How To Organize All The Downloaded Unzipped Files From Kits I Buy?

[pjeaston]

I am new to digital scrapbooking and loving all of the fun papers, embellishments and kits I am finding. How do you organize them or store them best so you can easily find them when you are scrapping?? I am now putting them in my Documents folder under Digital Scrapbooking. But what I am finding is that I am gathering tons of folders and files and I can't tell what is in there unless I start clicking on many of them. I can see where someday I will have hundred and hundreds. When you buy paper or kits off of Scrapgirls, how do you organize it in your files to find it easily when you are scrapping and have so many different kits already there?

 

I bought MemoryMixer for making my books. Does anyone know if you can put paper in their paper section, embellishments in their embellishments section, etc. etc. as an option to organize it as well?

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

Joanne

[PBarnes]

Hi Joann. Welcome to Scrap Girls!!

 

People file their scrapbooking things in different ways. I would suggest that you download the free "15 Things You Need to Know To Be Great Scrapbooker" from the boutique. Ro suggests a filing method in the ebook and the information is also available in the University.

 

Some people keep all their kits together and some divide them up into sub-categories like Papers and Embellishments. I'm one that divides the collections up. I use Photoshop Elements Organizer and it lets me see all the scrapbooking things I have. I tag things so I can do a search on a certain item like Flowers and Journal Blocks under Embellishments. Some people use ACDSee for organinzing or the free Google program Picasa. You can also tag with Window's Photo Gallery.

 

I'm sorry I can't tell you anything about Memory Mixers program.

[JenniferZ]

Hi Joanne,

You will find that there are as many ways to organize as there are scrappers! There are some systems in the University section here.

 

I like to keep my kits together, so when I make a purchase, I unzip and unpack everything and leave it in a single folder with the kit's name on the outside -- for example "Just B". I use the kit's preview photo (for Scrap Girls purchases, you'll have to go to the boutique and save the preview image to your computer -- right click the image and select "save picture as") as the icon on the outside of the folder. I cut and paste all the papers and elements into one folder. The only exception is alpha. I ususally leave those in a subfolder within the main one.

 

Then I use Windows Photo Gallery and tag everything. (Though I admit, I am WOEFULLY behind in this area! I should be more diligent!) I tag papers by "neutral", "pastel", "bright", "cool", "warm" and "patterned", "solid", "stripe/dot". Then I tag elements "alpha", "ribbons", "bows", "journaling", "tags", "flowers", etc.

 

I used to use ACDSee, but found it slowed my computer down too much. Many folks here use Picasa and are happy with it. Sorry I cannot help with your MemoryMixer question, but I'll bet someone here can!

 

Good luck and I hope you find an organizing method that works for you.

[JenniferZ]

Forgot to add -- WELCOME to Scrap Girls!!!!

[pjeaston]

GREAT IDEAS. THANKS. I LOVE THE IDEA OF PUTTING AN ICON NEXT TO THE FOLDER TO SEE A SMALL IMAGE OF WHAT IS INSIDE. I AM TRYING TO DO THAT NOW BEFORE I START TO GET TOO MANY, BUT CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW. I RIGHT CLICKED AND TRIED TO SAVE THE IMAGE FIRST, BUT IT ISN'T WORKING. I AM SORRY, BUT COULD YOU HELP FURTER. SO FAR, I SAVED THE IMAGE, RIGHT CLICKED, WENT TO PROPERTIES, CLICKED ON CUSTOMIZE, SELECT WHAT FROM THERE IS WHERE I AM MESSIN UP. THANKS AGAIN!!!

JOANNE

 

 

 

Hi Joanne,

You will find that there are as many ways to organize as there are scrappers! There are some systems in the University section here.

 

I like to keep my kits together, so when I make a purchase, I unzip and unpack everything and leave it in a single folder with the kit's name on the outside -- for example "Just B". I use the kit's preview photo (for Scrap Girls purchases, you'll have to go to the boutique and save the preview image to your computer -- right click the image and select "save picture as") as the icon on the outside of the folder. I cut and paste all the papers and elements into one folder. The only exception is alpha. I ususally leave those in a subfolder within the main one.

 

Then I use Windows Photo Gallery and tag everything. (Though I admit, I am WOEFULLY behind in this area! I should be more diligent!) I tag papers by "neutral", "pastel", "bright", "cool", "warm" and "patterned", "solid", "stripe/dot". Then I tag elements "alpha", "ribbons", "bows", "journaling", "tags", "flowers", etc.

 

I used to use ACDSee, but found it slowed my computer down too much. Many folks here use Picasa and are happy with it. Sorry I cannot help with your MemoryMixer question, but I'll bet someone here can!

 

Good luck and I hope you find an organizing method that works for you.

[princessrunningfingers]

Hi, and welcome to Scrap Girls. I used to use the organizer in PSE, but found that it slowed things down too much. I read a lot of comments on the message board about Picasa and decided to give it a try. I like it better than anything I've tried so far. I guess this is a pretty individual thing, and everyone just has to try and find the method that works best for them. I'm sorry I don't know anything about MemoryMixer.

[JenniferZ]

OK -- go to the boutique and right click on the image of the kit preview. Select "save picture as" and then save it to the folder where the kit is. The preview must be saved in the kit folder. Then go to the kit folder and right click on it. Select "properties" then "customize" then "choose file." This should open the contents of your kit's folder so you can see everything that is saved there. Select the icon of the kit preview and hit "open" and then "OK." The kit preview icon should now show on the outside of your folder.

 

HTH!

[pjeaston]

Got it! Thank you so much.

Joanne

 

 

 

OK -- go to the boutique and right click on the image of the kit preview. Select "save picture as" and then save it to the folder where the kit is. The preview must be saved in the kit folder. Then go to the kit folder and right click on it. Select "properties" then "customize" then "choose file." This should open the contents of your kit's folder so you can see everything that is saved there. Select the icon of the kit preview and hit "open" and then "OK." The kit preview icon should now show on the outside of your folder.

 

HTH!

[April Showers]

Welcome to ScrapGirls! We're so glad you've joined us here. Have fun organizing. I use the system Ro outlines in the free ebook too.

[KFiasco]

I started with a similiar system to Ro. A few months ago I downloaded Picasa. I have created kind of a mess, but even though, I love Picasa. I just unzip and put my things away in folders and Picasa automatically sorts everything. I used to tag but don't even do that anymore. For example: yesterday I tagged some pics with cat. I couldn't remember if they were cheetas or not. When I remembered I went in and put cat in my search box and up came some cats, some word art that said cathedral, a stamp of a cathedral, and the pics in question. Pretty nifty if you ask me and they were mostly not tagged.

 

Sorry this is so long. Welcome to Scrap Girls. It's a great place to learn.