Orphalese Tarot Zone Community Forum

Hi All,

I just touched on this in another post in the Spread's part of the forum but I thought I'd post it with a full explanation here as well.

I wanted to know how you keep track of what spreads/decks etc you've downloaded from this forum?

If you are downloading the file to the same folder on your computer, I know it will alert you to say the file already exists but this only occurs once you are trying to save the file which wastes a bit of time when you are on a dial-up connection. It would be nice to be able to quickly glance at the download list and know instantly whether or not you've already downloaded it. (I've noticed that for some reason, visited links don't always show in the alternate colour in IE not sure if this is cookie/browser related on my workstation or on the Tarotzone server.)

And, what happens if you've shifted the deck/spread to another folder or renamed or deleted it?

Just curious to know what you all do.

Thanks
purple_scorp

Hmm, I'm replying to my own post. Is that akin to talking to yoursElf? Hey, I don't know purple_scorp, I guess it is, lol!

I know that a couple of you have replied to this in one of my other threads so I'm not too stressed about no replies here.

I just wanted to post my system of keeping track of my spreads/decks downloads (which is a bit labour-intensive but is better than having nothing).

I have only set this up so far for the deck downloads, so my instructions will be for them (but you can easily repeat the process for spreads and other downloads).

Instructions:

1. Open up the Deck Exchange Forum Page.

2. Set the Filters to: Sort by Name and Return a Maximum of 700 decks (it doesn’t have to be 700 as such, but it has to be a higher number than there are decks).

3. Click the Apply Filters button to run the Filter Query.

4. When the result is displayed, right-click on the table and click Select All, then right-click again and click Copy.

5. Open up a spreadsheet software program (I use Microsoft Excel).

6. Right-click in a cell and click Paste.

7. You can resize and reformat the cells if you desire.

8. I have added the following columns: download date, file name, card type, and folder where stored.

9. Once you have your initial list established, you can re-run the Filter and Sort by Date, and just add the new decks to your list. (I usually open up a second Excel sheet in the same book and dump the latest copy there, then cut and paste the new entries into my original sheet).

As I said, it is a little labour-intensive. Perhaps Richard, you might be able to provide us with a downloaded recording system at some stage????

Regards
purple_scorp

I meant to look at this before, but I was waiting to download and try the newest beta.

Okay, I'll be the other side of the preference and drive Richard crazy! I only keep about 1 out of 4 decks I download here, so to have them instantly recorded as downloaded wouldn't be too practical unless there was a field to also say when it had been deleted, and I can't see the point of keeping track of such minutae.

There is already a way to keep track of what you have installed and which folder it's in--in the deck management utility, so I am puzzled why an extra recording system for downloads is necessary--unless you download HUGE amounts of files and can't remember if you already previewed something by downloading it?

I am like you, a very detail-minded person, but I don't want to make my software feel like I'm updating a spreadsheet at work. Take pity VBG.

Hello jambalaya,

and thank you for your post and advice. I really appreciate learning and understanding how other people use this software.

You have said that you download decks but may only keep one in every four. So, I am going to assume that you have downloaded those four decks so that you can take a better look at all of the cards, to decide whether or not you want to keep any of those decks. Once you've decided, you discard those decks that you've no connection to, or liking for. If you like them, then you may go out and purchase your own copy. (I've already purchased two new decks that I first saw on Orphalese.)

If I have assumed correctly (and I apologise if my assumption is incorrect), then, this is exactly what I do too. However, I might do it on a larger scale, because I live in a small country town that does not have any shops where I can buy Tarot decks. So, I want to view lots of decks to see what's out there. I don't want to look at just one or two cards (which is what you see on the profile in the deck exchange section).....that's not enough for me to decide whether I like the deck or not. I need to see and get a feel for all of the cards in the deck. So, I end up downloading the entire deck. And, as there are so many decks on Orphalese, it's hard to remember which ones I've already viewed/downloaded/considered (and deleted where appropriate).

Sometimes, I change the deck names for various reasons (to reflect what type of deck they are, whether or not they include annotations (notes), and/or if I own a physical copy of the deck etc). So, I can't rely on the Deck Management Utility as the Source of all downloads.

As you could appreciate, It takes time and resources to download and view a deck, then reject or accept it into my deck collection. I'm just trying to find a way to streamline and/or improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the process.

regards
purple_scorp

I've tried to reply to this but I can't--it won't accept my message. I reload, I also completely quit the program and post again, and it won't accept it.