under Details there is the TAGS spot, where you can write your tags. I use the Windows SEARCH bar by writing "Tag: [the tag I want to search for]." So if I want to find birthday kits, I go to my Previews folder (I only tag the PREVIEW because it saves time) and I write:
Tag: birthday


For you, you'd probably have a "rainbow" tag. I have a "weather" tag, so if I wanted to find a rainbow, I'd probably search "Tag: weather" to see if there were any weather kits with a rainbow. I try to make my tags rather general, but some people have loads of tags.



The great thing about writing to the metadata is that it is "transferable" to other computers or even to a Mac because the info is associated with the FILE, not with a program (it's an issue with ACDSee or Lightroom). This Howtogeek article has loads of info.

(Note: You can tag JPGs but not PNGs.)

I keep the kits together but organize by theme - in theory. I have a new zips folder that is my go-to and I only go through that and put them in the 'theme' folders about 4 times a year. I do love sorting my templates by number of photo spots though, and I tag them with the store and name them "Template pack name - designer name" so that I can search for specific designers or stores.

I name my folders Kit name - Designer name, and I label it if it was a Freebie with -F at the end, or -FWP if it was FWP. I also have a Mac and I tag them just with the store - so all my SSD stuff is a Purple tag that I renamed SSD, so when I'm looking for things for challenges, etc I just search within that tag. I also have tags for things I look for a lot - big photo templates, brushes, things like that. The mac search engine is pretty good so if I know I'm looking for a KCB kit I can put that in and all of her stuff comes up, so I don't feel the need to sort by designer as I can find it that way.


This year my goal is to scrap my stash more often, so if I have 100 items in my New Zips folder I tell my kids to pick a number between 1-100 and that's the kit I use. It's been pretty good at getting me to scrap with what I have instead of it just looking pretty on my hard drive!

I use ACDsee to organize all my digi supplies. I have for years.

The nice thing is you just tag them, so you aren't actually moving your files. You can have endless amounts of categories.

Here's a little video I created on how I tag my supplies and my photos. I will not scrap without ACDsee. Honestly, I can't tell you how much time it saves me. I've been doing digi 15 years this summer and I think I've been using a version of ACDsee probably 12 of those years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsV3ml6rmkU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5-hNlideRE

I think it's a must have program.

I organize my kits in folders by store and then each kit is labeled by the designer and kit name. I don't really tag my kit previews since if I want a specific theme or element, typically a search will get me what I need but I do tag all my template previews. I tag my template previews by the number of photo spots and sometimes include theme or shape info (hexagons, heart, etc).

https://i.ibb.co/pwY6MmR/Capture.jpg

It's not the tagging, it is the dumping things wherever unless that isn't what you do. I like everything organized in its own folders. Like I said I do store/designer/kit folders. Alphas for a kit are in a sub-folder for the kit with everything else in the kit in the main kit folder. When a designer moves stores, I move the designer folder to the new store. Easy and still organized.

I use Picasa to view my supplies and I can search without items being tagged. Just the other day I was looking for a rainbow and did a search. Every item that was called rainbow came up in the search. I did try tagging and the amount of time spent on it didn't justify it for me because it isn't how I look for supplies. I am more of a visual person in choosing my kits. Quite often colors motivate my choice.

I think this all goes back to when I first got a computer... DOS was the operating system and everything was by directory. That's how I learned about computers and it has stuck with me for over 35 years.

That makes so much sense. Thank you. Another project that would take ages to get done if I wanted to start tagging everything I have! lol

If you would use the tagging to find supplies, it could possibly be worth it. For me, it isn't.

Bottom line is do what works for you.

I watched your tutorials. Super helpful if I decide to go that route one day.

Question: How do you tag a template pack that has different number of photos for each template in the pack? Can you tag the whole pack in different number categories?

The quickest way is to tag the preview or the folder file. Each tag gets separated by a semi colon. So when I go to search, I search for, say, "6 photos" and all the previews that have a template with 6 photo spots come up. I do store my templates a little differently than my kits. If I have quite a few templates by a certain designer they get their own folder vs going into the store folder where all the kits are. So sometimes I might search a couple folders for "6 photos" but overall it saves me sooooo much time. I like to tag them as soon as I unzip them, but I went though one large folder the other day and just searched for all the preview images and double checked that they all had been tagged. It really didn't take that long considering how many there were.

