Any Mac users?!? Need organizing advice!!

[ladyinred]

I jumped ship earlier this summer to the mac platform. :rolleyes: Previously,I used the freeware program Picasa 2 to organize all my virtual elements in one area. Now, I'm using iPhoto as my photobrowser as PS Elements for Mac's don't come with an organizer. :o Any advice on how to neatly organize all my digi-scrappin' "stuff"?

[Charlotte]

I wish that I could help you, I'm a mac user, but I am totally new to digital scrapbooking! I will watch this thread with interest. I'm have so much to learn. I just got Photoshop Elements and received Linda's Guide just a few days ago. :confused: I am feeling a little overwhelmed with it all but I am just going to try and take it slow. :)

[Linda Sattgast]

I use Mac and PC, but because I teach the PSE Organizer, I haven't made use of iPhoto. However, the two systems are very similar and the "organizational flow" would be identical.

Take some time to think through how YOU use your supplies. Map it out on a piece of paper--the main categories and sub-categories. For example, your top categories may be

Family Photos
Vacations
Scrapbooking, etc.

Then think about the categories under scrapbooking:

Paper
Embellishments
Finished Pages, etc.

You might want to have a category for third party designers so you can keep track of who made what.

Under each of those sub-categories you may want to go further, e.g. for embellishments you may have:

tags
fasteners
ribbons, etc.

It takes some work to set it up, but in the end it's worth it when you try to find something. I recommend using a piece of paper or a word processing program to set up your categories, and give yourself several days to think through all the possibilites. It's better to set it up well from the very start.

Another thing I've started doing is putting my photos in files according to their subject before I tag them. That way I can utilize the Bridge in Photoshop much better, and if (God forbid) I ever lost my file system, the photos would be in some semblance of order!

[drs75]

I am a mac user, and for a while, I was totally unorganized. I found out about iphoto buddy, a free downloadable program (click here (www.iphotobuddy.com) for link). It basically creates as many iphoto libraries that you want to use. I have one for all my scrapbooking stuff, for all my "old" family history photos, and I have a library for each year. The nice thing is you can store the libraries anywhere you want. I use an external hard drive for all my photos. Iphoto buddy keeps track of where the libraries are. (a little side note: The nice thing about storing all my photos (including my digital elements) on the external hard drive is that when I go out of town and want to bring along my scrapbooking stuff, I just use my mac notebook and plug the external hard drive right into it. I have iphoto buddy installed on my notebook, so all I need to do is locate the libraries on the external hard drive, and I'm ready to scrap. When I get home, I can hook the external hard drive up to my desktop, and I'm ready to go again. I've even taken my notebook and hard drive to scrapbooking get-togethers. Most of my friends are still traditional scrappers).

In my scrapbooking library, I assign "keywords" for each item. That way when I am looking for something specific, it's easy to find what I'm looking for. For example, if I am scrapping my son's birthday, I might click on 12x12 (for the paper size), "boy", "birthday", etc. Only the pictures that have those keywords show up. You have to create your own keywords. Some of the keywords I have used are borders, corners, background, ribbons, bows, paper clips. You create a keyword for whatever you need. You could also create a keyword of the person who made the digital element, to keep track of where you got your stuff.

When I first set up my scrapbook library, it took a couple of days to assign keywords to all my digital elements, but now it is so easy to find exactly what I am looking for. My scrapbooking library has grown so enormous, I've had to create other libraries for my elements. I now have one whole library dedicated to letters and words.

One drawback is that you can only open one library at a time. I usually just drag the photos I want to scrap into Photoshop, and then keep my scrapbooking library open. But it is "FREE". Hope this helps.

[annfield]

Thank you so much for the info about iBuddy. I have been makeing folders in my external hard drive for each year. I have been trying to scan, make dvds and print contact sheets on many photos. My mother left me all of hers and all of my grandmother's in a suitcase with not much documentation. iBuddy seems like a much better idea. I plan to download it asap. I don't want to do any more my way.

[flutterbychelle]

Mac user here. I just upgraded to PSE4 which comes with Bridge. Its a great organizer, but seperate program from PSE. I store all my Scrap on an external harddrive and occasionally burn stuff to DVD's. I also just recently started breaking up my kits to allow for more creativity, mix & matching stuff. Its alot of work, but so far worth it.
Hope this helps.

