S/O Do you move kit alphas out of their kits?

[Nettio]

So this is a little spin-off of the organization thread but I'm curious to know, does anyone here move the alphas from kits out of their kit folders and into one big alpha folder?

I've been thinking about doing this for forever because I find myself pulling alphas from kits I've already used a lot, but I'm kind of scared to commit to it because it'd be a royal pain to undo it if I decide I don't like it. I realize tagging would solve the problem but well, I'm lazy, haha.

So...anyone done it? Do you love it? Hate it? I need someone to convince me I should do it.

[Darcy Baldwin]

If I really like the alpha, I just copy it over to the alpha folder (if I really dislike it, I have been known to just delete it). I have enough space that I don't worry about the few gig it might take to duplicate favorite alphas - and I like to keep kits together.

[ColleenSwerb]

What Darcy said.

[Gemma]

I leave all mine with the kits, I'm too lazy to move things around lol.It probably would be more helpful if I had them in one big alpha folder. Maybe once I get a new laptop and EHD I will do it.

[kristijoy]

I don't move it, I just tag it.

[lovely1m]

Same as Gemma. I always think this would be a good idea, but never do.

[kim21673]

I keep them with the kits...I REALLY need to get on the ball and at least tag the alpha previews b/c there are so many that I would love to use and give up trying to find them! I have almost filled up my second EHD so I can't duplicate them!!

[kendallt]

Originally Posted by Gemma

I leave all mine with the kits, I'm too lazy to move things around lol.It probably would be more helpful if I had them in one big alpha folder.

What she said!

[MamaBee]

I do, I do!! I found that I was always looking for a certain color of alpha to do those cool title work that I try to attempt ... so I finally took the leap and moved all the alphas to one folder and org by color. If I needed the alpha for the kit, I would just look at the preview and go find it... I have been loving it so far!!!

[adrianka]

I keep them with kits, and... tagging solved my problem. *giggles*

Tagging alphas was one of the things that got me tagging, since they are hardest to remember. If I'm looking for a newsprint alpha and such, I NEVER remember where it originally was, so it helped heaps. I find tagging better as opposed to just sorting into folders, because you can have more criteria (shape, colour, material). Like, the same alpha can be "kraft", "neutral", "in a circled frame" and whatever.

Actually just doing the alphas doesn't take that long. *wink*

[jessica31876]

you could just copy the letter A from all the alphas to a new folder and name it so as you know what kit it is from. That way you do not have to commit to moving the whole alpha and it would not take nearly as much space as copying the whole alpha and you would still have the whole kit together

[mummytothree]

I don't do it and I don't think I ever would. The only time I would move an alpha to my alpha folder would be if I was deleting the kit.

Instead of moving the whole folder why don't you just either copy the preview into a general "alpha" folder or just copy every "A" into a general "alpha" folder and just make sure that it's named for the designer and kit and if you have a good system you will be able to then just go to that alpha. That way if you ever want to stop "organizing" that way you can just delete that folder without having to put every thing back in it's original place!!

Jessica and I think alike!!!

[ayaandjudah]

Can someone tell me how to tag in LR?

[heathergw]

if I like an alpha a lot, then I'll copy it to my alpha folder... but I never move w/o copying because I like the kit alpha to stay with the kit.

[mariewilcox]

you could just copy the letter A from all the alphas to a new folder and name it so as you know what kit it is from. That way you do not have to commit to moving the whole alpha and it would not take nearly as much space as copying the whole alpha and you would still have the whole kit together

This is exactly what I do Jessica I like having them with the kits because I'm definitely a kit scrapper and a lot of kits have the perfect alpha to match right with it, BUT sometimes it just doesn't work and I need to find something different, so into the "A" folder I go

[taracotta7]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

If I really like the alpha, I just copy it over to the alpha folder (if I really dislike it, I have been known to just delete it). I have enough space that I don't worry about the few gig it might take to duplicate favorite alphas - and I like to keep kits together.

Totally this!

[Lyd]

Yep - I'm another one that will copy an alpha I love into a generic Alpha folder. But, I don't move it. I still want it with the kit it belongs to. Then, if I decide I don't want it in the Alpha folder anymore, I can just delete it--the original is still where it belongs with its kit.

