Sorting Kits?

[mom2triplets04]

I don't know where I am supposed to post this. When you download a kit from the store how do you sort and find things?

Like do you make a folder for each designer and then put it under that designer? or do you just make a folder with the name of the kit? Do you then make sub folders like paper embellishments wordart?

I'm having a problem finding things on my computer like I search for paper but it looks up all the paper on my computer not just oscraps even though I did go into the oscraps folder. Luckily I'm just starting out here with a new computer so my old stuff doesn't come up.

The 12 days of christmas kit for example. I have a lot of folders now. Did you put all papers together or keep it like day 1 day 2? What is the best way to find things?

 

[tanteva]

First of all, I have an external harddrive to store my scrapping supplies. LOL - ADDICTION!

I have ADHD and organization is not my speciality. I have a file for each store, then sorted in files under that by designer. When I have lots of stuff from one designer, I sort those in files by item, e.g. kits, templates, alphas and so on.

Probably not the best way to do it ... whenever I need something special, let's say a red button, I have to look through it all to find a red button. On the other hand, I rarely make layouts from more than one kit at a time.

I know some use ACDSee, and I'm sure someone will tell you more about it, but I feel it's too much work.

 

[mom2triplets04]

First of all, I have an external harddrive to store my scrapping supplies. LOL - ADDICTION!

I have ADHD and organization is not my speciality. I have a file for each store, then sorted in files under that by designer. When I have lots of stuff from one designer, I sort those in files by item, e.g. kits, templates, alphas and so on.

Probably not the best way to do it ... whenever I need something special, let's say a red button, I have to look through it all to find a red button. On the other hand, I rarely make layouts from more than one kit at a time.

I know some use ACDSee, and I'm sure someone will tell you more about it, but I feel it's too much work.

I probably have ADHD too but was never diagnosed. I can't focus for very long on anything. But I need to make it easier to find things or I will get fed up and not want to scrap. I have a ton of stuff from the past but can't use it as it's old. Just trying to get the stuff I just recently bought in some type of usable order.

 

[Madi]

yes, i do that too, store folder - designer folder - kit folder.
for the daily downloads i just use on folder, i delete all the separate days, it shows easily enough what is a paper or a button?
the only thing that stays in a separate folder are the alphas.

 

[mom2triplets04]

yes, i do that too, store folder - designer folder - kit folder.
for the daily downloads i just use on folder, i delete all the separate days, it shows easily enough what is a paper or a button?
the only thing that stays in a separate folder are the alphas.

Do you keep a list as well like on paper? Sometimes I forget which designer did what. I need to go back and create designer folders. I also need to make the 12 folders into one to make it easier to see the whole kit for 12 days of christmas. Now, I think I also need to make a list because finding the links in store to credit needs to be easier for me as well.

 

[mom2triplets04]

Wow this took all morning. I'm not liking how hard it is to move files on a mac. I am going from pc to mac and it's just so not the same. I had to copy and option command v to get it to the folders. very frustrating. and I can't see all the images at once like my pc. scroll and see things one at a time.

 

[bcgal00]

store - designer - kit name
I use acdsee but not their tagging system. I had it fail a few times so don't bother anymore. What I do like about it is the great viewer to see products and then drag them up into my LO. I tried using bridge years ago and prefer acdsee. So I still have to search around for specific products as I don't tag but I can quickly look thru a kit after I see the preview on acdsee.

 

[BrightEyes]

Because I am personal CT for some designers, and CT for a couple of forum, I make folders with Designer Name - Kit Name. Some of the designers sell at more than 1 shop so using a Shop name first wouldn't work. For special things like the 12 days of Christmas - Home for the Holidays- I label it 'OScraps - HomeForHolidays" and put all the of them in that folder. I don't try to separate them any further. And I don't tag things.... as I have too many kits/collections. One thing that helps is that when I do make a LO with a kit/collection, I store the PSD file and the jpeg of it so it is visible along with the folder names. I also name the PSD/LO with the kit/designer name.

 

[Cherylndesigns]

I keep it simple. Store/Designer, alphabetically.

Kits that I don't use all year, like Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, etc. are all stored on an EHD. They're "Holiday/Store/Designer" and are easy for me to pull up when I need them. I send them to my Documents temporarily and when the holiday is over, like Christmas, I send them back to the EHD and get them out of my Documents.

