Organizing Digital Elements on Your Computer

by Barbara Snyder

Whether you are new or experienced at digital scrapping, you have downloaded elements to your computer. You may be super-organized, or you may have them scattered all over your computer. Organizing them can be a daunting task, unless you have a system to organize them. The system I use is quite simple, and takes a little while to set up, but ultimately means you can be more productive.
The first step is to make a folder. I entitled it "Mom's Computer Scrapping Elements" folder. (Start>My Computer>Local Disk:(C:);from the left hand tool bar under “File and Folder Tasks”; click on “Make a new folder”; right click on the folder and rename it.)

Next I opened this folder and created new subfolders and gave them the following titles:

Alphas

Autumn

Baby

Backgrounds

Beads

Birthday

Boys

Brads and Eyelets

Bugs

Buttons

Ceramic and Stone

Charms

Envelopes

Fibers and ribbon

Flowers and leaves

Frames and corners

Garden

Girls

Heart

Heritage

Holidays (with subfolders for each holiday)

Journal blocks and templates

Metal

Miscellaneous

Outdoors

Patriotic

Pet

School and sports

Shaker boxes

Spring

Stars

Summer

Tags

Textiles and accessories

Tiles

Wedding

Winter

Next I moved the files by clicking on each one and dragging it into the correct folder. I file each new element in its respective folder as it is downloaded.

Approximately every four months, I go thru my files and print out thumbnails of the new elements I have downloaded. Using Windows XP, here is how I do it-- In your main folder, you can right click in any blank area, and a window will pop up--click on “view” and pick your choice--thumbnails, tiles, icons, etc. Also on this window is a choice as to how to arrange them--by size, name, etc. (If you organize by "name", it will organize your files alphabetically. It will also help you see if you have all ready downloaded a file, too!) In XP, when you right click on any file, a new window opens on the left hand side of the window. One of the choices is “print this file”. When you click on this command, it automatically brings up a program (Photo Printing Wizard) that assists you with printing. This is great for updating the new downloads in my notebook. I can pick which elements I want to print, or I can print everything in that folder. I make a printed copy of all my elements, and put them in a three-ring binder in plastic sleeves, organized as my computer files are. When I am ready to make a layout, I pull out my photos, then sit down with my notebook and draw a layout on paper. Then I go to the computer and create the layout!

If you have another Microsoft product, look under “Help” on the top toolbar for assistance in printing out your elements.

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Here is how I organize my folders:

Disc C:

Mom’s Computer Scrapping Elements