I've got to get a system going here with all my downloads. How do you do yours to keep up with them all and be able to find what you are looking for

Wow, all these great ideas. I also have folders set up for my designs(Alphabets, Angesl, Buildings, Holidays, etc). I go one step further in each catgory. Example: Under Holidays, I have a folder for each holiday. Then in each of the holiday folder I have a folder for Lace, Redwork, Applique, Cross Stitch, etc. so that when looking for a certain pattern and style I know where to look. Good Luck. Once you design your "own" system, you will be able to find what you are looking for.

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by pafhen 18 Mar 2008

thanks to u also, flower 4 U

Brings up an interesting thought. I used Tashambra's Categories for years and have lost it during many years of change. Tried today to find her site & it's no longer online. Does anybody else out there recall it? It's similar to what the responses have told you, but nice part is, it's already done for you and has sub-categories. Here's a flower

1 comment

by pafhen 18 Mar 2008

thanks * to u also

I am making copies of all these notes so I can mix them all together and come up with one plan. Thanks so much to all and again flowers to u

pafhen, you've been given a lot of good advice here, I think the most important thing is to organise your designs in a way that suits you - so that you can find what you want, when you want. The next most important thing is to either file by designer/website, or keep track of that information somehow, so that you know where each design came from - you might find you downloaded a badly digitised design and want to delete all from that designer. Or you might like a design so much that you want to buy more from the designer. Hope all this helps, sweetie, read all that's been written on this page, then work out what suits you, hugs and flower.

pathen , I think you have gotten so many good answers which include what I do . But Please remember to Back up on a regular basis , I always burn a CD at that time. A flower for you.

Firstly I have a folder named Crafts under which I store all craft related info so under crafts I have two main folders, named Embroidery and EMD; Under Embroidery I have sub-folders Completed projects (for photos); Converted Designs (for all original designs that I have already converted to my Elna (EMD)format); Designs A-C; Des D-J; Des K-Q; Des R-Z; DesignsUnzipped; Downloads; Instructions (for specific instructions -PDF-Word Docs- like doing free standing lace; making towel toppers; Using stabilisers; etc but not the design stitch outs); Training Manuals (for digitising software programs- embroidery machine manual). Will have to complete this later as I have an appointment this morning, Sorry. Meganne

2 comments

by meganne 18 Mar 2008

Appointment postponed til after lunch>
Ok so, under "Downloads" i only ever place *.zip files as they may contain many designs (formats) that i won't want as i only ever use the *.pes format designs to convert. I unzip the design file to a temporary folder, (which i delete later). Once i have unzipped the file i move the original *.zip file into the "Designsunzipped". I delete the unwanted (format designs) and move the *.pes files to the Alphabetical design folders A-C or D-J etc. ready for reformatting. What makes all this easier is that I always take a copy of the picture of every design & create a .jpeg thumbnail, which is stored wherever the design is and moved with it through the various stages until it's final residing place. It is far easier to search for designs by browsing the thumbnail pics.

by meganne 18 Mar 2008

Back to the second of the two main sub-folders: EMD. Emd is elna XQ2 format, so any designs stored under this category will have been reformatted, and/or modified ready for immediate use. Under EMD I have the following -18- 'NUMBERED' main categories: 01-Alphabets; 02-Angels/Fairies; 03-Animals; 04-Christmas; 05-Fashion; 06-Florals; 07-Foods; 08-Garden; 09-Girly; 10-HomeDecor; 11-Kidstuff; 12-Lace; 13-Patterns; 14-Sports; 15-Text; 16-Transport; 17-World; 18-Zodiac. -Under each of these folders are further sub-categories & even sub-sub-categories to separate different types of designs, depending on my 'trigger' word. Also filed under EMD is a Spreadsheet especially for 'Cute' designs with another picture and the design stitch-out, this is added to on a daily basis. All other stitch out instructions are in word documents or *.jpeg images, named identical to the design name and stored in the same place as the design & it's .jpeg photo. -If you would like further sub-category suggestions, please just ask. This may all sound confusing but it's a set system that works for me as i can always find the design by the photo thumbnail, I nearly always re-name each design to something I can identify with and I check the files for duplicates before I save any new design. It helps that I have a photographic memory so I remember designs I already have. Pictures are crucial to this system working so well. Hope I haven't confused you but you can always copy and paste these messages into a word document, then print them out to use as a guide if you wish to set up something similar that may work for you. cheers, Meganne

