Hello Everyone,

Please Help Me! I am perplexed & hungry for ideas. I have thousands of 3x5 inch index cards, all hand written cards. And I have learned how to use GIMP to scan 4 cards at a time, crop, guillotine the 4 cards to make 4 seperate .JPG files, and then import to my PC (XP).

The cards will (I guess) be numbered like 001.jpg, 002.jpg like that. BUT this current batch of cards are basically just "things to do" index cards, so I will likely have 3 folders labeled by priority 1, 2, 3....And inside these folders are all my .JPG files depending on the priority of each "things to do" card.

And all these thousands of cards will be dragged and dropped or otherwise be constantly moved and/or deleted by me constantly from folder to folder, keep in mind each of these .JPG files is labeled/numbered.

So when I move them from one folder to another, there is labeling/numbering conflicts, and the order and positioning will be lost.

What I was hoping for was some sort of a program/file manager whereby I can treat the ".JPG Files" more like tiles or desktop icons, once moved they are just there and do not move unless I move them and they do not get automatically moved by my PC based on "file name/number", yet still be able to move and/or delete them from folder to folder without conflict.

I really need some "thinking outside of the box" options/ideas. Any alternative file & folder experts out there? Any file management/organizing programs out there? Please Help!

Thank You,

"FriendlyBeginner"

Thanks Owen,

I couldn't find any reviews of ShotWell on CNET, PC Mag or ComputerWorld. But I did find their site and good amount of comments on it elsewhere.

Owen, I am not a Ubuntu/Linux user, my old PC has Windows XP on it, do you know if ShotWell works on Windows XP?

Owen to better illustrate what I'm trying to do, I tried to show you below; what you see below is all in one folder labeled things to do, and each item you see is I guess a file or folder by priority the numeral (1) being highest priority and "A" being highest priority in respective folders. I know were off GIMP topic but this is in the path and I wanted to know a little more about labeling files and folders based on what I've envisioned.

Here at least in my head is what I am going for....remember there are thousands of these "Things To Do" that will be in play here and dragged and dropped to differing folders depending on priority and many of course at some point will be deleted (By the way this is only part of my scanning project). Keep in mind each file is ONE 3x5 inch index card scanned into my PC as a .JPG.

THINGS TO DO (MAIN FOLDER)

THINGS TO DO (1) (SUB-FOLDER)

(A) -Go To Bank (FILE) -Change Oil In Car (FILE)
-Cut Your toe nails (FILE)

(B) -Take A Walk -Do The Dishes
-Make Doctor's Appointment

(C) -Shine My Shoes -Weed Eat
-Call Attorney

(D) -Computer Maintenance -Program DVR
-Gaze At My Navel

THINGS TO DO (2) (SUB-FOLDER)

(A) -xxxxxxxx (FILE) -xxxxxxxxxx
-xxxxx

(B) -xxxx
-xxxxxxx
-xx

(C) -xxxx
-xxxxxxxxxxx
-xxxxxx

(D) -xxxxxxx
-xxx
-xxxxx

THINGS TO DO (3) (SUB-FOLDER)

(A) -yyyyyyyy (FILE) -yyyy
-yyyyyyyyyy

(B) -yyy
-yyyyyyy
-yyyyyyyyyy

(C) -yyyyyyyyyy
-yyyyy
-yyyyyyy

(D) -yyyyyy
-yyyyyyyy
-yyy

I hope I'm not overwhelming you here. Are you clear on what I'm trying to do? Based on my posting? Before we go down this road, if you don't mind please review my post again, to make sure were on the same page here.

I know I can with Irfanview, scan one 3x5 inch index card at a time and it will automatically number my scans with a good deal of flexibility with regards to settings. FastStone has some of these same features and XnView similar as well but Irfanview seems to have the most flexibility with settings during the scan process.

In other words using one of the above is a speedy process, GIMP is unable to auto-number. So now I'm left with .JPG files of my single 3x5 inch index cards and now the goal is to do what I said in my post about making these files act more like tiles or icons so they stay where put and do not interrupt the order like you get with standard 001.JPG file numbering approach.

To expound, refer to my post again.