[ScrappyMac]

Now I will have Mac buddies to talk to and we can work out problems... Thank you Linda and Charlie....and Priss:)


I have a Mac G4 with Panther, Photoshop Element 3. Canon i9100 color printer. I also have Adobe Photoshop but elements works just fine.

If you have ever gone to a scrapbooking party you see all the suitcases of stickers and paper and the scraps left over, all over the tables and on the floor. With the digital age we can make our own little digital folders and put elements into them and they will never be full, and never have to get the broom out of the closet.

BUT!!! we have to be more careful how we file them or they get lost in outer space (so to speak) you can't look under the rug.:eek:

I don't find iphoto very easy at all. I did down load the iphoto buddy, but not sure if that will help yet either ... If we all put our heads together I am sure we can come up with some ideas in beginner language please...

So does anyone out there have EASY ideas on just how to do this ?????:confused:

[cedarhil]

I also use PSE 3 and have a MAC system. I keep my completed scrapbook pages and scrapbook page kits, elements etc all seperate folders in "pictures"
When I want an element or paper, I >browse folders, >pictures and locate what I need. I seperated my kits by the scrapbook store from where I purchased it and then I renamed each so I could tell what was inside each kit.
So far, I don't have too many kits, that I can't remember what is in each one.

I wanted my pages and elements to open up in iphoto, but short of making another library, I couldn't manage it. The brushes wouldn't show up, but the papers would.

Hope to hear more ideas.

[drs75]

annfield,

I hope i photo buddy helps with your organizing. If you already know how to use iphoto, there really is no learning curve to iphoto buddy. If you've never made keywords, and you or anyone would like to know, Here's how:

To create keywords:
1. in your iPhoto library, click on the "iPhoto" drop-down menu at the top of your screen, and then hit Preferences.
2. click on "General", and then "Keywords"
3. click on "Add" and add your keyword. You may also want to organize or alphabetize your keywords because it won't do it automatically.
4. When you are done, exit out.

To assign keywords to your photos:
1. click on "Photos" at the top of your screen
2. click on "Get Info"
3. When the pop-up screen appears, click on "Keywords." All the keywords you created should be listed. Click on one of your photos (or several, if they are in the same category), and assign a keyword.
4. You can assign as many keywords to one item as you want

NOTE: This process can take a while, but once it is done, finding the things you want is a breeze. It took me about two days to assign keywords to all my scrapbooking stuff (I have a lot).

To use your keywords to find your stuff:
1. click on the little key icon in the bottom left corner of i Photo. All the keywords should show up.
2. Click on the keyword(s) you want.


In my family history folder I have keywords of all the names of the relatives in the pictures. When I file the pictures, whoever is in them, I click their name. That way, when I am scrapping family history pages and I want my grandma, I can just click her name, and every picture with her in it shows up. In the same folder, I also like to write "comments" about the photo--when/where it was taken, etc... (comments located in bottom left corner under the "i" (info) button.

I don't know if this is helpful; Most of you are probably seasoned mac users, but it may be useful to someone.

[kaylpra]

All I see of my png files is black.

Please tell me there is a work around for this. I would love to use an iphoto library to organize all of my digital elements!!

[Wendy]

Hi ...

... and welcome :)

Which version of iPhotos are you using ? ... on this Mac I am still using iPhoto 5.01 ans whilst the background (transparent area) of png files shows up as black the rest is fine. Also when you take them out of iPhotos to use them then the transparent area appears checkerboard just as normal :)

Wendy

[photobookmemories]

Hello fellow Mac users! I use Portfolio, by Extensis. It's expensive, but it works and is designed for exactly this stuff. One of my favorite features is archiving to CD or DVD and still being able to browse them for stuff when they are still tucked away in my archive box. If I want to retrieve the files, the software tells me the name of my CD and I can pop it in get the graphics. It's use of metadata is much more efficient than iPhoto. They have a 30 day trial.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

Probably a little beyond the price range of most hobby users ... :(

Wendy

[Dot]

I use Iphoto 6 and Bridge CS3 and it works just fine for both my photos and scrapbook items.

[Maybelline]

Good to meet you all! Great to know there is a place we can help each other no matter what the distance right? Good feeling and thanks