Tagging definitely requires a shift in mindset! You don't rely on folders, you rely on categories - but conceptually it's the same. There is more flexibility with tagging because a folder (such as a kit) can be tagged for multiple categories. Obviously, if you are super comfortable with folders, you should keep your method - I'm not trying to sell anyone, I just want Mac owners to know it's an option. I don't tag files, only folders. Our designers do such a great job of naming the individual files, it's really not necessary and would be super time-consuming!

When a designer changes stores, you can literally just click on the category, select all and change the tag in one swoop.

This is what it looks like. Favorite tags are on the lower left (customizable) and you can expand for every tag category. I'm clicked on my template category. I selected one Nat's templates so you can see that it comes up with tags for Ponytails, Templates and SSD.
https://i.imgur.com/SjqQXwK.jpg

I just tag each template separately.

For example I'll tag the preview under the designer's name.

But if each set has 4 templates, I'll then tag the template file (I tend to use the PSD file) by the amount of photos in that template. Sometimes I'll double tag them if they're a seasonal or holiday collection as well.

You can tag them as many times as you want.

Got it! Thanks for all the info Vanessa, Sheri and Jennifer.

I never answered the OP: I have a KITS folder. Guess what's in it: all my kits, each in its own folder. I don't arrange by store or designer or theme. Just...Kits. But I also have a Previews folder, in which I keep a (tagged) copy of each kit's preview. They're named by kit name and designer's/designers' initials. I also have an Excel spreadsheet, which I've talked about before, where I write down kit info (kit name, designer(s), store, themes, colors, Misc--maybe it's part of a collection--and purchase yy-mm. Between tagged previews and my spreadsheet, I find what I need.

The only issue rn is how BIG my kit folder is getting: I'm worried that soon it'll take a couple min just to load all those kit subfolders lol.

I save kits in folder by designer (or one called "Collabs").
I copy the preview & put it in a sub-folder of my "Kit Previews" folder-- "events", "everyday life", "camping", "spring", one folder for my daughter, one for my son, "Disney", etc. I can copy the preview to as many folders as I want-- for instance, I have a copy of the kit preview for Magical: Mermaids in my summer folder as well as my daughter's folder. And since the designer & kit name is always on the preview, it's easy to find.

You inspired me to finally get that spreadsheet done. I added a column to indicate if that kit has been used. It's a great reminder! Cheryl Ashcraft inspired me to make a spreadsheet of all my finished pages as well. I include the date, event, kit used, template used (if applicable) and a thumbnail of the page(s). I used to do something similar in a notebook but this is easier and helps me keep track of what's done vs what still needs to be done.

Yeah, I'm another one that loves using spreadsheets. I started my first one back in 2008 when I started digi-scrapping. I have columns for: date done, layout title, a preview of the layout, paper, alphas/word art, embellishments, brushes, fonts, sketch/template, and file name. Ended up splitting 2018 out into a new one because it was taking so long for it to load! Besides knowing what I've used on each layout, it gives me a way to know how many I've done each year (98 so far in2021). Each year is its own sheet within the worksheet. I also had sheets for the various CT's I was on at one time.

I also was inspired by both FDD's spreadsheets and TreeCity's spreadsheets so now have versions of my own. I even set up a different spreadsheet where I can plan out albums. That one came about when I did my reorganization of files a year ago. Because of photos I now had from scanned negatives and my FDD inspired spreadsheet I realized I wanted something to track my "albums" and what layouts are in them. Helps with both my 12x12 CM albums and any bound books I might print since I know exactly what order I want the layouts to be in.

Each spreadsheet has its own purpose and works for my scrapping needs but then I worked with spreadsheets for many years and feel very comfortable with them.

You ladies are absolutely genius! I never thought of a spreadsheet and I'm going to start this with new products to see how I like the format and what works for me, then add to with stash items I find it useful for my needs. So much great advice in this thread.

I have a folder for all supplies, then separate by store (if it's one that I use often or I have a folder called others), then it's by designer with the name of the kit. I have changed the icons for the folders to the previews though so when I open a store folder I can scroll and see the previews quickly.

I tried once to tag in lightroom - but that was just not working for me, I could tag fine and understand the system but didn't like opening Lightroom to scrap (probably because my computer is like 8 years old and is slow if LR & PS are running together so I'm sure it's just me) I'm really curious on the metafile change though - I have never thought of that before and am going to have to spend some time exploring that and the ACDsee too.
If it's a collab with designers from different stores - I just store a shortcut of the folder in one of the shop's folders and it links to the one it's stored in so not to double up.