I keep older kits or kits that I don't use very often on an EHD, too.

 

[Jam-on-toast]

The msot important thing to remember when creating a system is that it should be YOUR system and it should make sense in YOUR head, so whatever works...

I have STORE folders - this makes it easy to know which kits I can use when scrapping for a challenge....
in store folders I just have the name of the KIT - and in that alpha/elements/papers

if I have multiple kits from one designer or one theme I would sometimes group them into a separate folder - still under the main STORE umbrella...

so it's one of these...

STORE - KIT - ELEMENTS/PAPERS

STORE - DESIGNER - KIT - ELEMENTS

STORE - THEME - KIT - ELEMENTS...

Although I am something of an organizing freak - I have all my photos organized into folders by month/trips during that month etc... - I don't ever tag the kits - individual items usually have the name of the designer included so I just do a quick search if I need to find products by a particular designer, and I rarely use more than one or two kits for my layouts. And as it's MY system - I it makes sense to me so I know where everything is.

Since I joined CTs - I created individual CT folders for each of the designers I create for - and I actually know which stores they sell at - lol - so no confusion there and no need for any additional grouping - once I'm done with a kit - I move it to STORE folder and that's it.

I have a pretty good idea of what I have - or at least an inkling that I have 'something like this' and then it's a matter of 10 min to find what I'm looking for. Or if not - I end up discovering something I've forgotten about and it's a nice surprise.

 

[tjscraps]

My filing system is very different than most digiscrappers ... I used to do the store-designer-kit idea, but I could never find anything and forgot what I had. I've done it all, including keeping copies of previews in a separate folder for browsing, but I spent more time looking for stuff and organizing than I did scrapping.

So now I file by theme.


I still keep kits together and label them Kit name - Designer name, and I have a Mac so I can tag them with a certain colour (which I do, for the store - each store I buy from has it's own label/colour, for example Oscraps is blue - the blue dots you see in this screenshot show that). Also because I have a Mac I take the preview and make that the icon you can see when browsing through my stash:


I find that I use my stash a lot more this way. When I've used a product I add "z- " in front of it so that it naturally goes to the bottom of my folder - out of sight, out of mind. When I'm not doing CT work I make my family pick a number, and I count down to that folder (i.e. #5, then however many are in there they pick another number), and I use that kit. I can always find something to scrap about with CT stuff, so I figure if I can't find something to scrap with that particular kit, I delete it.

I also file my templates by number of photo spots. I looooooove templates, and I have hundreds of them. I name them with the name of the template pack - designer name, and then add 1,2,3,4 at the end (I use the rename function to do this quickly), and then I split the packs up and put them in folders with the number of photos. I also do the tagging for the store like above.


Sorry for the long post ... apparently I have a lot to say on this subject lol

 

[tjscraps]

Oh, and for the download a Day ones I keep them together as if it was a kit. I'm mainly a one-kit scrapper, so I like to keep them together when they coordinate.

 

[Madi]

Do you keep a list as well like on paper? Sometimes I forget which designer did what. I need to go back and create designer folders. I also need to make the 12 folders into one to make it easier to see the whole kit for 12 days of christmas. Now, I think I also need to make a list because finding the links in store to credit needs to be easier for me as well.

i have nothing on paper.
if i can not find it on my computer i will use the search function of the shop!

 

[Madi]

Wow this took all morning. I'm not liking how hard it is to move files on a mac. I am going from pc to mac and it's just so not the same. I had to copy and option command v to get it to the folders. very frustrating. and I can't see all the images at once like my pc. scroll and see things one at a time.

i know nothing of mac but already spotted another mac user here with great tips!

 

[zanthia]

i do store folder - designer folder - kit folder. the only problem is when a designer is at more than one store as i do lots of ct like kay above. for those designeir really need to make a list of kits i have but that is jsut too much typing

long ago thought about doing keywords for kit previews but have way too many kits to do that.

 

[marijke]

I keep it simple
store name - designer - kit name.
As tjscraps I want to see the preview in finder ...
I use bridge fo find what I need ...

