[beckaroonaz]

I did a search on the forum...but did not turn up with much. I am hoping that someone can offer some suggestions...I have 550 contact sheets/kit content sheets saved in a folder. I am trying to figure our the best way to use them. I currently hunt through my contact sheets via Picasa so I can see what goes together etc. I thought about printing them out and saving them in a binder...then I saw how may I had....Uffda!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[tinkerbell11]

If you want to print them for a binder don't print them full size do smaller versions that you can still look at ?

[beckaroonaz]

Good point...do you print your sheets out?

[BarbaraC1977]

I had printed mine out, along with example prints, on postcard-size prints, and put them in a three-high photo album. I like that a lot. However...

Now that I have a smart phone, and especially one with a big screen, my 4" screen Samsung Captivate, I copy them to a folder there, too. I can peruse the "gallery" when I'm waiting for an appointment, etc.

You can do another option on your computer. I have all my preview images in a folder "My SG Materials." That automatically sorts alphabetically by designer, which is often useful. I've made another copy, and sorted it into seven subfolders: Pastel_Clear, Pastel_Muted, Color_Clear, Color_Tones, Brights, Saturated_Tones, Neutrals. Try not to agonize on where a preview goes--when you open a folder it will either "fit in" or stick out like a sore thumb. Hope this helps.

[J9Buckles]

I have added an equals sign to the beginning of the name of each sheet of embellishments. Now when I'm searching for embellishments I'll go to Picassa and do a search for = ....then all of my embellishment sheets load! It's really quick.

[BarbaraC1977]

Janine, that's a great idea! You could do a different symbol for other types of files, too.

Since I have Bulk Rename Utility, that'll be very quick and easy to implement.

[KFiasco]

Great ideas, Janine and Barbara. I'll have to try that someday when I'm bored and have some serious time on my hands.

[elibar]

I use Picasa too, and love it!! And since all the designers here use a standardized file naming system, it makes for an easy search in Picasa. I sometimes rename my files, but rarely. A search using "sheet" will bring up all the contact sheets, and I can see them all at once. And I can add a designer to that too - say I know that Brandy's designed just the starfish I want to use, but I cant remember which collection it's in. I'll search BMU and sheet. Then I can browse all of Brandy's embellishments in my stash. (ah, there it is - it's in Peaceful Collection Biggie!)

[Sara Arell]

That's a great idea, Elisha -

At one time before i had so many collections, I had a separate folder for each designer - and i loved keeping my collections that way; however, now that i have so many, it would take me forever to go back and do it that way again - now, i usually have a pretty good idea of what collection I think I want to start my layout with and know who designed it but still find myself occasionally jumping through hoops when I am just not sure what i want to do - it can be confusing and had I known I would wind up with so many collections I would have done it much differently and kept better track of my "designer folders" That was so easy and I let it get away from me. I use Picassa now for the most part but still maintain mu download

[J9Buckles]

The other reason I add an equals sign to the beginning of the name of a contact sheet is to keep it the first file in a folder. I keep my collections together but if there are 3 folders of embellishments, as in a "collection biggie", I move the individual files & contact sheets into one folder. The contact sheets sometimes, because things are filed alphabetically, get lost amidst the rest of the images. An = sign at the beginning keeps all of the contact sheets at the top of the list.

[elibar]

Oh, I see, Janine. Gotcha. I do the same thing with files and folders that I want to stay on top whan I sort. I just use an underscore ( _ ) at the beginning of the file name. The equals sign is a great idea and would be easier, as I wouldn't have to use the shift key! But I guess it's what I'm used to now...

[J9Buckles]

elibar, on 04 September 2010 - 05:52 PM, said:

Oh, I see, Janine. Gotcha. I do the same thing with files and folders that I want to stay on top whan I sort. I just use an underscore ( _ ) at the beginning of the file name. The equals sign is a great idea and would be easier, as I wouldn't have to use the shift key! But I guess it's what I'm used to now...

LOL It also makes my search for the sheets easier....if I used an underscore everything would be included in the results.

[tinkerbell11]

beckaroonaz, on 02 September 2010 - 04:55 PM, said:

Good point...do you print your sheets out?

I will be honest, I used to print them, but now I have so many collections it is a bit to overwhelming! I keep the sheets as a preview in my collections.

[KarinaS]

I have all of mine in a subfolder in my embellishments folder and sometimes I look through them to see if anything catches my eye that I want to use. If I know I am looking for a heart or a button, however, I just look in my subfolder that is called Hearts or Buttons. I don't print them out.