Thanks for all your comments on this post, I do monitor the comments and aim to reply to each one. I updated this post in October 2023.
Creative Memories filed for bankruptcy in 2013, and here in Australia the company is no longer trading. The Creative Memories demonstrator network has been taken over by Close to my Heart. The future is uncertain for all of Creative Memories products, let alone their digital scrapbooking offerings.
But what about your Storybooks?
I've you've been using Storybook Creator, you will know that there have been a few changes over the past couple of years, and you can no longer print your books through Creative Memories. Fear not! I'll show you other options for printing today.
The Storybook Creator software was licensed to Creative Memories, Forever purchased Panstoria and their software is now available in the Forever store.
NEWSFLASH: You can use Artisan to open your Storybook Creator pages and use your supplies again! Historian replaces Creative Memories Memory Manager.
With Forever, you can print your old storybooks from within their new software. If you are interested in moving from Creative Memories software to Forever Artisan or Historia, you can book a free introductory session with me here.
If you have access to your existing software, I would strongly recommend you use the File - Save as feature to save all of your pages as JPG files so that you are able to print them using other photobook systems, such as Shutterfly's digi scrap style.
Where to from here?
As Creative Memories digital products are a sinking ship right now, you may be wondering what your options are. I have coached a number of Storybook Creator users and am happy to say that Photoshop Elements is the perfect thing to replace it.
One of my students Gina Zee shares:
Storybook Creator did have a Mac version at one time and I thought it would still be available. At least hoped it would be even with all the news about Creative Memories filing Bankruptcy. Alas, that was no longer an option.
So I have downloaded PSE and have been finally following my lessons from Melissa. I am finally ‘Getting It’. I promise you that if Melissa can get me past that mental block, she must be something special.
Get Started Digital Scrapbooking will take you from the very beginning and walk you through step by step through the process of building a layout. You’ll follow along with Melissa, using the same supplies as she does and in the end you’ll be thrilled with your new digital scrapbooking skills.
Rescue your Photos from Creative Memories Memory Manager
As for photo management, Creative Memories Memory Manager stores your photos in its own proprietary format, meaning you need the Creative Memories Memory Manager software to view your photos.
You'll just need to export the contents of the vault in Memory Manager into a folder so that you can import them into Photoshop Elements. Head to the Vault Menu, then click export vault. This is an essential step to be sure you keep all your metadata and story information. (If you keep the photos as they are in Memory Manager you will be able to import them but will lose the tagging and stories you added.) Be sure to export the vault as the first step.
When you move to PSE Organizer, it will work with your photos where they are stored doesn't move/copy them into a new location. To learn more, I have a class specifically teaching how to organize your photos with Photoshop Elements. Organizing for Absolute Beginners will walk you through collecting all your photos into one home base and getting them organized with the automatic organizing features in Photoshop Elements Organizer saving you hours of tedious tagging.
Are you wondering how to continue without Creative Memories?
Let me know if you have more questions in the comments, I'm keen to help.
I am an Amazon affiliate so may receive a commission if you make a purchase.
This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click through that link and purchase an item, I may receive a commission for referring the sale.
I only recommend classes and products that I know and trust. Thank you for using my link if you decide to purchase.
Melissa Shanhun is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
About Melissa Shanhun
Melissa Shanhun is a Aussie mum of four and avid digital scrapbooker. She loves to show others how fun and easy it can be to record your precious memories with tech tools like Photoshop Elements.
Comments
Kathy Simkinssays
I had the Creative Memories programs from the very beginning. They had several problems. When I updated computers there was always a problem with them saying that I had used my limit on how many computers I could put the software on. Very discouraging to pay for a software program and only have it on your computer for 2 weeks and have your computer crash. I was so mad that I swore I would never buy any software from them again. Their paper scrapbooking tools were some of the best on the market and I still use them for lots of things. It is too bad that they have gone under.
Of course! I have been trying to learn on PSE 9 with some success. I have PSE 11 that I haven’t installed yet. Life has been too busy this summer to even catch my breath. I have a goal of taking all of tomorrow afternoon to do your free classes that you have e-mailed to me. I have to do something creative for myself or I am going to go nuts. I am so far behind with my scrapbooking that I know that I have to just move forward. I have 10 grandchildren. I was doing really well with keeping up with them as they were coming along and then the “cousin twins” came along. Both of my daughter-in-laws had a baby on the same day in the same hospital! The first girl born in my husband’s family in 62 years and that afternoon a little boy. They just turned 6. There have been 3 more little ones since and I am just swamped. Digi scrapping has to be the answer. I am seldom home and I can’t take my paper scrapping with me to tend the kids, So I will be spending a lot of time with your voice in my ear. I have ordered your wonderful starter kit so at the very least I can learn how even if I don’t have it all together to actually get it done.