Thanks Owen,

"FriendlyBeginner"

P.S....Owen if you don't mind can you tell me in layman about how these tags you mentioned below would look and work with my index card scans. Keep in mind, I AM a beginner.

Use a program like shotwell and tag each file with its file name. Then no matter where it is you can retrieve it from the tag.

The tag might also be useful for further identification of the cards

Hello Kevin,

Great power quote by the way.

I am very familiar with "To Do List" type apps and programs, but my system has been paper for 30 years, and it's not always the same or convenient to scribble something digitally on my phone as just slam it on an index card.

Also too many cards to give detailed file names, and besides they will be moved around from folder to folder and I just need to be able to drag these cards around without conflict.

Some recent suggestions are: (And I don't know much about all of this but this is some of the feedback I've gotten from all sites.)

1. Use a CAD package and import each card as an object.

2. PaperPort

3. ShotWell (But I am a windows user, not Linux).

4. Daminion

5. Paperless (For Windows)

6. OmniPage

BOTTOMLINE: I need these cards to be treated like the CAD guy said like "objects" that I can freely move at will with no conflict, like the way a windows desktop reacts or the Opera browser "Speed Dial" page works with all these "icons" that I can just move around and they STAY where you put them.

This has been SO much work for me trying to find a solution, I just wish someone would come up with a definitive solution, maybe it's already on my radar, but I don't know for sure yet.

I just want to get busy scanning, but I don't want to begin till I KNOW that I am on the right & best course for my project.

Thanks Kevin,

FriendlyBeginner

P.S.....Keep the suggestions coming!!!

If you are scanning your cards and computerizing the ToDo list you would be
better to move to a program that is designed to handle a list of ToDo items
instead of dealing with a bunch of cards.

If you do want to use pictures of the cards keep all the file names unique
and use a good photo management tool.

Hello Jay,

With GimpUsers forum, am I supposed to type above or below what I'm responding to? If I select and start typing below the responders text, does this automatically create the window at the top of my response in the final view?

Jay...I have thousands of cards, not just "things to do" cards, with a lot of scribbling & writing on them; sometimes a lot of tiny scribbling, drawing etc whatever.

So to answer your question yes I think I do need images of the cards themselves and not just the info on them.

I am a novice and have been at this for WEEKS I read twice what you typed below, and I'm sure it's makes perfect sense but you sorta lost me. But I do I really do want to understand, but I am not that tech savvvy or at least not at this moment.

I just want a definitive solution and soon, it's been weeks trying to figure this out.

Bottomline...I have something very simple I want to do and need a simple solution...I've been at this for weeks now.

Please read my recent post to I think Rod or Kevin? It should be above this post I think.

Thanks Jay,

FriendlyBeginner

P.S.....Jay...I just read what you suggested below, and I want to understand what you were getting at, but right now my head is about ready to explode. Maybe it's no longer relative based on what I typed above, but if it is still relative I want to understand it, if it will help me....Thanks Jay...

If I understand correctly -- that in the long run it is the information
ON the cards that you want to preserve, not necessarily images of the cards themselves, then it seems to me that you should be using a database that can either _contain_ images or at least display images referenced by filenames in the database, as well as textual/data content.

In such a database, every card would be referenced by some unique filename/number; it really does not matter much what that filename/number is. The card would be viewable either as an independent
image by whatever methods, but more importantly, from withing the database's user interface.

The data records in the database would be structured to _eventually_ replace the cards/images. Over time, you could type in the data from the cards (images) into the database (while being able to see both at the same time on screen). When the data is fully entered, then you can
sort and organize it any thousand ways you want and you will always have
immediate access to the image (if still needed).

Jay

Hello Jay,'

Jay...You told me to take a few weeks off before my head explodes, but I was challenged & inspired by your posting and decided to go forward and try to answer you.

I'd loved to have met your dad and his 3x5 cards.

I personally have to date 250,000 cards, 3x5 inch cards. (Major space & access issue).

My 1st project is "things to do" cards, maybe 1000 cards.

I want in 3 folders by priority, and move them back and forth depending on current priority. Of course each of these folders will likely have 3 sub folders A,B,C or whatever. And of course as I go many will be deleted or put in a folder called "Completed Tasks" or whatever.