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by adrianka

I keep them with kits, and... tagging solved my problem. *giggles*

Tagging alphas was one of the things that got me tagging, since they are hardest to remember. If I'm looking for a newsprint alpha and such, I NEVER remember where it originally was, so it helped heaps. I find tagging better as opposed to just sorting into folders, because you can have more criteria (shape, colour, material). Like, the same alpha can be "kraft", "neutral", "in a circled frame" and whatever.

Actually just doing the alphas doesn't take that long. *wink*

Oh believe me, I'm 100% with you on the merits of tagging. I've just come to accept after 5+ years of scrapbooking that if I have to choose between scrapbooking, hanging out with the hubby or tagging my files, tagging is going to be way low on that priority list, haha. And really if I was going to take the time to tag anything, it'd be my photos first since those are what I have the most trouble finding. But I definitely do dream of a day when I can have all my files tagged, preferably by color.

Thanks for all the advice everyone! Still not sure what I'm going to do yet but you've definitely all given me some things to think about!

[Stacey42]

I keep the alpha with the kit & I tag the A's. Alphas & kit previews (for color & theme) are the only things I tag.

Now, when it comes time to purge my stash I have been known to keep the alpha & delete the kit & vice versa. But in general I like to keep my kits all together & duplication of my files drives me buggy so I can't bring myself to make a copy.

[Natascha]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

If I really like the alpha, I just copy it over to the alpha folder (if I really dislike it, I have been known to just delete it). I have enough space that I don't worry about the few gig it might take to duplicate favorite alphas - and I like to keep kits together.

Ditto on this!! I have tried it once, but never again

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Nettio

Oh believe me, I'm 100% with you on the merits of tagging. I've just come to accept after 5+ years of scrapbooking that if I have to choose between scrapbooking, hanging out with the hubby or tagging my files, tagging is going to be way low on that priority list, haha. And really if I was going to take the time to tag anything, it'd be my photos first since those are what I have the most trouble finding. But I definitely do dream of a day when I can have all my files tagged, preferably by color.

Thanks for all the advice everyone! Still not sure what I'm going to do yet but you've definitely all given me some things to think about!

I totally get your priorities! I only tag when I feel like it, like, when mojo is absent and such. I'm nowhere near done but what's done helps a lot, especially because I mix and match. Sometimes I tag when I'm having a Skype phone call with my Mum - she tends to tell the same thing all over again, so I tag along. What a daughter, right. But I do listen to her, and tagging doesn't take that much of my attention. :-)

I tag according to various criteria (I think this is totally subjective, everyone has other needs) and really like how you can assign various categories to one item. And yep, colours where the first thing I started with.

I don't tag photos, I have this complicated folder system for that and so far it works, but yep, if I didn't have that I would prefer sorting photos to sorting kits. :-)

And lack of tagging sure doesn't have any impact on the quality of your scrapping, that much we've noticed. :-)

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by ayaandjudah

Can someone tell me how to tag in LR?

Lex (mrshobbes) does it, she might be able to help you.

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by adrianka

Lex (mrshobbes) does it, she might be able to help you.

Kayla Lamoreaux has a free class on her blog that explains how to do it - that's where Lex learned it.

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by adrianka

I totally get your priorities! I only tag when I feel like it, like, when mojo is absent and such. I'm nowhere near done but what's done helps a lot, especially because I mix and match. Sometimes I tag when I'm having a Skype phone call with my Mum - she tends to tell the same thing all over again, so I tag along. What a daughter, right. But I do listen to her, and tagging doesn't take that much of my attention. :-)

I tag according to various criteria (I think this is totally subjective, everyone has other needs) and really like how you can assign various categories to one item. And yep, colours where the first thing I started with.

I don't tag photos, I have this complicated folder system for that and so far it works, but yep, if I didn't have that I would prefer sorting photos to sorting kits. :-)

And lack of tagging sure doesn't have any impact on the quality of your scrapping, that much we've noticed. :-)

Aww, thanks!

I used to have a pretty involved tagging system that I actually did keep updated but I found that being mostly a kit scrapper, the time it took me to maintain it wasn't worth the amount I actually used it. Right now I'm not tagging at all but I figure one day I'll find a more happy medium. Who knows, maybe my alpha problem will inspire me.

[NatalieKW]

I would like to try putting all my As in one folder because I love using different alphas on the same page. I just need the motivation to organize and put aside the scrapping...which is hard for me to do.