 

[scribler]

Up until a year ago, I had been a Mac person since 2011. I loved my Mac. Alas, a new one with the specs I wanted was not in my budget, so I am back on Windows. I still miss my Mac.

I loved the tagging system on the Mac. I tagged by store and I also used a set of basic tags. I didn't tag every item but I would tag the folders for products I loved to use all the time like paint, gesso, brushes, etc. I also tagged themes and stores. I so miss that system now that I am back on Windows.

For moving things around, I recommend making use of the tab option in File Explorer. It is so easy to drag from one folder to another when you have both folders open in different tabs. (I hate having multiple windows open in Windows.)

The one thing I missed when I moved to the Mac was the image previews that Windows puts on it's folders. But there is way to get the same effect on the Mac. I would just replace the file folder image with the kit/element preview. Here are instructions on how to do it.

Change icons for files or folders on Mac

In the Finder on your Mac, change the icon for any file or folder using your own pictures, icons from the web, or icons from another file or folder.

support.apple.com

If you have other questions, I"d be glad to help you with them.

 

[Vicki Robinson]

Wow this took all morning. I'm not liking how hard it is to move files on a mac. I am going from pc to mac and it's just so not the same. I had to copy and option command v to get it to the folders. very frustrating. and I can't see all the images at once like my pc. scroll and see things one at a time.

Hmmmm ... I'm not quite understanding, can you say more about what you are trying to do? You can definitely see all images in a folder at once. And when you say "I had to copy and option command v to get it to the folders" what specifically are you referring to?

 

[mom2triplets04]

My filing system is very different than most digiscrappers ... I used to do the store-designer-kit idea, but I could never find anything and forgot what I had. I've done it all, including keeping copies of previews in a separate folder for browsing, but I spent more time looking for stuff and organizing than I did scrapping.

So now I file by theme.
View attachment 362964

I still keep kits together and label them Kit name - Designer name, and I have a Mac so I can tag them with a certain colour (which I do, for the store - each store I buy from has it's own label/colour, for example Oscraps is blue - the blue dots you see in this screenshot show that). Also because I have a Mac I take the preview and make that the icon you can see when browsing through my stash:
View attachment 362963

I find that I use my stash a lot more this way. When I've used a product I add "z- " in front of it so that it naturally goes to the bottom of my folder - out of sight, out of mind. When I'm not doing CT work I make my family pick a number, and I count down to that folder (i.e. #5, then however many are in there they pick another number), and I use that kit. I can always find something to scrap about with CT stuff, so I figure if I can't find something to scrap with that particular kit, I delete it.

I also file my templates by number of photo spots. I looooooove templates, and I have hundreds of them. I name them with the name of the template pack - designer name, and then add 1,2,3,4 at the end (I use the rename function to do this quickly), and then I split the packs up and put them in folders with the number of photos. I also do the tagging for the store like above.
View attachment 362965

Sorry for the long post ... apparently I have a lot to say on this subject lol

yes I am using a mac. How do you tag the kits and have the screen shot of the whole page like you did above? This is how I did it on a PC but mac is different? Is there a tutorial you recommend I watch to do this. Thanks.

 

[mom2triplets04]

Hmmmm ... I'm not quite understanding, can you say more about what you are trying to do? You can definitely see all images in a folder at once. And when you say "I had to copy and option command v to get it to the folders" what specifically are you referring to?

On a PC I could see all the images on one screen like she showed above. On my Mac I see only one image at a time and have to scroll down to see everything. The images are like on top of each other and only way to see everything is to scroll down. And I was having trouble moving items from one folder to the next. The only way I could find to do it was copy and replace.

 

[scribler]

yes I am using a mac. How do you tag the kits and have the screen shot of the whole page like you did above? This is how I did it on a PC but mac is different? Is there a tutorial you recommend I watch to do this. Thanks.

It sounds like you have either your icons really big or the grid spacing is large enough that it is causing only one image to show at a time. Here are instructions on changing the icon view in Finder on the Mac.

Change view options in the Finder on Mac

In the Finder on your Mac, change options such as label text, icon or thumbnail sizes, and more for each view—Icon, List, Column, and Gallery.

support.apple.com

And here is information on Tagging Files.

