Clean Up Organizer - how to start

[givenout]

To any and all Organizer experts -

I've asked a variety of questions regarding Organizer which people have kindly answered. However, I'm hoping if I ask for step-by-step directions on how to solve my problem it might do the trick for me.

I have a mess of pictures with multiple duplicates, etc. I have spent days making tags and organizing and constantly running into problems. I want to safely eliminate the duplicates and get all my photos into one spot for the Organizer. I have photos in my c drive and two EHD's. I discovered that the Organizer relies on getting pics from any one of the 3 hard drives. My goal is to safely remove the duplicates (about a year ago I accidently deleted originals), get the untagged pics tagged and then save it all and then begin doing regular incremental backups.

My plan was to make 2 catalogs: one for my pics and the other for all my scrapbook supplies. I currently have one catalog with everything in it.

I would be delighted to get some advice on how to go about reaching my goal. Although I have been at this for a while I am basically a beginner so explicit instructions work best for me.

Thanks so much -

Stacy

[Patty D]

Hi Stacy-
You've probably already figured his out already but I've got some ideas on how do do this on page 58, check it out!
Patty

[givenout]

Hi Patty -

Well, I am one step ahead of you in that I have been "reconnecting" for some time now and I read page 58 in your book "Digital and Hybrid Scrapbooking" (which for those who do not know, it is worth every penny to get this book).

However, I gave up on my "organizing" project for a while. This happens, I get into it when I have a free day thinking I'll get it solved, don't and then a while goes by again.

I'm pretty frustrated by it all and decided I have to consult with someone or something because I cannot seem to write clearly what I've done and what I need. I don't know when I'll be able to afford to consult with someone though so in the meantime I hope I don't continue to make a greater mess.

Thanks and
Happy Holidays,

Stacy

[Marcie]

Hey Stacey,

I think if it was me, I'd backup everything as is now prior to doing anything. That way you'd have something to go back to. As far as your duplicates, I don't know if they are on seperate drives or not. First double check and make you didn't save them with some changes i.e. red eye removal, psd format, jpeg format, etc. Organizer does those version sets for those changes. In exploere you may be able to see a different date and time for the last saved time frame. I would go through all the pictures and organize them first. You could rebackup with tags if you want although not neccessary. Then I would compare and delete. You would have the same pictures together so it would be easier to see the duplicates. I'd deleted in organizer too. If you want all the pictures on the same drive I'd move within organizer so that it remembers them. Now I would definitely backup again with all the corrected images. I then would do my second catalog for scrapbooking.

Hope this helps,
Marcie