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.