Hi! So glad to find this page. I was googling what to do with my photos now that CM is gone–I never used Storybook Creator much, and I’m familiar with Photoshop, so I’m not too worried there (except for the cost of Photoshop). My concern is how to move my photos out of their “memory vault” without losing the metadata–I’ve journaled about a bunch of my photos. Is there a way to get all that info, not just the images, out of Memory Manager?
Share your photos to a file on your desktop or wherever you want. – JodieR
Oh and if you open up your vault you will see that they never stopped being normal files, they’re just not organized in a logical manner – JodieR
my pc crashed I have the Memory manager and storybook cd 2 I paid for the digital download of 3 & 4 but I went to reinstall them and I can’t.. what do I do.. I paid for the programs but because the site is no longer up I can’t activate the programs.. uggg help plz…. KittensKreations3@yahoo.com
I opened Memory Manager a couple of days ago, and I can no longer open my memory vault. It is no where to be found. Do you know what that could mean? Are all my pictures gone or do you think they have been moved around with the new ownership? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Hi! I have Memory Manager 4.0. I hadn’t used the program in a few months, but over the holidays went to add pictures to the vault. When I open the software, the program recognizes my memory vault, the data and cover photo. However, when I click on my media library I see my vault details and the thumbnail names, and files for images but can not access or see any images. I was concerned it was related to MM and decided to take the plunge and purchase Historian. Unfortunately, the same problem happen. The Panstoria tech suggest might be a problem with my external hard drive. I have looked on my hard drive an can see only the CM, MM, and SB files but I feel like my pictures are “stuck” in the vault. I think I need the software to view the vault, but I can not access the vault thru either software programs. Feeling scared right now….does any one know if there is a way to get your images out of the vault format. I don’t really care about the software right now – just don’t want to loose over 23,000 images. If you can advise or direct, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
When I transferred from MM3 to MM4 many of my pictures are white squares with red X’s on the thumbnails. The picture is still there but I cannot see them without going into each one individually. Can I fix this in MM4? Will I need to purchase Historian? Will that resolve the problem?
It depends 🙂 If you want it to be similar to CM SBC, then go for Artisan. (not sure if CM products carry over)
I personally recommend Photoshop Elements as it’s super popular so easy to get help with. Plus the Organizer is pretty automated and you spend less time tagging (photos).
I will save all my album pages as Jpg’s so I can print elsewhere but is there a way that I can export my SBC content that I purchased so I can use that in a new format as well or is ALL of that money lost? I had purchased a lot of content as an ex consultant…
I’ve spoken to a friend of mine who’s a bit of an SBC expert and she said:
The content is on the hard drive, but all bundled into a .package file that no one knows how to use outside of the software.
In my mind, there are two options;
2. If you still have the software, you can manually save each embellishment. Karen did a video on this and it’s at the bottom of her videos page here: http://photoskeptalive.com/?section=videos
Have you printed the pages you saved as jpgs? I’m wondering at the quality of the pages saved in this format and then transferred to another program/website for printing. TIA.
Gah! PSE is horrible! It is so not user friendly at all – I cant even get photos to upload without having two different parts open. Why so hard? #wasteofmoneyforme 🙁
For CM Memory Manager, just go the vault menu and export the whole vault to your home base folder for your photos. All the metadata (story information) will come along with them.
You can then import them into Photoshop Elements 🙂 I hope this helps!
My computer crashed, so can no longer pull up the software to access the vault. Plus, my external hard drive back up got broken for me by some un-named family member. I had a software developer write code to not only help me get all 10 years of photos, but in the categories I had put them in. I am putting them in Photoshop Elements, a company that seems to have good staying power. I feel sorry for everyone out there suffering through this, but there are solutions. Good luck!!
Oh Kellie I’m sorry to hear that you had this hassle. Adobe is pretty committed to their systems – PLUS you can write the metadata to file easily (File – Write Metadata) to keep everything secure!
I have spent hours tagging all my content in CM Storybook 4.0. Does Photoshop have the capability to tag embellishments and paper? Second question can I import all the tags that I have already created into Photoshop? I have over 400 personal art kits and I like to use different embellishments from different kits to create a project. I would hate to lose all that work and have to start over.
