My Filing System

[DrGranma]

How do you keep all the credit info with each piece? So many don't include with each element of the kit? Great set of keywords!!

DrGranma

[crush4dolphins]

[quote name='Michael' post='87099' date='Jan 21 2007, 09:38 AM'][quote name='sailbeachcatz177' post='87082' date='Jan 21 2007, 08:32 AM']
Great suggestion Jo, I guess I am a bit muzzy headed this am (no coffee yet). How do you make the shortcuts though? LOL

See, silly and I am quite computer literate![/quote]


While, viewing all the files in a folder, click on the first file in the folder, then hold shift and click on the last file. That will select them all. You can also go to Edit-->Select all or use Ctrl+A. Then right click on any selected file and choose Create Shortcut. This will create shortcuts to all the files. The shortcuts will be placed in the same folder in which you are currently working. You can distinguish them from the actual files because they will be named Shortcut to... and will have the little shortcut arrow in the corner. Then you just need to drag the shortcuts into the category folders where they belong. I work in Windows Explorer view when I do this so that I can see my my contents in the right pane and the tree of all my category folders in the left pane.

I hope I was clear enough in this explanation. If you want any screen shots, let me know.
[/quote]

Ok I think I got this part. My question is do you just use windows to scrap with and keep organized or do you also use another program? If you use another do you drag the shortcuts to that program? This is where I'm a little fuzzy. TIA

[MichaelsMomJo]

[quote name='crush4dolphins' post='102597' date='Feb 24 2007, 10:10 AM'][quote name='Michael' post='87099' date='Jan 21 2007, 09:38 AM'][quote name='sailbeachcatz177' post='87082' date='Jan 21 2007, 08:32 AM']
Great suggestion Jo, I guess I am a bit muzzy headed this am (no coffee yet). How do you make the shortcuts though? LOL

See, silly and I am quite computer literate![/quote]


While, viewing all the files in a folder, click on the first file in the folder, then hold shift and click on the last file. That will select them all. You can also go to Edit-->Select all or use Ctrl+A. Then right click on any selected file and choose Create Shortcut. This will create shortcuts to all the files. The shortcuts will be placed in the same folder in which you are currently working. You can distinguish them from the actual files because they will be named Shortcut to... and will have the little shortcut arrow in the corner. Then you just need to drag the shortcuts into the category folders where they belong. I work in Windows Explorer view when I do this so that I can see my my contents in the right pane and the tree of all my category folders in the left pane.

I hope I was clear enough in this explanation. If you want any screen shots, let me know.
[/quote]

Ok I think I got this part. My question is do you just use windows to scrap with and keep organized or do you also use another program? If you use another do you drag the shortcuts to that program? This is where I'm a little fuzzy. TIA
[/quote]

I don't use any other programs. I tried Digital Scraproom, but found it to be a pain in the neck to set up because of the steps involved if I wanted an item in two or more categories. I also tried ACDSee, but I see no advantages to it. I don't want to have to start keyword tagging all of my items. That would take me forever! I really like my little system, so that's all I use. I drag the shortcut from my Windows window right onto my Photoshop desktop, and the image opens.

[MichaelsMomJo]

[quote name='DrGranma' post='102572' date='Feb 24 2007, 08:42 AM']How do you keep all the credit info with each piece? So many don't include with each element of the kit? Great set of keywords!!

DrGranma[/quote]

All Scrapgirls pieces are tagged with designer and kit info. Most of what I've purchased from other sources is also named in a way that I can tell you who the designer is and what the kit name is. The few things I've gotten that weren't named in a helpful way, I simply renamed. It was a little tedious, but not too bad. I don't have a tremendous amount that isn't Scrapgirls, so that helps!

[crush4dolphins]

[quote name='Michael' post='102640' date='Feb 24 2007, 01:32 PM'][quote name='crush4dolphins' post='102597' date='Feb 24 2007, 10:10 AM'][quote name='Michael' post='87099' date='Jan 21 2007, 09:38 AM'][quote name='sailbeachcatz177' post='87082' date='Jan 21 2007, 08:32 AM']
Great suggestion Jo, I guess I am a bit muzzy headed this am (no coffee yet). How do you make the shortcuts though? LOL

See, silly and I am quite computer literate![/quote]


While, viewing all the files in a folder, click on the first file in the folder, then hold shift and click on the last file. That will select them all. You can also go to Edit-->Select all or use Ctrl+A. Then right click on any selected file and choose Create Shortcut. This will create shortcuts to all the files. The shortcuts will be placed in the same folder in which you are currently working. You can distinguish them from the actual files because they will be named Shortcut to... and will have the little shortcut arrow in the corner. Then you just need to drag the shortcuts into the category folders where they belong. I work in Windows Explorer view when I do this so that I can see my my contents in the right pane and the tree of all my category folders in the left pane.

