ACDSee Pro 8 and ACDSee 18 announced. Published Sep 25, 2014| dpreview staff. The Mac version is absolute buggy bag of cr@p. And that has been an issue since the day the Mac version of ACDSee came out (based on research I have done). I've lost faith in the company. Western Digital releases MyPassport Go SSD portable storage. Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer will return as head coach next season. NFL Network reported Monday, Dec. 31, that Zimmer. Sports/football6 hours.
To tag or not to tag? It’s an age-old question with digi-scrappers on both sides of the fence. I’ve keyworded/tagged my digi supplies from day 1. Maybe it’s the logical accountant in me OR it could be the “I know I’m going to collect so much of this pretty stuff that I’ll never be able to find anything if I don’t”. At the very beginning I tried Photoshop Elements Organizer and Picasa but neither one was able to keep up with the level of detail at the time so I explored other options. I’ve been using various versions of ACDSee for about six years. The screen shots shown below are using ACDSee Pro 6. I tag just about everything but that is MY process, the way I work. I do think that looking at other people’s processes helps us to fine tune our own. I know a number of scrappers, including several of the other Scrapaneers Peers, that tag only the previews and that works perfectly for their process. Why add more time organizing to an already limited amount of scrapping time? Before you consider organizing your stash, take some time to figure out HOW you look for things when you scrap. If you tend to scrap within a particular kit or strictly by designer, tailor any organizing you do to match YOUR way, not anyone else’s.
ACDSee – Folders Window
The tagging only affects files when viewed inside the ACDSee program (though ACDSee will write to the files metadata, the tags are not easily read by other programs). When you open ACDSee, you see your computer’s folder structure mirrored in the Folders window on the left hand side. I “file” my digi supplies after I’ve used them once in my main folder named Supplies, in sub-folders by the main stores where I shop, with designer sub-folders inside them. I keep the newly acquired items in a folder named Downloads that is only subdivided by store until they have been used and tagged.
ACDSee – Categories Window
Once you add tags and keywords you can see them in bold on the right hand side of your screen. ACDSee allows you to add main categories and multiple levels of subcategories. The next set of screenshots show the right hand side or Categories window. I adore templates so I tend to collect a LOT of them. I tag templates by size and number of photo spots.
Holy Moly – More Categories ?!?
I have main categories for Color, Elements, Papers, Projects, Stores, Subjects and Various. The color sub categories are pretty self-explanatory. My Element section is fairly detailed with multiple sub-categories.
Papers also has several sub-categories. Using a patterned paper is an easy way to tie in multiple colors from a layout to make it more cohesive. It also allows you to bring in more supporting colors for element choices.
Projects has four different subcategories that I use to gather and tag materials for a particular layout or pocket scrapping spread. Once completed, I just remove the tag from those items and then re-use the tag again.
Tag by Digi Store and by Theme
I use the Stores sub-categories to more easily search by store to meet creative team or site challenge requirements. Subjects is my way to tag either specific items or just previews by a theme instead of tagging the individual elements in the kit. So in a Christmas kit, I might tag only the preview or tag the Christmas trees and angels. In that same kit, I might tag the buttons, ribbons and papers according to embellishment type in the upper sections if they aren’t too overly themed. I also tend to tag word art by theme to make it easier to find later. Of course, that could be because I collect a LOT of it, too!
After I’d been scrapping for a while, it seemed like there were special projects that came up such that I created a few more broad categories like art journaling, OLW or December/Holiday album. I first had only a main category for Project Life/pocket scrapping but have since divided it into these sub-categories to make it easier to find specific sizes.
The types of word art that I have in the PL Word Art category includes days of the week, us, you, I, family, etc. any type of word art that I think might work. I also tend to use buttons, ribbons, stitching and flowers in my pocket scrapping. Often, I choose to select those by color.
But WHY do I do it?
The nicest part about ACDSee is that you can narrow down your choices using multiple categories. So I can choose Buttons and Red by toggling on those arrows on the left hand side (notice the little blue arrows to the left of “red” and “buttons”) and see only the red buttons in my stash if I’ve chosen to tag them that way.
I know that I tag in a much more detailed manner than most others out there. I’ve found that it works for me. I scrap with ACDSee open along with Photoshop. I might start a layout with photos, papers and a few elements from a kit that catch my eye. I’ll continue to add items from that kit but at some point I will start looking for the extra little bits to make it feel complete. Flowers, buttons and brads add color, tags add spots for MORE words, ribbons add texture, stitching adds emphasis and depth, word art reinforces or adds story. I use ACDSee to do that search work for me. I get out of it what I put into it. {I am completely aware that a lot of people probably think I’m nuts right now after reading this.} Note: If you choose to use ACDSee make sure you backup your catalog on a regular basis. I was able to recover all my tags from a hard drive crash because I’m careful to do that often. Also, ACDSee is very picky about moving files. To retain any tags that you’ve created, you must move folders FROM WITHIN the ACDSee program. So, you can’t move folders using Windows Explorer or the Mac equivalent, you MUST move them inside ACDSee or all your hard work could be lost.
Never feel like you have to organize your supplies just because other people are talking about their own systems. Do it because it works for you, saves you time, improves your workflow so that you can get more of your stories told.