Digital Scrapbooking Software – Compare before You Buy

Digital scrapbooking is a craft that combines the best features of traditional scrapbooking with those of your computer. It lets you create images, photos, journaling, and extra “touches” to preserve your memories. Instead of gluing them on album pages, however, you preserve them in digital form on your computer or a CD. You may want to print your digital scrapbooking efforts to share with others, but many simply archive them on a CD that takes little space.

Digital Scrapbooking Software Programs

Digital scrapbooking on a simple scale can be done with software you probably have on your computer already. Microsoft Word is an example. You may choose, however, to purchase purpose-written digital scrapbooking software. Digital scrapbooking software will help you create a scrapbook easily, whether you are a novice or expert scrapbooker.

When choosing digital scrapbooking software, compare before you decide what to buy. The following, in alphabetical order, are our three choices from among the top programs.

* Art Explosion Scrapbook Factory Deluxe 3.0: This digital scrapbooking software is one of the best we have seen. It is easy and fun to use, featuring a simple drag and drop method. This software has over 5000 templates ready for your use, and lets you create your own templates in addition. You can edit photos, removing red from eyes, cropping, and lightening, to name a few easy tasks. The photos themselves can be imported from digital camera, scanner, or CD. Adding graphics is simple, using the thousands of graphics in the program or importing your own. A users’ manual helps you learn the program quickly, while a special website gives you an idea gallery. You can post your own completed projects in the gallery, if you wish. This is probably the top digital scrapbooking software. It’s cost? We found it for less than $30 on the Nova website.

* Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Designer Deluxe: This digital scrapbooking software has most of the features of the above. It is very easy to use, and offers more tools for editing photos than any other digital scrapbooking software we saw. You can do about anything you want to do with this, and for the price, it offers excellent value. We found it for under $20. Used copies on Amazon listed at $3 – with mixed reviews.

* My Scrapbook 2: Not as easy to use as the other two digital scrapbooking software programs, this one still is good. If you are computer literate, you should have little trouble, and the photo editing is good. It was disappointing to find that you could not download additional clipart, backgrounds, and borders. You also cannot make elements snap-to the guides. The price? About $25.

You will find many other digital scrapbooking software packages on the market. Take your time and study the features, as different people need different things. I always look for multiple undos, and of the above three, only the first offers that feature.

If you are comfortable with software such as Adobe PhotoShop, you may want to use that rather than purchase software specifically for digital scrapbooking.