Good to see all the answers I tt have lots of folders of the different sites and then into catergories from that site.I have just done my last Cd number 81 after backing up. Whatever you do make sure you have at least 2 backups. I have everthing that is on the computer on CD and on a memory stick
* 4 U

I do the Embroidery Folder file system too. But, you may find a certain design in many places. i.e. an rw floral border will be put in the flower folder, the RW folder, the borders and corners folder. I do need to start adding the site/designer that I got the designs from tho....for when one of you ladies, or me needs to know where it came from at a later date. I also burn many CD's (usually end of month) and I name the folder on my comp to download to Jan/Feb/March etc.. and when I build up a full CD, I will put 3-5 of those folders on and label it Emb #1, Emb #2 etc. Have fun. *4U to brighten up the task

All of you have been so helpful. Thanks so much for sharing the way you file your designs and FLOWERS for all

I do everything that is listed below along with I make thumbprints (little pictures 1x1 inch with about 30 per page) to see and labels them the same as the folders hope this helps

I also have an Emb Designs folder, then i have-Alpha, Appliq, Baby, Child girl, child boy --etc and I file that type of design in the appropriate folder. I always type on the design's name where I found it that way I can go to that site and see the exact colors or stitch out. At the end of the design name there will be a "name.pes" I put bycuteemb after name but before the .pes. So far this has worked great for me. Good luck. Sue

Like everyone else, I have an Embroidery Designs folder, then I have my sub folder, ie Zundt, Martha Pullen, Cute embroidery, then within each of those I have sub folders such as Disney Babies, Cowboys, Alaphabet, etc, etc, With my digitizing program you can also open each folder and print a catalog of what's in the folders. I go one step futher and have note books with catagories for the designers and the catalog/print out of design is in hard copy. A lot of people want to see the designs when trying to decide what they want on an item. Hope this helps.

i'm like everybody else, i set up seperate folders, then add my patterns as i get em', baby, disney, cats etc. then when I want a certain type I go look in that folder and poof i found it. good luck and it's bound to fun no matter what method you use.

I set up folders with the digitizers name and then by topic, baby, animals, etc. The reason I label by digitizers is that I have had some problem sew outs and have completely deleted that particular file because it was poor quality. Can you imagine having to search thru for those designs if they were all mixed together.

I made differfent categories like "babies" "transport" "animals" In the file animals I made categories of Bears, dogs, ducks, wildlife etc.. When I Download a file i add the name of the site wehre it came from. I do this since last week because people often ask from which site the design came. Hope this will help you also. *4U

When I unzip a design I put it into a file that my card writer can read; in that file I have sub files that I name eg baby, animals, fonts, etc. Then I click the appropriate sub folder for the design. When I first started I had a jumbled mess, but figured this system out. If you have a jumbled mess you can go in and separate them into proper categories. This can be time consuming but doesn't need to be done all at once. I burn a cd off about once a month with the free designs I accumulate. Each time I burn one off I rename the main folder Example Embroidery 1, Embroidery 2 etc.. label your cds with the date also; so referencing them later can be easier if you know approximately when you downloaded the design. I hope this helps, it has helped me greatly.

I think each of us use a system that is individual to our own personality because we each have a triger thought that "makes sense" to us. If you stop and think about what reminds you of a particular thing, you will discover a method that is easy for you to be able to come up with that particular design quickly. For instance, I have almost everything with a heart, that is part of the design in a folder named Holidays. Under Holidays is, of course all of the holidays, + birthday. There under holiday is Valentines. Valentines day reminds me of hearts so therefore I have my "heart" designs there. I have another folder titled "transportation". There I find, cars, trucks, airplanes, trains, etc, you get the idea. Just think about the way YOU think and you will have an easy method to search. P.S. Also, Use your search tool to locate designs. Just make sure you have named them well. ;)

I have an Embroidery file, too. Under that, I have a folder for designers I like a lot, like Cute, Embroidery Library & Designs by Sick. In Cute's folder, I have sub folders for different things, like cats, quilt blocks, flowers, etc. Same for the others. I have a folder under Embroidery called 'downloads', and have that categorized by type again. When I download, even zip files, I put them right in the correct file, like cats. When I unzip them, I put in the file 'properties' where it came from, and its original file name if I have changed the name. I never download into 'my downloads', then you just have to move things around again. This isn't a perfect system, but at least I can find stuff, pretty much.

on my pc I have a main-map: embroidery. this map has in it several maps with categories; like baby/ bears/ flowers and so on. I put the design in the categorie were it belongs. So when I search, I directly go to the wright category.

That's a good question pafhen. I'm so new at this that I can't keep up so I need some ideas about a system also