Q: I have a ton of designers that I only have one product by them,  I like it so I don't want to delete it, but should I be setting up individual folders for each of these designers if I am never going to get another thing from them?  Just wondering.

  If you know for sure you will never buy another thing from them, I would create a keyword under Designers that has the designer name and kit name and that's it.  No Stress about a Designer keyword. 

Technically you could do that with all your kits, but it just makes for a messy keyword list which is why I chose to keyword by Designer and then have the kits under each Designer.  It makes it so much easier to find a Designer (like 7 Gypsies and then click on the arrow to see all of their kits.

Q: Do you ever delete things out of kits because you know you will never use that item.  Maybe you like 3 of the papers and one clip and hate the rest – but I feel guilty if I delete anything – what are your thoughts?

So glad you asked this question!!!  If you look at my item count on some of the earlier videos, the items in my digital supply stash were up to aroung 45,000!  As of today I am 38,705 (well until I import that new kit from One Little Bird among a few other things…) 

The simple fact is this: no one will know if you delete items from a kit you will never use.   Seriously – be free and let go of them – be good to your hard drive and – be good to yourself!

I truly believe that deleting things can be freeing!!  There were so many items in my stash that I had downloaded as freebies or received on teams — it was stuff I'd never use — I hadn't used some of it in three or more years!  So yes – DELETE!!

A few tips on deleting.  As you go through kit items after import, if you come across something you don't like, type X on your keyboard.  When you are finished going through the kit, go to the top of the Library Module and click on Attribute.  Then click on the dark grey Flag with an X on it to see everything you have set aside to delete.  If you change your mind on something, click on its thumbnail and press U on your keyboard to unflag it.

To delete the items, press CTRL/CMD+Delete.  You will see a dialog – make sure you click Delete (Remove is auto selected).  If you choose Remove, it will just keep the items but remove them from your catalog which makes for a lot of mess later on if you synchronize folders (trust me).

Q: I have to admit, I am a bit nervous of deleting all of my png files after converting them to tiff. Yes, I still have the zip files if the world comes to an end.  My question is this; why are the designs in png format if tiff gives us transparency to begin with?

Great question.  In this post I wrote about why PNG is so great for designer stores: "The best thing about PNG files for digital scrapbookers:  they are small in size and preserve transparency – perfect for elements that are purchased and downloaded online."

If kit files were in TIF format to begin with, download times would increase, bandwidth costs would increase, etc.  So PNG is for download speed and we convert to TIF to add a closet for metadata.  

If it makes you feel better, instead of deleting all those PNG Files, you could export them to DVD after everything else is imported into Lightroom, that way you will have them in your original designer folders should you ever change your ming.

PS – This is another reason why I stressed pre-class prenup backup – if you ever change your mind, you will have your original folders exactly how they were before you started!