I am looking for some help with organizing my embroidery download files (whether pes, phc, dst, does not matter). I have been downloading them onto a jump or thumb drive and then taking them to my Babylock however, I am wondering the best way to organize them on the usb device. When they are downloaded, they are saved usually by a file number or sometimes by an abbreviated file name and I have not been changing the file exchange. When I choose to use the file on the babylock, I do not know which design is which. When I display the files as a library on my laptop I can only see the names and do not get to see the picture, because of the file extension; therefore, I struggle to differentiate the files. Any ideas to help me? Could I maybe buy the blank embroidery cards for the Babylock and then move the designs from the USB drive to the card? If you can't tell, I am new at machine embroidery. I appreciate any help in this matter.

I have the PDS basic and I can see them when I load them on the card otherwise I have no clue

there is a program sold to help with the organization of those files i cant think of the name of it right now buzz something

I have 4D embrodery software. I can file and save and see them in my 4D organizer.

I created a file and named it Embroidery Designs. I saved it in my documents. Inside that file I save each design in a different folder. I gave each sub folder a category name such as quilt blocks, floral, food, etc. I use PCAT_W95 to open and view them. Then whatever I want to embroider, I then download to my usb drive to transfer to my machine. I don't remember where I downloaded PCAT_w95, but it was free.

Buzz Tools has a wonderful organizer. It might be BuzzXplore. Go to the buzztools web site.

I had the same problem with my embroidery designs. I've gotten carried away over the years and have way more than I could ever hope to use. I discovered that putting them on the USB meant I had to weed through tons of designs to find the one I wanted so that didn't work too well.

I got a program called Catalog It! First I created folders on my desktop and put my designs in the folders (like Christmas, borders, animals, etc.). In Catalog It! I made folders with the same name, then copied the designs into those folders. When I go into Catalog It! I see the actual design, size, stitch count, colors, it lists the colors for the thread I use (there are several thread categories to choose from), and any notes I made regarding the design and it tells me what folder to look into to download the design onto my USB - or whatever software I'm using.

Catalog It! isn't very expensive and it's really simple to use. It's only used for categorizing, viewing and transferring designs to USB or other software you have for that purpose.

Hi,

I have Babylock machines also.....two which embroider. I have the Designers Gallery program for Babylock called Studio Plus III which catalogs your designs, and you can change the colors and see them on your computer and can do all kinds of adjustments to them....very helpful and fun.
I usually just jump my designs from my laptop to my sewing machine (Elegante2) and use my USB for storage of designs. On my Ellure I need to use my card to get designs into the machine.
I also save my designs in a file on my computer and have categories in folders and I change the numbers to names which describe the design....such as...snowmantree.pes, so I know that snowman is holding a tree..etc.
You will have such fun....!!

Bev

I have been doing Emb for about 15 years. I started out by sorting designs..floral~christmas~baby..etc...then I wanted to be able to know where I got them so I started sorting by site. Luckily I've long since gotten over downloading every design I could just because I could. Now I only keep the files I need and save my zip files in a seperate folder and back that up often.

I have a program called "Ann The Gran Catalog Express" which does exactly that.

I have most of my designs (over 4,000)cataloged using this program and it's pretty good. There is a long list of categories and you assign the motif to whatever one it fits into.

whatever you do start soon + stay organised---back up your files lots of money to lose try buzz tools i have 4d and am happy with that

when you download them, you should have the option to rename them... leave the extension the same (.pes .hus whatever) but say designsbysick has a freebie you like, and you download, it's named 1234567.pes -- before you tell it to save, you should get 1 window that allows you to rename it as ragdoll_redwk1.pes? I do that, and it saves me hours on organizing... Granted, I have the Husq Designer software, so I can always view thru there, but it really saves me time when looking for a certain design.

+1 ~ that's basically what I do... rename it so it makes sense to me... if its a whole folder of a "set", rename it to something that makes sense to me... I did this... I like Designs by JuJu on OPW (Oregon Patchwork Mall)... so I have:
embroidery
> Designs by JuJu
> > snowmen
> > > snowmen appliques
> > > > DbJJ-snowapp-xmas
> > > > DbJJ-snowgirls
> > > > DbJJ-snowfriends (penguins)
(etc, each > > indicates a folder within a folder to help with the organization...

I've started organizing by site, too -- AnnTheGran, DesignsbySiCK, OPW, emblib, CD art, etc etc ... hope that makes sense?

I keep miine on external hard drives. Then if I get a virus or my computer crashes, I don't worry about loosing them. I keep them by designer. Amazing Designs, Anita Goodesigns, Brother, etc. I think I would have a heart attack if I lost my designs. I keep them catagorized in my 4D organizer.

Hi, I use the Sew What Pro software by sands computing. There are several stand alone programs. Sew Iconz is the one I use to see what designs I've downloaded. Sew Cat is the one that organizes your designs and helps with duplications. I organize my files just as someone above posted. I set up a file in My Documents for Embroidery Designs and then designate each category Designs XXX as subfolders. Then you can back up all to a drive to protect from crash and also just backup the design you want to embroidery to a drive to take to your machine.