Ooh, an album spreadsheet is a great idea! I have little scraps of paper with what I need to scrap for an album. Like I'll realize I need to scrap an event and then i just write it down on the nearest paper lol.
Cheryl's LO spreadsheet is awesome, isn't it? I haven't started one but I keep thinking I should.

Yay for spreadsheets and getting organized! Whenever I open my Kits folder I think about adding a "used" column. Maybe I'll remember to do that tonight. :)

And this thread shows how unique organizing is for each of us!

I need to do a spreadsheet like Cheryl suggests. She has such great ideas! I still sort by store and by designer name if I CT for them. I stick to store name because most stores galleries are store specific.

It is a real simple spreadsheet. A column for "left" and "right". I put the layout file name in the columns. I will bold any layouts that need to be printed. I italicize any layouts that aren't done yet. I also keep a list off to the side on the sheet of events that need to be scrapped. I can estimate how many pages each event will need as well. As I scrap them, I just delete the event from that list. It also helps to visualize where a break can be done for the CM albums since I put around 60 layouts (30 protectors) in each of them. I actually based this off a really old album planning sheet I had when I did traditional scrapping. Using a spreadsheet is easier than writing, erasing and rewriting on a physical paper ;) I have 8 "albums" on it.

Cheryl's spreadsheet actually works well with this also. With hers the events are listed then a copy of the layout entered when completed. She mentioned recently that she color codes the rows when the event is fully scrapped. That makes it easy to see if something is done and no need to look any further.

I too tried Lr and didn't like it. Spent hours importing and tagging but you can't drag and drop into PS. Bridge does write to the metadata with its keywords and you can drag and drop into PS from Bridge. I like it MUCH better!! It also sees all your files like file explorer, so no importing. Also, it sees your PSD files as thumbnails as if they were open in PS.

I'm also on a Mac and use tags, I love them, so easy! I add the tag ToBeUsed to everything (well, each kit and template) so that I can search for only things that I haven't used yet first, I remove the tag when I've used it so I know if it doesn't have that tag, I've used it at least once... should probably start adding tags Used2021, etc.

Definitely different. I think it depends on how you create your pages. I'm always hunting and looking for something that I like. I like to mix and match and I scrap a lot with like colors, etc. I'm not on a CT so I'm only concerned with that if I upload my stuff here it's mostly SSD.

And spreadsheets - oh I love them. Now I need to think about how I would best use them for what I'm trying to do. :unsure:

I have Bridge but am so used to Picasa it is hard to get used to it. I also don't use PS or PSE and drag and drop doesn't work for PSP.

However, I just played with it and tagged a couple of folders in Bridge. I then opened Picasa and it updated the metadata for those items. I do find it easier to do the tagging in Bridge than Picasa. So if I would want to tag, I could do it in Bridge and everything would be tagged in Picasa as well.

I'm still not sold on tagging though!

And, spreadsheets rock my world! :D

I find I have more I haven't used than used, so I started adding "z-" to the start of the folder name, it naturally brings the used things to the bottom of finder, and as I usually copy/paste the kit name, I'm already in the 'renaming' phase to add it.

Oh boy, do I love organizing!

I organize digital supplies in Lightroom. I did use ACDSee for many years, but one too many times losing my catalog and I was done. I switched to Bridge, but it was such a resource hog. Since all my keywording was in the metadata, I was able to pull in all my supplies into Lightroom and all my keywording/tagging came along with the supplies.

A couple of people mentioned the Excel file I use to organize what photos need to be scrapped and what's already been scrapped, so I thought I would share if anyone wants to download it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/liteh0uefmut5l9/2003 Calendar of Events & Layouts Completed.xls?dl=0

I use Lightroom to keep track of what photos I've scrapped as well as completed layouts. I mark my photos that I've already scrapped with the color purple. That way, at a quick glance I know what has already been scrapped. Before I used Lightroom, I had started changing the name of the photo file by adding SCRAPPED at the end. Like 2018-01-02_SCRAPPED.jpg.

https://i.imgur.com/PVkhY0Q.jpg

I keep an Excel file with the dates I took photos, what transpired that day, and then tuck in a thumbnail of the completed layout. When I'm done with a particular day, then I fill that row with a medium gray so I know that event is scrapped. This is SUPPOSED to help me when it comes to printing and/or finding particular layouts. I find it quite satisfying to see the rows of completed layouts. LOL

https://i.imgur.com/dEgfJKe.jpg

Hope that helps someone and if you have any questions, I'll be happy to do more screenshots or explain further.