I hope I was clear enough in this explanation. If you want any screen shots, let me know.
[/quote]

Ok I think I got this part. My question is do you just use windows to scrap with and keep organized or do you also use another program? If you use another do you drag the shortcuts to that program? This is where I'm a little fuzzy. TIA
[/quote]

I don't use any other programs. I tried Digital Scraproom, but found it to be a pain in the neck to set up because of the steps involved if I wanted an item in two or more categories. I also tried ACDSee, but I see no advantages to it. I don't want to have to start keyword tagging all of my items. That would take me forever! I really like my little system, so that's all I use. I drag the shortcut from my Windows window right onto my Photoshop desktop, and the image opens.
[/quote]

Thanks this is what I was doing before and thinking of just sticking with windows instead of making more work for myself. I really like your shortcuts idea, that way I'm not using all that memory copying. Thanks for the great tip. Now I can stop trying to figure out which program to use and just start scrapping again! Yeah!

[Guest moondancer]

Very old topic...seems I'm finding the ones that for some reason I never saw! Thanks so much for the valuable info! You rock!

[MaryJo]

Hi Jo,
I hope you don't mind , I wanted to print off your plan and ideas for my folders. It makes it easier for me to have it on paper to follow. If you don't want me to print it ,just say so, its no problem... I just wanted to check with you first... MJ

[MaryJo]

I love it , what a beautiful job. The colors and the shading is beautiful! Very nicely done.. MJ

[floss]

Don't you just know it I get all finished organising and then there is something I can add- shortcuts.
So back into the "cupboard" I go.Great idea

[alg35536]

That is an awesome list. I had Ro's initial list, added some of my own. I now have even more ideas for tagging.

[bthornton17]

I just had this thread posted in my question. Thanks for sharing your idea. It is a great list and very user friendly especially if you are really into organizaiton like I am. Sometimes I think I over organize. But oh well.

At least this opens all the different ways to find stuff. Even if you forget where you put it, you can find it somewhere. LOL - that is usually my problem.

Bethany

[mccartyfive]

Hi there,
please forgive me for this silly question as I am a newbie to this!
When you talk about making shortcuts from the original folders,which original folders do you mean? Are you talking about the zipped folders that go into the downloads section on your computer, or do
you take those, unzip them and create new folders first? I understand the shortcut part,
but not where to start from!
Thanks in advance for your help!
Lisa in CA

[scrappinchar]

Oh boy. I guess one day I'll try to organize my kits.

I only use Windows to store them, so that method described about the shortcuts
should work for me. I know PSE has it's organizer...but I just don't like using it.
I'm used to Windows.

Now, to figure out how to save this thread to refer to later.

[Laurie in PA]

After this thread showed up a couple of weeks ago, I reorganised everything
using the shortcuts and putting the collections back together. I love how I can
see everything, before I everything organised by collection.

I'm not quite sure what do do with my templates and AYO stuff. Do you create
shortcuts for them also?

[AngRoCamp]

Jo I think this is brilliant. I saw this a few months ago and vowed that someday I'd do it. Today I went searching for this post again so I had your mini tutorial on how to do it. I have so many kits now, and I've stepped out of my comfort zone recently and have started really combining things from lots of collections, so I needed a way to easily search for the "perfect paper" or the "perfect brad" without having to look through each and every collection. BUT I really like having my collections still in tact because sometimes when I want a quick layout with already coordinated components I like to just use what's already in a collection. This is a GREAT way to be able to scrap either way. Thanks for sharing your idea and method

[brattylatina]

Wow! I just started downloading freebies (kits, etc) and save them as individual kits. Of course its so hard because then I don't remember what they look like after.

Im just afraid if I separate them, I won't know what kit goes with what? Right now everything is on my laptop and I know I should back up somewhere...just have to figure it all out.

[brattylatina]

[quote name='scrappinchar' post='326266' date='Jan 31 2008, 06:24 AM']Oh boy. I guess one day I'll try to organize my kits.

I only use Windows to store them, so that method described about the shortcuts
should work for me. I know PSE has it's organizer...but I just don't like using it.
I'm used to Windows.