Also can Photoshop create a calendar event list that will populate birthday and anniversary dates into a new calendar each year?
Thank you for your great knowledge on digital scrapbooking.
I’ve been out of digital scrapbooking for a little. Do you have success with creating pages in Creative Memories’s Storybook Creator Plus and then getting Shutterfly to print them in books? Should I export the pages as .jpgs and them import into a Shutterfly book? I know how to do that, I’m just not sure of the quality of the print if I’m saving the entire page as a .jpg and then trying to print as an 8×11 page in a book. I tried to do that but have no way to zoom the preview on Shutterfly to know about the quality. I don’t want to not use my SBC as I have a ton of content and I’m adept at the program. But I’d rather not pay panstoria’s price if I don’t have to. I have a little guy who is turning 1 in a few weeks and I’d like to make his first book. TIA!
Hi Kathy – Yes, just save them as the high quality (larger file) jpg. The easiest way toi know if they will print well is to check the pixel width – if it’s more the say 2000 it will look just fine at 8×11
Angie, your pictures are still on your hard drive, but maybe not organized the way MM did. BUT they ARE there. My first suggestion is to go buy Historian as it will automatically sync with your MM vault.
If you prefer to do something else, here are some ideas for helping to find those pictures. If you remember the name of your vault, you can search your hard drive for it. Then under that directory (folder), look for a folder called Items. Inside that is a bunch of folders named as numbers (00, 01, 02 etc). That is where your pictures are located. MM (and Historian) does it that way to help prevent accidental deletion.
I hope this helped! Feel free to share your additional questions. Cheers!
It seems ridiculous to ask for clarification but if I export my vault to PSE, all of the details attached will show up in the new program? The name of the photo, date taken and story attached to the photo? I have a bazillion triplicates in my Memory Manager (from merged vaults) and I would like to thin it down. (Most of the extra copies don’t have names and stories, only one of them, if that even matters.) I simply need a way to thin the vault without having to manually delete the extras…………is that possible? I have MM3 but know I will need to upgrade to something else when this PC quits.
Just export to the vault then all the metadata (names/photos/date/story) is written into the JPEG file
I am not sure about duplicates in MM3, but PSE doesn’t import duplicates (BUT I’m not sure exactly how it deals with files with metadata vs without). What you can do is export all the vaults then run a duplicate photo finder program to clean it up first. I’ll see if I can find one to recommend to you. What version of Windows are you running?
Hi Jennie, Memory Manager does save the meta data to the photo file. So when you import those files into PSE I’d expect the data to be there. I’ve not tested this so I suggest you try one or two photos (especially ones with stories) and try it first.
I had MM 3 and my computer did an update so MM3 no longer worked. I upgraded to Historian so I could access my vaults. I exported one of my vaults and imported it into PSE13. The story info didn’t import into the program. The date is also incorrect on many of the pictures that I scanned in. I think it’s using the scanned date and not the real date I typed into MM. What other options do we have to retrieve all that information added to MM and now stuck in the program besides using Historian? What if Historian goes away like MM did? I have spent hours tagging and adding stories to 25,000+ pictures.
If you export the vault it should write this information to the file.There are several places date metadata is stored. Perhaps we need to look closely at the files. You are welcome to email one to help@digiscraphq.com and I’ll see what I can do.
I don’t know how old these posts are but today is Nov. 15, 2017. I have a couple books that I made up through CM but never had the money to have them printed and then my husband died and I lost interest. Now I would like to print my books. How can I do that?
It depends on how old your computer is and if you can still open the CM Software on that computer. If so, you can save your project pages as. .jpg images and upload into any photo book provider.
Alternatively, if you want to keep using the same product CM offered, you can purchase Artisan from Forever. It’s on sale this month too! I’ll let Melissa post her Ambassador link so you can buy from her.
Just so you know, all your projects and images are still on your computer and we can help you retrieve them.
I have done more research on metadata and found it embedded in the details of the picture. PSE does not put the “story” information in the “notes” information. It is under metadata – user comments, which is hard to find. I know now that I can find the information that I’ve put into MM and Historian outside those programs if I need to. What a relief! For now I will continue to use Historian, but if there is any sign they will be going out of business, I will immediately upgrade to PSE or a similar program.
Jeanna! I’m glad you worked it out. I am in Australia so only just got up to see your comment.