Cheryl....that is awesome.:wub: I just downloaded your spreadsheet. This will be a great starting point for me. I so need to get my albums I'm wanting to create organized,

I think I might not realize what a resource hog Bridge is because I do have quite a bit of RAM on this computer. (64G) I haven't tried to run it on my laptop, which is 12G. I don't store my photos or supplies on that one so no reason to really.

I really like how you tag your pictures purple that are scrapped. I might have to do something like that...I have all my photos and all my daughter's photos downloaded to my computer and imported into Lr.

You have given me a ton of ideas and lots to think about!

It's like your own version of Passport Challenges! :w00t:

So glad I could help. Lightroom Classic has red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. I just recently discovered that not only can I mark the photos with purple, I can add a color label to an entire folder. So if I'm scrolling through, it shows up on the left side and I don't even need to access that folder.

I use red to mark layouts that have already been printed. And I use yellow, green, and blue when I'm marking photos for projects.

Ha! Yes! :wub:

I feel like I've stumbled upon a treasure chest with this thread! SO much useful and helpful information!

My supplies are sort of organized but I feel like I could make it work better for me.

I actually use Elements Organizer for all of my kits. I'm like Cheryl I LOVE to organize.

Basically, my hubby is in IT and we have a server, so everything is stored by designer on the server - meaning it's all somewhere safe.

Adding them to Organizer means I can keyword tag everything because I am a kit mixer. It's labour intensive, BUT for me, it works.

As a project manager and a time management trainer, I always advise people to find something that works for them. Trying something that someone else does can lead to frustration.

I don't upload psd's - only the previews of templates, meaning I can browse template images when considering how to make a layout.

I am on a PC and I think on Macs there are definitely easier systems to use.

When I started scrapping a year ago I read a LOT about organizing and where I have landed is a hybrid of the many things I saw that I liked, but I wanted a similar system to the one I have for all my cardmaking stamp sets. I LOVE to keyword search. It cuts down the time for me and leaves more time for crafty stuffs. So for example if a challenge has 'use hearts' I just select SSD + Hearts tags and voila! all my available SSD hearts pop up - this SO works for me. And this is identical to the system I use for my cardmaking stamps - that I store on Google Docs - I have a folder and I add the stamp set image and add the keywords, so I can search for 'sunshine' or whatever at a later date.

This is soooo true!

My Disney and travel kits are organized by theme, but all others are organized by Designer.

Disney is by characters, areas of the parks, parks, food, travel, templates, alphas, word art, etc. Some downloads fall into a few different categories. Travel kits are organized by beach, cruise, hiking, camping, nature, travel (air/flight/driving), food, countries etc.

I use the store/designer/kit format but I use Lightroom to organise everything. When I feel the inclination I tag things under different categories and I always tag the previews from each kit. This makes it really easy to find anything I need.

I am with Dalis, lol.

I organize by store and designer on my computer. BUT I also have a themes folder on my EHD as well as store and designer for the not a theme kinda kit.

I love to mix and match but find crediting a page is too hard so I don't usually post them. I can never remember gallery policy so I find I don't post much beyond my CT work.

I organize in folders by store and designer. I also tag everything in ACDSee, which is time consuming but useful. I like browsing and opening my scrapping supplies from a different software (ACDSee) than my photos (Bridge) so I can easily go back and forth (or have both open on my screen).

I do clear things out (a little) from time to time.

I'm going to go back and read more responses but I don't tag anything LOL! I basically keep everything in my "downloads" folder until it gets moved to my SSD folder :p...I don't shop anywhere else so it's easy for me to have just an SSD folder:
1. Digi Kits Folder
2. -SSD folder
3.--folders by theme...animals, all boy, all girl, Disney, templates(broke down by number of photos), birthday, summer, beach, road trip, etc

and that is it......when I want to scrap something, I either scrap based on the kit I want to use or I scrap based on the pics.....

Find pics to scrap then find coordinating kit/template to work with
or
Find kit to scrap with then find pics that work with said kit

I find this much easier and less stressful for me :) I use to have designers/CT requirement kits/unzip/unsued/etc and that caused me too much anxiety so many years ago I decided to do everything by theme and it has always worked for me :) even though I have more digi supplies than I can count, I have a pretty good idea of what I have in my stash so I just go find it LOL!

I’m finding I know I had some products and even found layouts I’ve scrapped using them, but the actual products are no where to be found. :D:mad: