[Suzyann]

Over the last few years I've collected many kinds of layer styles and installed them into PSE 9.0. Is there a way to make PSE organize them better? They are listed together in one huge list - either under Layer Styles or Photo Effects in the Effects menu. for example, I would like to see all of my drop shadows together. It would be nice to have them listed in the drop down menu categories. I read some stuff online about creating .xml files to tell PSE where to put the style files. (see article here: http://www.graficali...oshop-elements/) I tried this, but it is over my head. Is that the only way to organize them?

Thanks for any assistance.

Suzy

[Matadors and a Princess]

Seems like I've heard about a program that will install them for you and create those xml files at the same time. But I can't remember the name of the program, so that's not much help, I'm afraid.

[teecee]

Hi Suzy. I categorized my styles back when I had PSE 7, but since I changed to PSE 9 I haven't done any categorizing, so I can't remember all the steps. Here is an older post by Barbara (BarbaraC1977) explaining how to categorize styles: Categorizing Styles HTH

BTW, the program Matadors and a Princess is referring to is Add-O-Matic and as she mentioned, it will install the styles and create the xml files.

[diannecp]

I am lazy. I don't even install my styles - gasp! I have all my SG ones in a subfolder in my scrapping folder. I load as I need them - it defaults to that folder now. A bit of a pain to not have the visual descriptions but it's easy enough to load/unload them as needed, and I know my favorites by now - LOL! I do the same with my brushes. It just works for me

[Smiles]

That's much easier to do if you have Photoshop. It's relatively difficult if you have PSE, because you have to load things with the program closed and give it time to re-build the database every time you load something.

[Suzyann]

Thanks teecee for the link to the instructions. I was able to follow the instructions, but when I reloaded the styles (by deleting the thumbdatabase file), I do not have any of the new categories listed in the styles box. Darn! I must have done something wrong. At this point, I don't think it is worth the work. I'm not going to try again.

Thanks Smiles for the tip about Photoshop. If I really want to organize my styles (and create my own), then I should be thinking about upgrading to Photoshop instead of using PSE.

Thanks for the help y'all!
Suzy

[Jster025]

In case this might help you . . .

I am a Style Junkie and I never could get PSE6 to organize all of my styles into a few categories, but I did re-name each style so that it started with a category (like Paper or Stitches or Metals or Shadows) and that way all styles of one category show up together. I even broke some of them out like Paper1 for texture-only styles, and Paper2 for colored texture. Remember, your asl and xml file names must match. And if you have some that you use all of the time (like Shadow styles for me), put a number at the front. That way they will be at the top of the list. I have my Shadow Styles start with ‘1Shadws_’ and Blending Styles with ‘2Blended_’. I do this so I don’t have to bother to make my window small enough to show the ‘slider’—I can just use my Up-Arrow until it gets to the top of the list; and there my favorite, well-worn Styles are, ready to use!

[Suzyann]

Jster025,
Thank you for the advice about renaming. I wanted to do that, but it didn't seem to work. I renamed all of the .asl files so that I could find them easier just like you said. But when I deleted the ThumbDatabase.db3 file from the 9.0 folder and from the en_us folder, and then opened PSE again to let it rebuild the file, it didn't change the names of the styles! The names are still the old names (listed under each thumbnail in the styles menu), and I have no idea why. For example, I renamed AMC_SSTools_Styles_SnowIce.asl to SnowIce_AMC.asl, and it still shows up as the old name after I have rebuilt the ThumbDatabase file. Is PSE reading from a different file? I have my styles in C - ProgramData - Adobe - Photoshop Elements - 9.0 - Photo Creations - Layer Styles. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Do I need to create the .xml files just to rename for the style under the thumbnails?

Thanks for the help,
Suzy

[Suzyann]

OK, I think I figured it out. The names below the thumbnails will never change - it must be part of the .asl file that you purchase. And renaming the .asl file does not do anything in PSE, it can only organize the styles in your styles folder better (outside of PSE). I created my .xml files (again) according to directions that teecee referenced above, and put them into categories. Now I can see the new category names under the drop down menu in the effect palette! It worked!

Suzy

[teecee]

Glad to hear you got it to work Suzy!

[misseswojo]

teecee, on 06 June 2012 - 04:03 PM, said:

Hi Suzy. I categorized my styles back when I had PSE 7, but since I changed to PSE 9 I haven't done any categorizing, so I can't remember all the steps. Here is an older post by Barbara (BarbaraC1977) explaining how to categorize styles: Categorizing Styles HTH

BTW, the program Matadors and a Princess is referring to is Add-O-Matic and as she mentioned, it will install the styles and create the xml files.

Theresa,
I had sent an email to Barb regarding her older post that you linked above. She is a bit busy but said she couldn't say whether it would work using AOM because she doesn't use it. I use AOM to add all my tools and wanted to know if this would still work with (her post is from 2010 with older PSE and Windows versions) PSE9 for not only styles but also for actions. I do see that you already stated above that you can't remember all the steps but I was wondering if you might be able to point me in the right direction or perhaps someone else might be doing this currently and could help me out if you are indeed able to do this. Thanks again for all your help You help me so much and you have no idea how much I appreciate it

[teecee]

misseswojo, on 09 June 2012 - 06:49 PM, said:

teecee, on 06 June 2012 - 04:03 PM, said:

Hi Suzy. I categorized my styles back when I had PSE 7, but since I changed to PSE 9 I haven't done any categorizing, so I can't remember all the steps. Here is an older post by Barbara (BarbaraC1977) explaining how to categorize styles: Categorizing Styles HTH

BTW, the program Matadors and a Princess is referring to is Add-O-Matic and as she mentioned, it will install the styles and create the xml files.

Theresa,
I had sent an email to Barb regarding her older post that you linked above. She is a bit busy but said she couldn't say whether it would work using AOM because she doesn't use it. I use AOM to add all my tools and wanted to know if this would still work with (her post is from 2010 with older PSE and Windows versions) PSE9 for not only styles but also for actions. I do see that you already stated above that you can't remember all the steps but I was wondering if you might be able to point me in the right direction or perhaps someone else might be doing this currently and could help me out if you are indeed able to do this. Thanks again for all your help You help me so much and you have no idea how much I appreciate it

Hmmmm, I'm not sure what to tell you Patty. When I categorized my styles a long time ago, I was using PSE 7 on Windows XP. I haven't tried with PSE 9 on Windows 7 which is what I use now. I do know that when you install your styles with AOM, AOM creates the xml files that are needed to create the categories. If you've installed styles with AOM in Windows 7 and go to C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\9.0\Photo Creations\layer styles (which is the same path you would use if you were installing styles manually) you will be able to see that the xml files are there along with the asl files. That's about all I know for sure now. Sorry I can't be more helpful than that. Maybe someone else will come along with more information for you.

Edit: I don't know if this will be any help, but I did a little research and here's the link to another older thread about categorizing styles.
Organizing Styles In Pse 7

This post has been edited by teecee: 09 June 2012 - 08:19 PM