Adobe doesn’t display every field in the PSE file info tab (but they’ve had this field mentioned to them so perhaps in the future?), but you should also be view the metadata in Windows also in the Details tab of File Properties on your images
Jenna, I’m glad you found that the data is intact! Panstoria (the company that makes Historian) is committed to sticking around so my fingers are crossed. I’m in the process of doing a video about meta data in Historian so stay tuned! http://www.photoskeptalive.com
This may have already been addressed, but I haven’t read all the comments…. My Computer crashed and I had to buy a new one. I was able to save the hard drive and recovered all of my photos on the new computer. But as you know they are filed randomly. I have PSE. I put all the pics into PSE, please tell me I don’t have to re-tag everything. They are all still in their random folders. How can I type in birthdays and find all my birthday pictures again, or Michigan and find all our vacation pictures, without spending hours scavenging through 70 folders? Please help!!! Thank you!
Writing the Metadata is a setting, so if you had it set up to write metadata the tags *should* be there and easy to find in PSE. Here’s a video from my friend Karen about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE-H6plsaas
I had Memory Manager on my laptop a while back, and it accidentally got deleted. I can still see all my pictures, but they are all just a little bigger then a thumbnail. Is there anything I can do to get the regular sized picture back? I don’t believe I have the disk anymore for Memory Manager, and if I do I have no idea where it is
HI Jennifer – my friend Karen is a Memory Manager expert – she has a tutorial that may help you http://photoskeptalive.com/?section=tutorials
Look for Finding your Images from Memory Manager
I need to find my activation code for SBC 4. My computer crashed and I was not able to keep any programs. I have found my codes for my product I have bought. Can anyone help me find my code so I don’t lose all my albums I have done. Thanks.
Sorry Daniella – even if you had the activation code it won’t work. You’ll need to purchase Artisan (http://digiscraphq.com/artisan) to be able to open your albums now – unless you exported them all to JPEG files.
Thanks Melissa, I did purchase artisan, but I am having trouble with that one too. I tried to activate, I entered the number but could get no further. The only option was to cancel.
Hi Daniella – are you using the new Historian code? If so Panstoria will need to help you – email support@panstoria.com. They are usually very prompt to reply
How long ago did you purchase? Although it shouldn’t matter, that is helpful information to know. May I also suggest you try to login to your account at Panstoria as they show all your activation codes. It could be that there’s a typo.
I upgraded to Windows 10 and cannot open Memory Manager, I have backups of the Vault will that work to move Photoshop elements or do I need to move the backup to another Win 7 machine and open it to export first?
I moved my creative memorie art kit and now it does not show up in my storybook creator? Where should this file be kept? I see the folder but do not know where to put it? Help please!
1) Open the software
2) Go to Manage Content
3) In Artisan, there’s a link for “Add folder to library” on the left side. (in Storybook but I think there’s something similar to that command too)
Hi i was wondering if you could point me in the right direction! My laptop decided to update to windows 10 before i could stop it and i lost my StoryBook creator plus 3.0 it wont let me download it again as the serial number has been used and no one can give me any help apart from download mystory digital…..however i don’t use my storybook for scrapbooking i use it for my business and print pages off single i don’t make books without telling everyone what i do ha ha. wondering if you can let me know if there is something available that i can use and save items as a jpeg for printing? sorry if this makes no sense 🙂
I have a book on storybook creator 4.0 that I did not get printed and I’d like to print it now but how?? I don’t really want to pay $60 to buy the other program to pay another fee to print my book :/ I will just use Shutterfly from here on out most likely. Any suggestions? Also how do I get my memory vault back?! :/
I know this is an old post, but I did find it helpful.
FYI, The trial of Historian does not let me open a vault that was created with a previous version of the application. I was hoping to export my photos to use in Adobe Lightroom.
I was hoping this would work since, the exports from Memory Manager 2.0 do not have the “Tell the Story” and adjusted or entered dates are in the date modified field, so that would have to be moved manually one by one.
5/5/2017
Hello Melissa. Newbie here. Actually my wife is (or was) the Creative Memories user. My role is to try to figure out what is going to happen to our Creative Memories photo library when we upgrade to Windows 10. Will everything come across with the upgrade or will it be lost? I’ll recommend my wife get in touch regarding where to go from here with photo scrapbooking. Thanks.
Hi, I haven’t scrapped for a while and went to access all my photos in memory manager and of course cannot access them – I am not into digital scrappbooking at this stage but print my photos as needed – please what is the best way to access my photos – what do I need to do ?
thank you
The digital packages from previous CM SBC software is compatible.
Artisan includes 4 kits plus access to dozens of freebies in the store. However, there are still a lot more kits you can purchase too 🙂 I hope this helps!