[LeeAndra]

Ditto Darcy.

In fact, I have a whole folder of favorites: favorite alphas, overlays, cardstock, etc. so I always have CD's alphas at my beck and call.

[sprauncey1]

The only things I tag now are alpha, templates by number of photos, and kit previews. I had a hd crash and had to start over, so it wasn't so daunting. Oh and that is part of the reason I love alphas on one sheet...easier to see and tag. Maybe just start now and tag new ones and go back and do 10 at a time. Now I unzip, move all into one folder, delete extra files, tag alpha and preview and then move to final folder. The tagging part takes 20 seconds. And copying or moving files takes longer than that, either way its a time investment. KWIM?

[NeverendingJen]

Ditto Darcy!

[Ginger_79]

I use Adobe bridge to find my alphas. Their collections are done so super fast, because you just go through your folders and drag and drop. The alphas stay with the kit, but I can browse a collection of all my A letters. I find that better than previews, as it showed me the details of each better and bigger.

I dreaded tagging. So instead I did that. I have alphas, kits previews, basic element packs previews (like brushes, frames, tapes, ect.), templates and quickpages. It didn't even take me a week to do it for all my stuff.

[nikkiARNGwife]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

If I really like the alpha, I just copy it over to the alpha folder (if I really dislike it, I have been known to just delete it). I have enough space that I don't worry about the few gig it might take to duplicate favorite alphas - and I like to keep kits together.

This.

[mrshobbes]

Thanks for mentioning me and Kayla's class, Adrianka and Lynnette! I totally get not wanting to tag for the time element, seriously! LOL When I finally decided to take the plunge after looking at Kayla's class, it took me about six days (averaging about 3-4 hours per day) to tag my 160GB stash (about 1500 previews).

For myself I just tagged my previews. Which means that generally I don't break alphas out of their kits. I think I only tagged those alphas that had their own previews--if they didn't, whoopsie, lol. I also only tagged alpha packs I'd bought.

More on my tagging here
http://mrshobbes.wordpress.com/2011/...-im-organized/
http://mrshobbes.wordpress.com/2011/...he-misc-stuff/

[Freckles]

I started doing that a couple of years ago, but only my favorite alphas. It was a pain because most alphas don't have seperate preview and then I would make one of just the first two letters and call it 'folder' so I could see at a glance what was in it.
Now I just tag my alpha's in ACDSee.
Like Andrianka said, if you would do just the alpha's, it can be done quickly!

[scrapweaver]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

If I really like the alpha, I just copy it over to the alpha folder (if I really dislike it, I have been known to just delete it). I have enough space that I don't worry about the few gig it might take to duplicate favorite alphas - and I like to keep kits together.

this is me too

except for the deleting part . . deleting stuff still freaks me out LOL

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Freckles

IIt was a pain because most alphas don't have seperate preview and then I would make one of just the first two letters and call it 'folder' so I could see at a glance what was in it.

For some reason, I prefer tagging the letter A only. I only tag alpha previews if all letters are different or special in some way.

But I'm pretty sure there was a way of how to make your own alpha preview. I tried it even about two years ago. But I cannot remember how you do it. It wasn't difficult. If anyone knows, feel free to share, I think it would be appreciated.

[adrianka]

Found it. For everybody who'd like to tag alpha previews (or have them for some other reason), here is how you can create your own very easily in ACDSee if they are not available with the kit:

CLICK!

[Muñeca]

I delete most alphas. Should be VERY unique to keep it.
And usually I keep them on the kit's folder.
But I also have an alpha folder

[TheHybridMess]

Originally Posted by MamaBee

I do, I do!! I found that I was always looking for a certain color of alpha to do those cool title work that I try to attempt ... so I finally took the leap and moved all the alphas to one folder and org by color. If I needed the alpha for the kit, I would just look at the preview and go find it... I have been loving it so far!!!

I do this...

[Scrapper007]

I copy the ones I like into my alphabets folder but always leave a kit intact.

[carriesmom]

To move them would mean that they aren't with the kit and my little OCD brain can't handle that. So no I don't move them, but then again I organize in Picasa and alphas are generally in a separate folder so they are separate from the kit directly above it organization wise. I generally remember the name of my favs or just type in "Alpha" and scroll through until I find what I want.