Now, to figure out how to save this thread to refer to later.[/quote]

I put everything in Windows Photo Gallery just to see how it was. I don't know where I'm gonna leave stuff.

[AngRoCamp]

[quote name='brattylatina' post='354156' date='Mar 2 2008, 12:52 PM']Wow! I just started downloading freebies (kits, etc) and save them as individual kits. Of course its so hard because then I don't remember what they look like after.

Im just afraid if I separate them, I won't know what kit goes with what? Right now everything is on my laptop and I know I should back up somewhere...just have to figure it all out.[/quote]

The nice thing about ScrapGirls products is there's a formula for the way each item is titled. So when you open a button from such-and-such collection, you'll know the designer and what collection it came from, just by the product file name. For example, a product title would be something like this AMC_LoveNotes_Emb_Bow_Pink. From the product title you can decipher that the designer is Amanda McGee (That's what AMC stands for) and the collection is Love Notes, the product is an embellishment (Emb) and it happens to be a pink bow The designers' names are all listed in the boutique, and for the most part all of the SG products start with three letters which are the designers' first letter of their first name and first 2 letters of their last name. You'll totally get the hang of the SG product naming system after a bit of use (Sadly not all other companies are so kind and uniform when it comes to their products, but at least you can easily keep track of your SG stuff!)

[Guest AlanaC]

I also just finished re-organizing using this shortcut method, and I am very happy with it. I hated splitting up the kits. They are kits for a reason, you know? I also love that I can have items in multiple categories just by creating a second shortcut.

Also - I made sure that each folder contained the contact sheet for the kit, and named it folder.jpg (or gif - whatever). This image shows up as the icon for the folder, but also when I search for "folder", I see the contact sheets for all of the kids I have. It's a quick way to locate a kit when I can't remember the name. Most of the SG products come with contact sheets, but for the ones that don't, I just grab them from the boutique.

Alana

[kimmybutton]

I am so glad this thread surfaced again! I took weeks to organize my supplies like this and I absolutely love everything about it! But...all of the sudden it is not working. Many of my shortcuts do not show (at least the graphic...I only get the shortcut word) and I can't drag any shortcuts onto my CS3 anymore. I get a window that reads:

Problem with Shortcut: The drive or network connection that the shortcut "name of shortcut" refers to is unavailable. Make sure that the disc is properly inserted or the network required is available and then try again.

Does anyone know what this means and how to fix it????

[kimmybutton]

BTT...this posting contest is gonna bury this, i just know

[scrappinchar]

BTT
I don't know what that means, but hopefully someone will.

[kimmybutton]

BTT

[Guest AlanaC]

OK, my suggestion is to have a look at your shortcuts.

Right click on one that is not working, select Properies and look at the Location under the General tab. Then, go make sure your image is still there. (You can copy the location information and paste is into some sort of editor if it is too long to read the whole thing).

Let me know what you find. You can PM me if you want... in case this thread gets buried.

Alana

[kimmybutton]

Thanks, Alana! Just pm'd you!

[kimmybutton]

Although I just pm'd Alana, I decided to post this on the thread in hopes that someone may understand what is going on...figure more heads are better in one...thanks in advance

I followed your instructions. When I right click on the shortcut and choose properties, the window pops up with my shortcut info. There are two tabs...when I choose the General tab, I get an error message. A new window pops up that reads:

Problem With Shortcut: The folder 'F:\_0_ScrapbookSupplies\SG_Refresh_Embellishments1\SG_Refresh_Embellis1_Indiv-Digi' specified in the Start In box is not valid. Make sure that the folder exists and that the path is correct.

The Start In box contains the correct file info on all of the shortcuts--whether they display the item or just show the shortcut icon.

I used the Refresh kit as an example because I have had that on my computer for a long time--meaning I did not just add this. This shortcut does not display the graphic associated with it...just the shortcut icon. Other shortcuts will display a picture of the item (paper, embellishment, etc.), but I still get the same message when I attempt to open the General tab. It's so odd because only certain letters in the alphas of a collection will not display the actual item while the others show the letter. And...as I mentioned in the thread, I am no longer able to drag any of the shortcuts onto my CS3 program. I use to drag the item from my window folder to my CS3 and it would open the original file that the shortcut was linked to.

Could it have anything to do with my ACDSee program? I have that on my program and my computer is opening the shortcuts using this program (I can't remember if it did that before). I wouldn't have changed it to the default program purposely. I have tried to change it to open with Windows, but I'm not having success.