So glad to have found this site. I created multiple storybooks back in 2010. After battling a serious illness I am now ready to finish them. At that time I had a pc. It has crashed and now I have a mac. The books are saved to an external drive. If I understand what I am reading, Historian or Artisian will allow me to access them again. correct? And will their programs work on a mac?
hI – and help! I just completed a digital scrapbook using Storybook creator, but have not done one in a long time. The last time I was able to export the whole thing to Panstoria and it was printed for me. But when I tried to do it this time, I did not achieve any link to Panstoria. What do I do???
If your computer is older and only 32-bit, you can buy Artisan 4 for 32 bit machines (check your settings and it will tell you). If you are using Windows XP or Vista that is the one for you. There’s more details here: http://digiscraphq.com/artisan
Then you just open your project and you’ll be able to print right away.
Does Forever edit the the same as Creative Memories did? I used the CM editor to “cut” a firepit out of a picture and replaced it with leaves. You could not tell the difference! I have not found an app that was as easy to use as CM. Thanks for your help.
I have completed many pages in my CM Storybook software as well as purchased several pre-designed pages. Is there a way to convert them to Photoshop? Instead of investing in more software that may not be able to use a couple years later, I’d like to switch to Adobe.
You can save your pages as JPG files for print or opening in PSE. But there’s no way to convert them for easy editing in PSE. I’d suggest that you complete the predesigned pages in SBC, then move on up to Photoshop.
Melissa, I know it has been a long time since this discussion started. If you get this, I’d like some info on Storybook Creator Plus. I had the program on my computer and was still able to use my purchased embellishments, paper, etc. I just printed them at home. Well, I got a new computer and somehow lost my program. I cannot find disc 1. I see where I can purchase it from Amazon. My questions is: If I purchase a new copy, will I be able to sign in and still have my purchases? If you can help, I’d appreciate it. My email is: llfenstermaker@frontier.com. Thank you.
You won’t be able use Storybook Creator even if you purchase the program and install it. It is no longer able to be activated. So you will need to go ahead and purchase Artisan, the new software that replaces SBC. http://digiscraphq.com/artisan
You won’t have your past purchases unless you still have the downloaded and the receipts to re-activate them.
Hi – I was wondering if you might be able to help me. I’m trying to put the pieces back together from an old PC that had Creative Memories and a directory called My Memory Vault, on a new system. Anyways, my friend wants to pull up some old pictures with annotations and it was not working. I have a new PC that I set up with Win 10 and also downloaded a copy of Historian from “Forever.com”, yet Historian does not recognize the “My Memory Vault” as a vault. Would you have any time to perhaps steer me into some sort of direction? I would appreciate any help! Cheers.
Hi Melissa im hoping that you are able to assist. I had CM storybook creator 4.0 and was successfully using the program up until my computer got a virus. As a result I lost everything on my computer.
Since having this fixed, I have attempted to download the program again but as I don’t have the activation codes, (also lost) this has not been possible.
I have contacted my story and forever and they are not able to assist. Are you aware of any way to be able to download the program and subsequent digital contents that I have discs for. Unfortunately I had a number ie overlays and some pages, that we sent via email which were some of my most frequently used tools that also have lost.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad new, Janette, but you will need to purchase Artisan and begin a new collection of supplies if you don’t have access to the old ones or the activation codes.
thanks Melissa. I am in the process of purchasing Artisan probably 5 over 4. i have been given some CM discs but i am not sure if she purchased artisan and activated them. If she has, what impact will there be if i install them and activate them?
I’m interested in photoshop elements. Do you need a previous software to use vol 15? I downloaded a free copy but it is not working and adobe is not much help.
Hi, I’m doing some research because my computer crashed and I had Memory Manger 4.0 for years. But now I don’t know how to recover that as I’m being told it’s something else now? I have thousands of pics on Memory Manger. Do you know how I can recover these without buying another product?
Hi, I have Storybook Creator, and I am missing a passcode for Reminisce Heritage, I have it, but I can’t use it as I am missing this.
Any ideas, I started a project a long time ago, I now want to finish it.
I still have Memory Manager and Scrapbook Creator on my Windows PC. I am moving to a MacBook so no Artisan to move to. I know I can export my photos from Memory Manager. But, I have over 325 Storybook Creator kits that I don’t want to lose the contents of. Is there a way to export them to use with PSE or another program? Oh please help! That is a lot of money for kits that I would have to give up if I can’t export/import the contents somehow.
