Organizing files

[julia]

Are you keeping your files well organized? I thought I had somewhat of a decent system of my finished LO's... So today when I decided to finally go ahead and create a new book for printing I was appalled by the lack of structure I had left my finished LO's in I've spent more or less all day re-organizing, pulling out my printed books to check which LO's I already have printed, which ones are the right size (3600x3600), which were from what date and year etc. I'm still not done. I hope this is a lesson learned from now on.

The system I had been using was just my son and his 1 yr LO's, 2yr LO's, 3yr LO's. Now I'm getting way deeper than that and going for the year, 2009 LO's, 2010 LO's, 2011 LO's, along with psd/600x600 and 3600x3600 files. I'm also creating a printed file for those LO's I do not have to "worry" about anymore, but just to keep the original file available.

What a mess! I need to get better at organizing. Anyone in the same boat or am I the only one not on top of this?

[origami]

Originally Posted by julia

Are you keeping your files well organized? I thought I had somewhat of a decent system of my finished LO's... So today when I decided to finally go ahead and create a new book for printing I was appalled by the lack of structure I had left my finished LO's in I've spent more or less all day re-organizing, pulling out my printed books to check which LO's I already have printed, which ones are the right size (3600x3600), which were from what date and year etc. I'm still not done. I hope this is a lesson learned from now on.

I have been pretty organized with my kits but not with finished layouts. I think I'll spend some time this weekend working on getting them sorted and filed.

[neenee]

I have been very organized since the start of 2011. I seriously need to find the time to go back and organize all my stuff since 2008. But, I need a clone of me so I have time to do it!

[rach3975]

This is one of the few things that I feel like I'm on top of. Just don't ask about my photos. I've got a good system, but sorting and deleting photos is so time consuming!

For layouts, I have a "projects in progress" folder called My Layouts. Everything lives there until it's printed (which happens every couple of months). Eventually layouts move from there to a folder that corresponds to the printed album it's in. My earlier layouts are organized by child and age (like Jason's 6 year old album) and newer layouts are just by year. Pre-printing I store the psd and jpg in My Layouts. After printing the psd gets deleted and the jpg is filed. Web versions have their own folder (Web LOs) so that I can't accidentally confuse them with the full sized version and can easily delete them periodically. Hybrid projects also have their own folder subdivided into cards and everything else.

[crecia27]

I need to do this! I have some Shutterfly books I need to order by the end of June but I'm daunted by the fact that its going to be a hassle. I thought I had a good system but alas, no. You've inspired me though, tomorrow is the day!

[BrattyMeg]

I save LOs by year in folders so mine are organized that way. I don't scrap chronologically though so my pics aren't nec from the year they are filed lol

[ColleenSwerb]

My EHD is SUCH a friggen mess. I've been meaning to sit down and organize it for AGES now, but every time I do it something else comes up. I was gonna do it last weekend and then I ended up helping DH outside all day saturday, and had to clean the house all day sunday.

Next weekend though? It's GOTTA HAPPEN! Lol!

[Sarah8914]

mine are pretty organized. I have folders by year and then I save layouts by the date of the pictures on them. Then, the flattened ones, sized and ready for printing, I add -p on the end. I print books by the year, so I can keep all my files for that year together until I print the whole thing. If I printed by the page, I would create a folder within my year folder for ones that HAVE been printed. Like, filing them away. It works for me!

[color of my heart]

i don't save my psd files. i used to. but not anymore. i also don't scrap chronologically, or in any sort of regular timeframe (unfortunately). but here's my system.

i have layouts from 2011 separated into two folders on my computer- print (300dpi, full size), and web (72dpi, 600x600). also in the "print" folder, i have a list of layouts which have been printed already, so i don't do it twice.

older layouts are stored on my EHD, which, like colleen's, is a disaster. and needs to be organized.

[Stacey42]

My completed layouts are organized first in folders by year I made them, then in sub folders by date of the subject with an additional 'printed' folder with subfolders for size.

I keep my .psd files because I never know if I am going to print 12x12 or 8x8 or some other book size. I keep albums of some layouts & others get printed in books & some get printed in both if say I am created a gift for my parents.

I've been digi since 2005 & for the past year I have been thinking I need to just go with year of subject folders because it's getting harder to find things.

[NeverendingJen]

Oh gosh. I'm super OCD about my organization. Layouts are organized by year, or by event if for a specific project(i.e. my wedding album). Within the year's folder, there are three folders: Print, Web, and Layered. Print layouts get an P added to the end of their name once they are printed(so the layout would become MyReasonP) so I know which ones are done just by sorting quickly.

[nun69]

Originally Posted by FlirtatiousBrat

I save LOs by year in folders so mine are organized that way. I don't scrap chronologically though so my pics aren't nec from the year they are filed lol

thi sis EXACTLY what I do...and if they are old pictures they still just go in the monthly folder I scrapped them in If I am working on a project {themed book or something} then my LO's go in that themes folder {Disney, Paris, Sam's graduation, etc}

ETA: I also have a seprate folder for the web versions and just delete those at the end of the year...but I do keep my layered TIFF's because if I want to do another LO, I usually just oipen that one and pull elements off of it since they are already shadowed Saves me LOTS of time!