[MaryJo]

This is a great system. I combined Ro's and this one for mine and it is working great ! I think I've been at it for about 6 months now and it is still running smoothly !

[bjc]

[quote name='kimmybutton' post='361671' date='Mar 6 2008, 09:13 AM']Although I just pm'd Alana, I decided to post this on the thread in hopes that someone may understand what is going on...figure more heads are better in one...thanks in advance

I followed your instructions. When I right click on the shortcut and choose properties, the window pops up with my shortcut info. There are two tabs...when I choose the General tab, I get an error message. A new window pops up that reads:

Problem With Shortcut: The folder 'F:\_0_ScrapbookSupplies\SG_Refresh_Embellishments1\SG_Refresh_Embellis1_Indiv-Digi' specified in the Start In box is not valid. Make sure that the folder exists and that the path is correct.

The Start In box contains the correct file info on all of the shortcuts--whether they display the item or just show the shortcut icon.

I used the Refresh kit as an example because I have had that on my computer for a long time--meaning I did not just add this. This shortcut does not display the graphic associated with it...just the shortcut icon. Other shortcuts will display a picture of the item (paper, embellishment, etc.), but I still get the same message when I attempt to open the General tab. It's so odd because only certain letters in the alphas of a collection will not display the actual item while the others show the letter. And...as I mentioned in the thread, I am no longer able to drag any of the shortcuts onto my CS3 program. I use to drag the item from my window folder to my CS3 and it would open the original file that the shortcut was linked to.

Could it have anything to do with my ACDSee program? I have that on my program and my computer is opening the shortcuts using this program (I can't remember if it did that before). I wouldn't have changed it to the default program purposely. I have tried to change it to open with Windows, but I'm not having success.[/quote]


Kimmy,

i have acdsee and that is what i have been using for my organizing.... i have been interested reading about this short cut method and also using bridge.... though i cant figure out the bridge.... wondering why you dont use acdsee??? i find it works fine, just a bit tired of cateloging things..but if i dont let it pile up its ok..... and it seems all the methods have something you have to do.... so i was wondering if you could share why you are using this shortcut method ( of course your having problems didnt help convince me i should switch from acdsee...lol...arent computers our friends and our enemies at the same time...lol) so thanks for any enlightening you can give me.... one thing i do like about acdsee is i can make a quick contact sheet of items and with sg they dont come with a preview page or contact sheet so that is helpful and helpful when i just want to search thru all my products by previewing the contact sheets to see what things i have ....

[kimmybutton]

Bobbie,

I chose the windows shortcut method because of its ease. I had delayed organizing for so long and it was a monumental task...I simply created folders as discussed in the thread, created shortcuts for each item and dragged it into its folder. No need for tagging every item. I now have both folders containing intact kits that I can search through or folders of individual items such as "blue solid papers" or "buttons." I can create more than one shortcut for an item if I wish to file it in more than one folder (e.g. "red multicolored paper" and "worded paper" or "love themed paper") And, I loved that I could have a window with my supplies open and just drag the shortcut icon into my ps cs3 and it would open the original item I wanted. I purchased ACDSee for 2 reasons. 1. I was thinking of using it to organize; and 2., I had inadvertently dumped my dvd software and ACDSee came with a dvd burning program.

I still love this method and would like to "fix" whatever is going wrong with it. It's a cinch to keep up with and I've stayed on top of my organizing ever since I finished the initial organization.

[bjc]

[quote name='kimmybutton' post='361719' date='Mar 6 2008, 09:52 AM']Bobbie,

I chose the windows shortcut method because of its ease. I had delayed organizing for so long and it was a monumental task...I simply created folders as discussed in the thread, created shortcuts for each item and dragged it into its folder. No need for tagging every item. I now have both folders containing intact kits that I can search through or folders of individual items such as "blue solid papers" or "buttons." I can create more than one shortcut for an item if I wish to file it in more than one folder (e.g. "red multicolored paper" and "worded paper" or "love themed paper") And, I loved that I could have a window with my supplies open and just drag the shortcut icon into my ps cs3 and it would open the original item I wanted. I purchased ACDSee for 2 reasons. 1. I was thinking of using it to organize; and 2., I had inadvertently dumped my dvd software and ACDSee came with a dvd burning program.

I still love this method and would like to "fix" whatever is going wrong with it. It's a cinch to keep up with and I've stayed on top of my organizing ever since I finished the initial organization.[/quote]

thanks for explaining...sounds to me and you can tell me if you disagree ...that since i am already organized in the acdsee i would have extra work to change....