I had the Creative Memories programs from the very beginning. They had several problems. When I updated computers there was always a problem with them saying that I had used my limit on how many computers I could put the software on. Very discouraging to pay for a software program and only have it on your computer for 2 weeks and have your computer crash. I was so mad that I swore I would never buy any software from them again. Their paper scrapbooking tools were some of the best on the market and I still use them for lots of things. It is too bad that they have gone under.
Hi Kathy – sounds frustrating! Did you move over to PSE for your digital scrapbooking then?
Of course! I have been trying to learn on PSE 9 with some success. I have PSE 11 that I haven’t installed yet. Life has been too busy this summer to even catch my breath. I have a goal of taking all of tomorrow afternoon to do your free classes that you have e-mailed to me. I have to do something creative for myself or I am going to go nuts. I am so far behind with my scrapbooking that I know that I have to just move forward. I have 10 grandchildren. I was doing really well with keeping up with them as they were coming along and then the “cousin twins” came along. Both of my daughter-in-laws had a baby on the same day in the same hospital! The first girl born in my husband’s family in 62 years and that afternoon a little boy. They just turned 6. There have been 3 more little ones since and I am just swamped. Digi scrapping has to be the answer. I am seldom home and I can’t take my paper scrapping with me to tend the kids, So I will be spending a lot of time with your voice in my ear. I have ordered your wonderful starter kit so at the very least I can learn how even if I don’t have it all together to actually get it done.
Hi! So glad to find this page. I was googling what to do with my photos now that CM is gone–I never used Storybook Creator much, and I’m familiar with Photoshop, so I’m not too worried there (except for the cost of Photoshop). My concern is how to move my photos out of their “memory vault” without losing the metadata–I’ve journaled about a bunch of my photos. Is there a way to get all that info, not just the images, out of Memory Manager?
Thanks so much!
Hi Amanda
I’ve had a look, but all I can find it this: http://media.creativememories.com/PDFs/MoveMemoryManager.pdf
http://antiochcompany.cachefly.net/restructuring/DigitalFAQs.pdf
BUT I’ve asked on their Facebook page and will be back if/when I get answer 🙂
Thanks for your comment!
Here’s their response 🙂
Share your photos to a file on your desktop or wherever you want. – JodieR
Oh and if you open up your vault you will see that they never stopped being normal files, they’re just not organized in a logical manner – JodieR
my pc crashed I have the Memory manager and storybook cd 2 I paid for the digital download of 3 & 4 but I went to reinstall them and I can’t.. what do I do.. I paid for the programs but because the site is no longer up I can’t activate the programs.. uggg help plz…. KittensKreations3@yahoo.com
Hi Cassandra – email support@panstoria.com
http://www.panstoria.com/help_zone/ will have the info you need!
Hope this helps
🙂 Melissa
I opened Memory Manager a couple of days ago, and I can no longer open my memory vault. It is no where to be found. Do you know what that could mean? Are all my pictures gone or do you think they have been moved around with the new ownership? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Carrie – Panstoria owns that product so I’d suggest you email support@panstoria.com
Hope this helps
🙂 Melissa
I had the program and I was just learning it and now my husband reformatted my computer. what should I do now?
Hi Sharie
You can download and install the new My Story software here:
http://www.mystory.com.au/
That way you can open your old pages and save them as JPG files for printing.
I hope this helps!
🙂 Melissa
My question is where to get the digital albums printed? I have my 2013 album complete and no where to get it printed with the same high quality of CM.
Hi
The first thing to do is export your pages as high quality jpeg files.
If you like a photo look: http://www.digitalscrapbookinghq.com/adorama
If you like a magazine like photobooks try http://www.digitalscrapbookinghq.com/shutterfly or
http://www.digitalscrapbookinghq.com/snapfish
You can even get leather covers with Shutterfly 🙂
I hope this helps!
Hi! I have Memory Manager 4.0. I hadn’t used the program in a few months, but over the holidays went to add pictures to the vault. When I open the software, the program recognizes my memory vault, the data and cover photo. However, when I click on my media library I see my vault details and the thumbnail names, and files for images but can not access or see any images. I was concerned it was related to MM and decided to take the plunge and purchase Historian. Unfortunately, the same problem happen. The Panstoria tech suggest might be a problem with my external hard drive. I have looked on my hard drive an can see only the CM, MM, and SB files but I feel like my pictures are “stuck” in the vault. I think I need the software to view the vault, but I can not access the vault thru either software programs. Feeling scared right now….does any one know if there is a way to get your images out of the vault format. I don’t really care about the software right now – just don’t want to loose over 23,000 images. If you can advise or direct, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
Hi Kristi
You can certainly get your photos out of the vault.
