Digi file organization

[jfugina]

I know this topic comes up every so often, but I think it's been a while, so I'll pose it again.

I am re-thinking my digi file organization - categories and sub-categories and tags. I have PSE 7, which came with the Organizer. I know a lot of people use Adobe Bridge and love it, but given that I'm not willing to buy into the CS suite (Since PSE came with my laptop and it suits me), I was wondering if anyone had experience with anything else. I'm considering buying ACDSee. I downloaded a trial, and it seems easy enough to use. Just with the few minutes I spent with the trial, it already looks like it does a better job than the Organizer.

Here's the real issue - my catalog is just starting to become cumbersome, and I'm thinking about burning a bunch of stuff on to DVDs, and I'm wondering if *any* organizer is going to be able to catalog stuff properly on removable media. Does anyone have any experience with that?

My last question is, how do you categorize stuff overall? I've been assigning tags based on Vendor and kit, and then once they're tagged that way, I then apply tags based on what type of element it is - paper, fiber, tag, button, etc. But even most of the embellishments just get tagged with "Embellishment" because there are just way too many possibilities and tagging each kit would take forever. I also tag quick pages and templates separately.

Sorry for the long post - I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth it to start over. I'm getting to the point where, even with everything tagged, I have a hard time finding stuff.

[pbp908]

I have Bridge, and even with being able to click on the file and view everything in it I still seem to spend a lot of time looking. Yep, I know all about assigning descriptors and looking that way, but it's still cumbersome. I think our problem is that we "must have more stuff" and just collect. I'm kinda sorta at the point where I'm going to make a contact sheet for each folder and put them in a notebook.

[LadyJaine]

I use Bridge, but I don't use a lot of tags. My system is more directory and file name dependent than it is application dependent. First off, I burn backup DVDs of the ZIPPED files.

Each unzipped kit is sorted into a directory called Kit Name, with three subs. Alpha, Elements and Paper. The previews go 'loose' into Kit Name. Once everything is sorted and the names are right (I do a lot of renaming) I tag everything with designer name and kit name. The previews are also tagged preview. That's it for tagging. I depend on the Preview and on the way I name my directories and files to find what I want.

I split kits up. My top level directories are named Alpha, Preview, Quick Pages and Kits.

Inside Preview, you find loose files named Kit Name or Kit Name Paper. There are also folders for Alpha and Quick Pages. They contain loose preview files named Kit Name Alpha or Kit Name Quick Page.

Inside Alpha, you'll find Kit Name Alpha folders. No loose files.
Inside Quick Page, you find folders that are labeled Kit Name QP. No loose files.
Inside Kits, you find folders for each designer, by name. Inside Designer Name you'll find the Kit Name folders that I created earlier, before I split up the kits.

Instead of Designer Name, you might want to use Store Name, or Kit Club Name. You could use type of kit, Disney, Baby, Wedding... It doesn't really matter. The goal is to keep from having a horribly long list to have to scroll through. I don't buy from a lot of different designers, so Designer Name works for me.

For removable media, I'd just put another folder into Preview and call it DVDs or something like that. The previews would be renamed to Kit Name DVD name or something like that. But that would be the only change I'd need to make to my system for removable media...

[bethrich]

Like you, Julie, my collecting is leaving me a bit overwhelmed. For the kits I acquire each month I make a sample LO. Then I create a CD label that features parts of the kit and also the sample LO as a small element. I put the CD label jpg and PSD in the top level of the kit folder before I burn (and label) the CD and move the kit off to my external drive. I also make sure the thumbnails are up to date and on the CD. So I have a quick visual reminder at hand of the colors and theme of the kit by just clicking into the kit. I guess this is sort of like Jean's preview method.

When I buy a bunch of kits at once, this system breaks down because I don't make samples. Maybe that's part of my solution.

I also don't have an easy way to find ordinary elements in any of the kits. If I want a staple it takes me a while to find one. I have not started tagging, especially since I keep the kits externally.

But maybe my answer to that is to "remix" the ordinary elements into some additional folders like brads, staples, etc. I'll have to ponder on that.

Thanks for the thread, Julie. It's not an easy question.

[jfugina]

Thanks for the thread, Julie. It's not an easy question.

That's exactly what I was afraid of. I remember you talking about making CD labels, but I only do my organizing thing every other month or so, and by that time I've got about 10 kits and several hundred miscellaneous freebies to deal with. I'm not worried about getting anything on CD for backup purposes, because I store everything on backed up redundant network drives. The issue is taking it with me. The stuff is safe, but it's tied to home. I can burn to CD, but then I'm looking through stuff without tags.

It looks like ACDSee is about $50. I was looking at the trial at work, which is way fast. I think I'm going to try it at home and see what it looks like against the network. If even that is an improvement over organizer, I'm going to buy it. Then I'll see what kind of scheme I can figure out for the off-line stuff. Bridge sounds ideal, but it seems somewhat tied to the photoshop CS family. If it works well, you'll be sure to reading my rave reviews.