Use tags to organise files on Mac

In the Finder on your Mac, tag files and folders with colour or text to make them easier to find, group and sort.

support.apple.com

 

[Vicki Robinson]

On a PC I could see all the images on one screen like she showed above. On my Mac I see only one image at a time and have to scroll down to see everything. The images are like on top of each other and only way to see everything is to scroll down. And I was having trouble moving items from one folder to the next. The only way I could find to do it was copy and replace.

I recorded a short video - does this help? Also see the post above for how adust the view options in Finder.

 

[mom2triplets04]

It sounds like you have either your icons really big or the grid spacing is large enough that it is causing only one image to show at a time. Here are instructions on changing the icon view in Finder on the Mac.

Change view options in the Finder on Mac

In the Finder on your Mac, change options such as label text, icon or thumbnail sizes, and more for each view—Icon, List, Column, and Gallery.

support.apple.com

And here is information on Tagging Files.

Use tags to organise files on Mac

In the Finder on your Mac, tag files and folders with colour or text to make them easier to find, group and sort.

support.apple.com

thank you this helped. I think I need a mouse because this laptop it's hard to select and drag and drop into folders.

 

[Vicki Robinson]

thank you this helped. I think I need a mouse because this laptop it's hard to select and drag and drop into folders.

Agreed - a found the trackpad really hard to use.

 

[mom2triplets04]

Ok, I'm trying to follow your video above but when I copy command c and paste commnd v I am getting this instead of an image. Do the images have to be named something? Like in PC it was FOLDER and it made the image appear?

 

[mom2triplets04]

and another thing I don't see on my computer is that scroll thing on bottom right of the screen that you mentioned in your video. I have a new macbook air which I just got this year. Thank you so much for showing me the top view thing. I didn't know about that as I was using the little buttons on the folder box.

 

[Vicki Robinson]

Ok, I'm trying to follow your video above but when I copy command c and paste commnd v I am getting this instead of an image. Do the images have to be named something? Like in PC it was FOLDER and it made the image appear?

No ... they don't need to be named anything in particular. The file you are copying should be a jpg file. Can you take a screenshot of the image you are trying to copy? But first, in the Finder Menu Bar, click Finder>Preferences and make sure the top box "Show all filename extensions" is checked.

For the bottom scroll bar to show, in the Finder Menu, choose View and then Show Status Bar

 

[VickiStegall]

My filing system is very different than most digiscrappers ... I used to do the store-designer-kit idea, but I could never find anything and forgot what I had. I've done it all, including keeping copies of previews in a separate folder for browsing, but I spent more time looking for stuff and organizing than I did scrapping.

So now I file by theme.
View attachment 362964

I still keep kits together and label them Kit name - Designer name, and I have a Mac so I can tag them with a certain colour (which I do, for the store - each store I buy from has it's own label/colour, for example Oscraps is blue - the blue dots you see in this screenshot show that). Also because I have a Mac I take the preview and make that the icon you can see when browsing through my stash:
View attachment 362963

I find that I use my stash a lot more this way. When I've used a product I add "z- " in front of it so that it naturally goes to the bottom of my folder - out of sight, out of mind. When I'm not doing CT work I make my family pick a number, and I count down to that folder (i.e. #5, then however many are in there they pick another number), and I use that kit. I can always find something to scrap about with CT stuff, so I figure if I can't find something to scrap with that particular kit, I delete it.

I also file my templates by number of photo spots. I looooooove templates, and I have hundreds of them. I name them with the name of the template pack - designer name, and then add 1,2,3,4 at the end (I use the rename function to do this quickly), and then I split the packs up and put them in folders with the number of photos. I also do the tagging for the store like above.
View attachment 362965

Sorry for the long post ... apparently I have a lot to say on this subject lol

this seems like a brilliant idea!

 

[mom2triplets04]

Found the scroll thing. Thanks. I also was able to drag and drop to get my images into folders. But still having problems getting the image to go onto the folder. Tried even naming my image folder.jpg still doesn't work. I tried to video to show you but it won't let me upload here. Says file is too big.

 

[mom2triplets04]

I recorded a short video - does this help? Also see the post above for how adust the view options in Finder.

that was very helpful. I learned a lot. Most of it was because my settings were not right.