Way to go Karen. You have the best way to get the designs without getting stressed.
hugs
Helen

Wowwwwwwwwwww Karen u joined about the same time i did i wish i knew back then what i know now .Thanks for your great insite .I do think it would help if they would just create a search engine like every other site .i still can't search right ???hugs Carolyn

If I just cannot find a design I just ask in community.Someone always comes to help. Also try the google search box at the top of the page. It's not the end of the world if you cannot find a design and there are a lot more heart breaking things going on besides not being able to get a free design. <br /><br />
Bev

This really works. I also did this quite awhile ago and it is so much easier to find what I am looking for. I hope others will be able to take the time to collect all these wonderful designs and to get them all organized. Thank you for explaining how you did all this.

Another great idea is to give each designer of the design you are downloading a flower. This will show you have downloaded it if it comes to the top of the page again. as well as a thank you for the design. Shirley

Yeah Karen..Way to go! So true! Listen to this lady she has a lot of great ideas! Suzanne

Well, I did do that, but it did not solve all the "search" problems for me. The second problem that I found after I did all that, is that the designs download by numbers with no identifying words or name of the digitizer. I was too inexperienced to think of that. Frankly, I wasn't about to go back to page one and start all over again and give each design a new name and digitizer label. Now when I download anything, I do do that. But I would advise anyone who is starting from page one to change the name of the design you are downloading from a number to a word so that when you do a search on your computer, you'll be able to find the design in your stash.

Even though I save my designs in folders by name, like I have a folder for cats, but if it is a fsl design it might be in a lace folder, or if I it was a designs that I thought was really terrific perhaps I put it in a favorites folder. Having the word "cat" in the title will bring up all my cat designs when I do a search on my computer.

For example "designsbycuties-4912539-64270.PES" would become "cat inacup basketks dbc.pes" My computer can save up to 30 characters in the name. If yours can't, eleminate spaces, abbreviate, whatever so that you have a clue of what the design is when you search for it. Then I'd save the design in my "cat" folder or any folder I want and I can be sure that I can locate it no matter where I put it.

Further, if you start from page one, pay attention if the design is posted a second time. Perhaps the digitizer became aware of a problem with the stitchout and posted a corrected version. So you want to download the corrected version.

While this doesn't solve the problems for those who haven't started collecting from page one, it does help from wherever you start. But Karen's advice is solid. It may take a whlie, so just go back to page one and do a few each day. Don't be in a hurry. But it will solve a of the frustration you feel.

Thank you for the sound advice, Karen. I always give a flower to any design that I have downloaded, so then I know that I already have that design. I also immediately rename my designs. That way they go where you will want them to be. Very good advice.***

I agree with Karen and Pennyhal on downloaded the designs, giving a flower on all the designs you download and renaming them.

I would ADD 1 thing. I would leave the number on and put what it is in front of it. That way if you have a digitizer who likes to do cats for instance and may have 20 cats out there - you will be able to look at your files and know if you already have it. If you just say cat, basketkase,dbc then you may find that you can not save it, because your computer says it is already there, If you say cat, basketkase,dbc-12345 then you have cat, basketkase,dbc 67890 then you & the computer know they are two separate files.

I also keep a spreadsheet of all my designs with all the info I want with the info mentioned above, size, format, and category or group I want it filed in. This makes it easier for me to sort and find what I want. After you get several 100 or 1000 designs it will makes it quicker to find what you are looking for. (I do this for all the freebies and boughten designs that I get. They are all listed in the 1 spreadsheet and sorted in different ways.)

Hope you can put all the advice together and find something that work for you.