Go to the Vault menu, then Export Vault.
All of your photos will be safely exported 🙂
If somehow the external hard drive has changed its drive letter (say from e to f) that may be causing the problem.
Let me know how you go.
I think I am very confused………..can I move my CM MM files into PE9?
You can certainly get your photos out of the vault.
Go to the Vault menu, then Export Vault.
All of your photos will be safely exported 🙂
then you just import those photos into the PSE9 Organizer.
i hope this helps
When I transferred from MM3 to MM4 many of my pictures are white squares with red X’s on the thumbnails. The picture is still there but I cannot see them without going into each one individually. Can I fix this in MM4? Will I need to purchase Historian? Will that resolve the problem?
Christina it sounds like you need to regenerate the thumbnails.
I suggest you contact Panstoria for help on this. 🙂
support@panstoria.com
🙂 Melissa
So the big question is Panastoria or PS for a SBC 4 & MM 4 user??? I have lots of digital content not all cm
Hi Mimi
It depends 🙂 If you want it to be similar to CM SBC, then go for Artisan. (not sure if CM products carry over)
I personally recommend Photoshop Elements as it’s super popular so easy to get help with. Plus the Organizer is pretty automated and you spend less time tagging (photos).
Are CM products useable in PSE?
You can use the unpacked files in PSE, as they are PNG and JPEG images, but the .package files and the templates (.page files) won’t work in PSE.
I hope this helps!
I will save all my album pages as Jpg’s so I can print elsewhere but is there a way that I can export my SBC content that I purchased so I can use that in a new format as well or is ALL of that money lost? I had purchased a lot of content as an ex consultant…
Hi Kari
I’ve spoken to a friend of mine who’s a bit of an SBC expert and she said:
The content is on the hard drive, but all bundled into a .package file that no one knows how to use outside of the software.
In my mind, there are two options;
1. Purchase Artisan http://www.digitalscrapbookinghq.com/artisan
2. If you still have the software, you can manually save each embellishment. Karen did a video on this and it’s at the bottom of her videos page here: http://photoskeptalive.com/?section=videos
Hopefully this will be some help to you!
Let us know how you go.
I don’t see Karen’s video on her page, is it possibly gone now? Do you know exactly where I might be able to obtain it?
Have you printed the pages you saved as jpgs? I’m wondering at the quality of the pages saved in this format and then transferred to another program/website for printing. TIA.
I haven’t printed yet. I have 2 books ready to print but haven’t actually purchased/printed them yet.
Gah! PSE is horrible! It is so not user friendly at all – I cant even get photos to upload without having two different parts open. Why so hard? #wasteofmoneyforme 🙁
Sorry to hear you are having issues with PSE Clancy. Not sure what you mean by having two parts open.
Are you trying to upload photos to Facebook/Flickr etc?
Or are you trying to download them from your camera/card to your computer?
I’d be happy to help!
🙂 Melissa
a little late to the discussion. can i download my current photos that are in memory manager into photoshop elements.
Hi Renee
For CM Memory Manager, just go the vault menu and export the whole vault to your home base folder for your photos. All the metadata (story information) will come along with them.
You can then import them into Photoshop Elements 🙂 I hope this helps!
My computer crashed, so can no longer pull up the software to access the vault. Plus, my external hard drive back up got broken for me by some un-named family member. I had a software developer write code to not only help me get all 10 years of photos, but in the categories I had put them in. I am putting them in Photoshop Elements, a company that seems to have good staying power. I feel sorry for everyone out there suffering through this, but there are solutions. Good luck!!
Oh Kellie I’m sorry to hear that you had this hassle. Adobe is pretty committed to their systems – PLUS you can write the metadata to file easily (File – Write Metadata) to keep everything secure!
I have spent hours tagging all my content in CM Storybook 4.0. Does Photoshop have the capability to tag embellishments and paper? Second question can I import all the tags that I have already created into Photoshop? I have over 400 personal art kits and I like to use different embellishments from different kits to create a project. I would hate to lose all that work and have to start over.
Also can Photoshop create a calendar event list that will populate birthday and anniversary dates into a new calendar each year?
Thank you for your great knowledge on digital scrapbooking.
Hi Melodie
Photoshop Elements certainly does. I have a class all about PSE Organizer here: http://digitalscrapbookinghq.com/gosupplies
I don’t know if the tagging will come through, but I’m asking a friend who’s more familiar with SBC to fill me in on that one.
