System for storing scanned articles?

[dlminehart]

I'm trying to kill two birds with one stone: reducing the space taken by my library of woodworking and home improvement magazines, and making the information more readily accessible. I've clipped the pages of interest from the magazines, and am running them through the auto document feeder of my multifunction printer/fax/copier/scanner to make a PDF of each page (150 dpi, color, moderate compression). I can then combine them into multipage PDFs for each article. The idea is to make a searchable database, with keywords identifying relevant topics in each article. I can put the database on my workshop laptop as well as my study desktop.

I'm wondering about the best ways to go about this. For instance, file naming conventions (abbreviations for source publication and issue date, plus article title? or should this be in database fields?), good database (Mac or PC, preferably interchangeable) for keeping track of these, ideally with link to article rather than just an isolated index, etc. Anyone have suggestions?

[eccentrictinkerer]

I, too, store my scans as pdf files. I make a folder on the desktop called "jigs" or "future projects", etc.

I set the "view" on these folders to 'thumbnails' and name them something like "12-04-07 WOOD tenon jig".

When you open the folder, you get little pictures of the first page and an idea of content. It's easier and faster to do than explain.

Good luck.

[radhak]

I prefer PDFs, but sometimes have to live with other formats too.

But, I have standardized on the file namings :
type-contentdescription-source.pdf

where type could any of : User Manual / Plan / Jig / Technique / Review / FAQ (you could add your own, of course).

The source is the magazine or website I get it from (FWW / SN / WS / etc)

So my files have names like
"Plan - Corner Cupboard - FWW.pdf"
"Technique - FinishingFundamentals - WB.pdf"
"User Manual - Precision Router Lift - Woodpeck.pdf"

This way, I am able to retrieve whatever I am searching for pretty fast.

And finally, I recommend you use something more powerful than the regular windows-file-explorer. I have total commander. Not critical to your working, but makes searching for and exploring your files much better.

I keep telling myself this is just the beginning; I need to database all that, but have not got there. And yes, I too am keen to see what others are doing that might help me improve further.

[gsmittle]

FileMaker Pro (www.filemaker.com) is a cross-platform database that's fairly easy to get up and running with. You can link to other files, or store them in the database itself. I bought my copy some years ago, so I don't recall the current price. I remember it wasn't too unreasonable as databases go.

Have you thought about using OCR on the files? That way you'd have a searchable text file of the page. I've never done this, so I don't know how cumbersome it would be. I do know that OCR is much better than it was a couple of years ago.

g.

[dlminehart]

I thought about OCR, but most of the files are very graphics-intensive. I decided early on that a database with keywords was the way to go. Question is really what database. I'm considering FileMaker Pro, Extensis Portfolio, MySQL, and ???

Any other databases that handle PDFs? iPhoto doesn't, and i don't think Picasa does. I noticed something within Acrobat Pro itself that might have some possibilities.

FWIW, I'm actually surprised at how good the document feeder is on the Canon MF4270 multifunction. Out of more than 100 sheets, or more than 200 scans, of pages cut sometimes a bit raggedly out of the magazines, I only had one misfeed. I can queue up 20 or more pages, hit the scan button, and come back 10 minutes later to find it waiting for me to press the "store all in one file or as separate files" button.

[LarryG]

One of our members is offering a program called ShopFileR that has some interesting features, including a magazine index data base. You can download a trial version for free and take a look. It might solve not only this problem for you, but others as well. Even if it proves not right for you, it might give you some food for thought.

(I should mention the usual disclaimer: no connection to the author, no interest or compensation, etc etc etc. Nor do I have any actual experience using the program. I downloaded the trial version and put it on my old shop laptop, but its maximum screen resolution is 800x600 and ShopFileR appears to want something more than that.)

Other random thoughts that may or may not be useful:

For simple flat-file type data bases, I've found Excel to be as good as anything. I know there are both Win and Mac versions of Excel, and think the files they produce are the same, but I don't know if they are truly compatible.

But somewhat contrary to the above, I actually do most of my data basing using a Palm application called HanDBase, by DDH Software. They have versions for Windows, Pocket PC, Mac, and of course Palm. By keeping my data bases on my Treo smart phone, I always have the latest version with me, with no need to keep two different computers in sync. I don't know whether this in-your-pocket capability is anything you need or could use.

In addition to whatever fields you set up for publication title, issue, etc., you might want to include a field for URLs. This will allow you to record the locations of "articles" you find online that cannot be downloaded, but which you might want to refer to again in future. You could, for example, use this field to bookmark a thread here on BT3Central.

[skipwill]

Larry,

Thanks for the mention of ShopFileR. Sorry that it didnt work for you. In the beginning, i really tried to get everything to fit within 800x600 resolution, but just couldn't squeeze it all in...so i had to go up to 1024x768 as the minimum.

David,

I mainly wrote ShopFileR for my personal use to solve exactly the problem mentioned, plus a couple more<g>

1. I lost a link to the pins that I bought on the 'net for the plantation shutters that I had built...that started it<g>. I wanted also to keep track of the plans that i did for the shutters, plus some very helpful internet links. In the Projects section, this can be done as well as a bunch of other stuff related to the projects, such as finishing notes(etc.). You can go back to a project that you did years ago and still have the info on the project...plans, pictures, links, and notes...all together, filed by project

2. I had collected most of the manuals for my tools in pdf format and was having trouble keeping track of them, plus i needed a tool inventory with pictures, serial numbers, history, cost, etc for insurance purposes.

3. I was collecting a lot of forum (this and others) messages and pictures on various projects, jigs, hints, etc that I want to save for future use. Organizing and finding them again was beginning to be a real pain. Plus, on some forums (such as Woodnet) the pictures are not hosted on the forum but other sites and tend to dissappear. Messages also are deleted after a period of time. I started saving web pages as .mht files, which saves the entire web page, pics and all, in a nice concise format. I added the ability to ShopFileR to keep track of them.

4. I wanted to be able to take all this stuff with me when on the road in case I wanted to paruse a manual, work on some plans for future projects, have all my woodworking internet links, etc. ShopFileR will copy itself to a memory stick or another PC. It will also zip itself for backup purposes and optionally make the zip file self extracting.

So those were the biggies for me, but I ended up adding a bunch of other stuff as well, with the idea of the program living on the old pc in my workshop, with a backup to my home office pc.

The magazine index section does not currently have a place for a filename or link, but I can add that easily if you need it. The Notes and the e-Media sections do provide fields for links or filenames.

All,

Thanks for taking a look...You are welcome to download and give the program a try. As indicated, there is no drop dead date for registration (not doing this for the $$$...just to recoop some cost (code signing certificate, hosting, software, etc), so take your time...

If y'all have any questions or comments please feel free to let me know.

If you decide not to download it and give it a try, or if you do, and don't like it, I am especially interested in hearing your comments!

Thanks

[skipwill]

A quick update to my above reply .....

Some of y'all may have downloaded ShopFileR a week or so ago. Just wanted to let you know that links, files, etc can now be associated in the Magazine Index section. Scanned articles or complete magazines can be organized here.

On the main menu, go to 'Help', 'Check the Web for Updates'

Thanks