what is the diff between albums and key word tags?

[textucker]

I have everything organized using key word tags. That was the first thing I worked with when I got elements 6 and I just stuck with it. My husband says I should use my albums or at least separate my scrapbook stuff from my pictures. I have them separated using tags. I have all my scrapbook stuff under scrapbook and then I put them in different sub groups. I have my pictures all in theirs own groups. Like vacations and then for example, subtag beavers bend (the place were we went on vacation). Now what is the differents between doing that in key word tags and not using albums? And what about the smart albums, anyone use that? am I missing out by not useing albums to organize my photos? I mean is it better to use albums. My goal today was to get my husband to set up a slide show on my desktop with all my pics and scrapbook pages that I have done. We did that but in the mix of pics I have scrap paper, elements... He said I need to organize diff..

[dj_paige]

"Collections" in PSE5 or "Albums" in PSE6 are usually used for a specific purpose, like making a creation where your photos are in a particular order that you specify. Otherwise I don't use albums/collections.

Tags are the more powerful method for organizing your photos. Tags enable you to put a photo into multiple categories and then search by multiple tags. To search by multiple tags, you would click (select) the tags you want to search, so if I want to find pictures of my daughter at basketball events, I click on the tag for my daughter, I click on basketball, and I can find pictures with both tags.

As far as I know, you can't search by two collections/albums at the same time. You can't search by a collection and a tag at the same time.

[TonyW]

Smart Albums can be quite useful for some things as they keep themselves up to date - and you can set them up for lots of different criteria including tags. I mainly use them for things like images taken with a specific camera between certain dates or things I've added to the catalog within the last two weeks. If you are always searching for something you can usually set up a Smart Album that will do it for you automatically.

Regular Albums are most useful for ordering groups of images. For example I have one for images for uploading to my digital frame. I can then easily add or take out pictures and order them before uploading.

Tony

[Karin Sue]

You might want to make an overall category "photos" like your overall category "scrapbook"

Or, you could just make a "photos" tag and apply it to all your photos.

Then you could select by the photo tag/category to view only photos.

Or, you could select "scrapbook" and choose non matching to eliminate the scrapbook items from the well.

Or go the multiple catalog route. Make 2 copies of your catalog. Call one "scrapbook" and the other "photos". Delete all the photos from "scrapbook" and all the scrapbook items from "photos" (Do not check remove from harddrive!). If you like the 2 catalog method you can delete your original catalog.

The best way to make a slideshow is to start with an album and fill it with the photos you want to use. Do all your ordering, apply captions, edit, etc. then go to the slideshow creation.

If you are doing the selecting of the photos for the slideshow, just keep everything the way it is--it seems to be working fine for you. Put the images you want to use in an album, then point out the album to your husband. He will be able to generate the slideshow without being bothered by extraneous stuff.

I suggest reading www.photofanatic.com to get a good feel for Organizer. Although written for v3, the concepts remain the same.

[MazG]

I find the smart albums are great for filtering on a specific set of photos. For example, I have smart albums for photos taken between certain dates (like 2007) with a 2* or higher rating and that don't have a tag "scrapped" attached to them.

This enables me to easily find photos that I like, intend to scrap, and that haven't been scrapped yet. I simply go to the smart album and select which photos I want to work on when I want to do a layout. Once I use a photo, I add the "scrapped" tag so that it no longer appears in the smart album.

[mschall]

Karin, Is it possible for you to give a step-by-step for the 2 catalog method? Or maybe a link with steps. That sounds like what I would like to do.

thanks,
Mary Ellen

[Karin Sue]

Mary Ellen,

I can't give you a step by step since I am using v2 and you are using v6 but I can give general instructions--I don't think they will be too different.

With your catalog open got to File>Save As and save it with a new name. Do that twice, once with a name for your photo catalog and once with a name for your scrapbook stuff catalog.

Open your new photo catalog. (File>Open browse to catalog) Select your scrapbook tag to get all of your scrapbook items in the well. Select all and remove from catalog (I use the right click menu) be sure that the remove from harddrive is NOT checked. You might want to delete the scrapbook tags now too. You should be left with a catalog with only photos and photo tags in it.

Open your scrapbook catalog. Select the scrapbook tag. Choose the Not check box in the find bar (this might not be the same in v6). You should see all the images that are not scrapbook images in the photowell. Select them all and delete from catalog (being sure not to delete from harddrive). Delete the photo tags as well. This should leave you with a catalog with only scrapbook stuff and tags in it.

Once you are sure that both catalogs are okay and you like them separate you can delete the original catalog-- or just ignore it.

Organizer will automatically open to the last catalog used. The downloader will download into the last catalog used. You now have to be careful to note which catalog is open. Holding down shift key while opening the program will give you a "which catalog to open" dialog box. You can put a shortcut for each catalog on the desktop and get in the habit of opening the Organizer from the shortcuts.

Well, that's how to do it in v2. If it is much different in v6 someone will probably come along and let us know.