The other index cards are impossible to describe but let's call them "projects"...And each stack of cards is a "project", and they are bound by hair bands (rubber bands break to easily).

So imagine all these stacks of "projects" (maybe 25-400 cards in each stack), imagine all these stacks laying around everywhere on desks, in custom boxes, wherever bound together with hairbands.

Every card within these batches are in a position for a reason, until I pick them up and maybe move the order around a little bit, but they are in a certain order for whatever reason, and I am used to where they are...BUT to answer your question they take up too much space and are too hard to find and access in tight quarters...And what I want is clean slate open desk space.

So I simply want to one card or one project at a time put them on my pc, let's say I have a project called "Handyman", in this pile of cards will be let's say 100 cards with 100 handymen or craftsmen in there and on each card detailed information written by hand by me of when we met, what job was done etc. whatever.

I would of course have in my computer a folder named handyman and that is where these cards would go.

So I should say that the vast majority of my cards are not "things to do" cards but "project" cards or whatever you want to call them.

The "things to do" index cards by their very nature will require moving from folder to folder a lot (based on current priority). And I need to see them in thumbnail view of some kind and each time I visit them I do NOT want them to have moved from the way I moved & positioned them in priority.

The other index cards will be more or less in the same order as they are now in their respective hair band bound stacks...However there will be times when I will change the position of a card in the stack or maybe move or copy it to another completely different folder.

I guess what I'm going for is imagine sitting at a large table and you have the cards spread in front of you like playing cards laying flat and you have them positioned like that except on a PC.

With regards to the future, as I scan more and more cards into my pc, over the years I will develop more and more folders and catagories and sub-folders and just a bunch of folders of images of index cards contained in a lot of specifically named folders depending on the subject matter of the cards therein.

I will THEN be able to locate a folder by location, name, date, subject, etc and quickly access it for reference. I need the cards to remain in order until I want to move them, like a desktop icon or a Opera browser icon. Simple interface, simple access.

That done, then when I think of something I wrote or was working on 10-20 years ago instead of picking up dusty crates and boxes of index cards TRYING to find that batch of cards I just sit down at my pc or on my iphone whatever and access that old batch of 3x5 cards without getting out of my chair.

By the way I'd love to brainstorm with you sometime on your big idea you mentioned below, maybe in a private chat or other conversation, ever since the big face to face, belly to belly networking craze of the late 1970's and early 1980's I have been intrigued by the collection and management and access to information.

Anyway, great post, thanks for your patience and interest.

Respectfully Yours,

FriendlyBeginner

Hi Friendly,

I believe that the custom on such lists is to add new content at the bottom. That way, the whole series of messages can be read from top to
bottom and be in order.

[I have no idea what you are talking about when you say "create the window at the top of my response in the final view?" I am reading / writing these messages as ordinary textual emails, not on some website -- I don't what mechanisms others use to read / write them.]

=-=-=

I hate to say this when your head is about to explode, but when you said
"I have something very simple I want to do and need a simple solution"..... you may not fully comprehend what you are getting into.

I agree, it _seems_ simple. But, it is not trivial.

Often, in "IT" (information technology -- your cards represent information), seemingly the simpler the desired result, the more complex
the real problem is.

It seems "simple" to decide where and what to eat/do/go for dinner tonight. However, it is a massively complex problem that our brain just
makes seem simple.

!! You may (or may not) find a solution to what you think your problem is, however if you find a "simple" solution, I am willing to bet that before you are done implementing it, you will realize ... "gee, if I could just do this... and that...".

I have experienced this syndrome over and over and over again with first-time technical authors who attempt too-simple approaches to organizing their data. They end up restructuring their information management several times before ending up where I knew they would have to ... years later.

While I certainly don't know anything about _your_ cards, I do understand cards. My stepfather made at least one 3x5 card record for every day of his life from about the age of 15 to his 60s when he passed
away unexpectedly. That's about 18,000++ cards. There is only one person on earth who can translate the tiny squiggly "writing" [also with
lots of abbreviations and codes] on those cards, my mother. If she started today, there is little chance that she could complete the translation in her remaining lifetime. However, the cards have important scientific value -- he was a environmental scientist (long before such a term existed) and daily recorded phenology for a specific
region.

