ACDSee..best deal

[jaylensmom]

ok i think i'm going to take the plunge too...

my question...do you really go back & tag older stuff or do you just go forward from when you purchased it?

[ColleenSwerb]

Originally Posted by jaylensmom

ok i think i'm going to take the plunge too...

my question...do you really go back & tag older stuff or do you just go forward from when you purchased it?

If you want to have the stuff you already own in your database, then you need to go back and tag it all. The best way to start is tag as you buy. Then when you really find a tagging system that works for you, you can start to take 10 or 15 minutes every day and tag some of the older stuff in your stash. If you try and tag everything right off the bat, you're likely to feel overwhelmed and give it up all together (**cough cough ME cough cough**).

Originally Posted by ajf9597

So from what I can tell you tag (rename the file) and then drag and drop into the category you want it in?

Tagging is completely different from renaming files. There's no dragging and dropping to be done. It's all checking off boxes.

There are 2 ways to go about building your database. There's an option at the top of the program, I think in the database section, where you can import files. You can do that and select various folders, and it'll import them. Then you can "search" those files for anything that has "button", for example. All the buttons that have button in their file name will pop up for you.

The other way (which is how I'm doing it because I kept having it shut down on me doing it the other way), is to just go throguh your stash bit by bit. You open a folder (let's use Traci's new Wish on a Rainbow, cuz I'm using it as we speak). You view that folder, and then open up the "properties" window (can't remember how to do it, I don't have ACDSee on this comp - probably under options or view or file or something). In the properties window, you can build up various categories for tagging. Mine looks somewhat like this:
Colors-> black, red green, blue, yellow, teal, kraft, multi etc etc etc
Designers-> (this is probably redundant, but whatever)
Elements:
flowers, bling, glitter, metal, misc, fasteners (broken down further), ribbons (broken down further), etc etc
Papers:
solids, striped, circles/dots, flowers, squares, distressed etc etc
Previews

So if I have a red distressed polka dot paper, it gets a check mark in the boxes for red, paper, distressed, circles/dots

A glittery gold ribbon wrap with a bow would get checks in the boxes for gold, glitter, ribbon (and the subcategories of wrap and bow inside of ribbons would also get checked).

Does that make more sense? If I have it here at work I'd do some screen shots for you.

[Sarah8914]

You're awesome Col! Good info!

And actually, you can drag the category to tag a bunch of items instead of checking boxes. But I usually just check boxes.

[ColleenSwerb]

Originally Posted by Sarah8914

You're awesome Col! Good info!

And actually, you can drag the category to tag a bunch of items instead of checking boxes. But I usually just check boxes.

Oh cool, I didn't know that. If I have a bunch of buttons in a kit, I usually select them all and then check the buttons box. Then go back separately and check the colors. Of course, I haven't tagged in a while, lol.

[MelissaL88]

Give me just a minute and I can make some screen shots

[MelissaL88]

Ok...here is a shot of what Col is talking about:


The arrow is pointing to the check boxes under the properties. Or conversely, you could look at it from the tag view and do the same thing:


HTH~

[ColleenSwerb]

Yes! Thank you Melissa!! Visuals are always so much more helpful.

[MelissaL88]

And I agree with the others, the best way to start is by tagging the new stuff as you buy it. Then, as I use older stuff (after I've gone searching for it), I tag everything in the kit/element folder.

[MelissaL88]

Yep! And I LOVE Snaggit!