Maybe I have missed it, but I don't think I completely understand _exactly_ what you believe your goals are. It might be helpful (for yourself, if not for us), to state them concisely in writing. And I mean goals in terms of how you want to use, interact with the cards and
the information that the cards represent. This can be difficult for many people to do if they are not used to doing it. You have keep steering yourself back to what you want to get out of the information and how you want to use / interact with it. It's really not about the cards. That's just where the information happens to be at this moment.

And exactly why is the current system not working for you any more? That will shed light on what it is you want out of a new system.

Instead of focusing on the physicality of the cards and always thinking
of the cards as cards, think about what they represent and how you want
to be using their information; now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now,
etc.

Also, consider what financial value and time/resource value this project
has to you. How much money can you or are you willing to invest in this? How much time do you have to work on it?

The result of these thoughts will become a set a parameters within which
you may be constrained. You then have to decide if that is acceptable.
If not, then start over again.

It sounds like you need to let your head clear for a week or two, before
it explodes or you have to go on medication. ;-) Then take a fresh look at this.

When your head is clear, read the database comments again. If parts of
it do not make sense, you are welcome to contact me off-list with specific questions. (This whole subject really has nothing to do with Gimp.) If none of the database comments make sense to you, then you need to read up about the basics of databases and information management.

By the way, so you don't feel so bad, I have an idea in my head that I want to see done, but the software for it has not been invented yet and
I don't have the skill/training or the time to obtain the skill to do it
myself, nor the money to hire it done. What I want seems soooo simple on the surface, yet it is a massively complex problem where the key aspects are about management of meta data (data about the data). There
are a few people out there who have written briefly on the need for such
software, but nobody has devoted themselves to it. Yet what I envision
has absolutely enormous applications in just about any possible field. It bothers me terribly every time the subject enters my head.

Best of luck,

Jay

I believe you are following a pretty good path, but one so far outside the scope
of GIMP that the answers you've received so far are missing your main goal.

You've used GIMP very effectively to capture your cards. What I believe you
want to do next is reorganize them - and to update and change your mind
about the organization whenever it feels right.

Jay is suggesting a data base approach - but it seems to me you just want to
move things around by dragging them from one folder to another. Unless you
have a way to capture the scribbles and interpret them, you most likely will find displaying your folder contents as icons and dragging them
from one to another is pretty much all you can do.

-- Burnie

Thanks Burnie,

You said...."ay is suggesting a data base approach - but it seems to me you just

want to
move things around by dragging them from one folder to another. Unless you
have a way to capture the scribbles and interpret them, you most likely will find displaying your folder contents as icons and dragging them
from one to another is pretty much all you can do."

Yes Burnie...You said it as simply as anyone, anywhere has said it yet. But HOW do I do it, CAD package? Whatever that is, PaperPort however that works, Daminion what is this? I already have all the best reviewed photo management/viewing software already downloaded, now I just want to get started and start scanning and making these drag and drop Object? files but I need to know what to use that is the BEST until then I'm just sitting here waiting for a solution.

Thanks Burnie,

FriendlyBeginner

Hello Jay,

I don't like to do email. I've been trying to find an "Information Management" forum we can finish our conversation in, but nothing has popped out at me in my searches, I've been posting this request on some sites.....

PLEASE READ & HELP....My mission is to find THREE busy forums/groups about Information Management, I need to communicate with others about alternative ways to scan large volumes of paper data into my pc and make it less complicated to organize it and move it around from folder to folder without so much complication & work....PLEASE ADVISE...I want to join Information Management Forums/Groups....Do you know of any?...PLEASE HELP.....Thank You.......

Thanks Jay,

Randy

<< snip >>

Friendly,

This has really gotten far afield from a Gimp matter and we should not be using Gimp electrons on it.

I will cogitate on your latest message, however, please contact me OFF-LIST jay@JaySmith.com with a direct email address that we can continue our conversation.

If you prefer to remain in a discussion group setting of some sort, then
find an appropriate venue (probably related to information management; this has really nothing to do with images at this point) and inform me of where to listen in.

To respect the Gimp group, we need to take this elsewhere.

Thanks,

Jay

jay@JaySmith.com