As for the Calendar even list, I’ll have to look into that further too. I know you can create a calendar though.
Thanks for your comment!
🙂 Melissa
I’ve been out of digital scrapbooking for a little. Do you have success with creating pages in Creative Memories’s Storybook Creator Plus and then getting Shutterfly to print them in books? Should I export the pages as .jpgs and them import into a Shutterfly book? I know how to do that, I’m just not sure of the quality of the print if I’m saving the entire page as a .jpg and then trying to print as an 8×11 page in a book. I tried to do that but have no way to zoom the preview on Shutterfly to know about the quality. I don’t want to not use my SBC as I have a ton of content and I’m adept at the program. But I’d rather not pay panstoria’s price if I don’t have to. I have a little guy who is turning 1 in a few weeks and I’d like to make his first book. TIA!
Hi Kathy – Yes, just save them as the high quality (larger file) jpg. The easiest way toi know if they will print well is to check the pixel width – if it’s more the say 2000 it will look just fine at 8×11
Thank you so much for your reply. It’s approx 3375×2625, so I guess it’s fine.
Yes! 🙂 Hopefully they will turn out just perfect for you!
Hi Melissa, I have two album covers I would like printed. Any suggestions?
I’d save them as JPEG files, then upload them to your favourite online printing service 🙂 Hope this helps!
I cannot open mm3.0 at all, I get an error stating that it can’t be opened. IS there a way to get around this problem to get to my vaults?
Angie, your pictures are still on your hard drive, but maybe not organized the way MM did. BUT they ARE there. My first suggestion is to go buy Historian as it will automatically sync with your MM vault.
If you prefer to do something else, here are some ideas for helping to find those pictures. If you remember the name of your vault, you can search your hard drive for it. Then under that directory (folder), look for a folder called Items. Inside that is a bunch of folders named as numbers (00, 01, 02 etc). That is where your pictures are located. MM (and Historian) does it that way to help prevent accidental deletion.
I hope this helped! Feel free to share your additional questions. Cheers!
Thanks Karen for your input! 🙂
It seems ridiculous to ask for clarification but if I export my vault to PSE, all of the details attached will show up in the new program? The name of the photo, date taken and story attached to the photo? I have a bazillion triplicates in my Memory Manager (from merged vaults) and I would like to thin it down. (Most of the extra copies don’t have names and stories, only one of them, if that even matters.) I simply need a way to thin the vault without having to manually delete the extras…………is that possible? I have MM3 but know I will need to upgrade to something else when this PC quits.
Jennie – not ridiculous at all. 🙂
Just export to the vault then all the metadata (names/photos/date/story) is written into the JPEG file
I am not sure about duplicates in MM3, but PSE doesn’t import duplicates (BUT I’m not sure exactly how it deals with files with metadata vs without). What you can do is export all the vaults then run a duplicate photo finder program to clean it up first. I’ll see if I can find one to recommend to you. What version of Windows are you running?
🙂 Melissa
Hi Jennie, Memory Manager does save the meta data to the photo file. So when you import those files into PSE I’d expect the data to be there. I’ve not tested this so I suggest you try one or two photos (especially ones with stories) and try it first.
I had MM 3 and my computer did an update so MM3 no longer worked. I upgraded to Historian so I could access my vaults. I exported one of my vaults and imported it into PSE13. The story info didn’t import into the program. The date is also incorrect on many of the pictures that I scanned in. I think it’s using the scanned date and not the real date I typed into MM. What other options do we have to retrieve all that information added to MM and now stuck in the program besides using Historian? What if Historian goes away like MM did? I have spent hours tagging and adding stories to 25,000+ pictures.
If you export the vault it should write this information to the file.There are several places date metadata is stored. Perhaps we need to look closely at the files. You are welcome to email one to help@digiscraphq.com and I’ll see what I can do.
I don’t know how old these posts are but today is Nov. 15, 2017. I have a couple books that I made up through CM but never had the money to have them printed and then my husband died and I lost interest. Now I would like to print my books. How can I do that?
It depends on how old your computer is and if you can still open the CM Software on that computer. If so, you can save your project pages as. .jpg images and upload into any photo book provider.
Alternatively, if you want to keep using the same product CM offered, you can purchase Artisan from Forever. It’s on sale this month too! I’ll let Melissa post her Ambassador link so you can buy from her.
Just so you know, all your projects and images are still on your computer and we can help you retrieve them.
Thanks Karen!
Fran you can head to http://digiscraphq.com/forever and click products to purchase Artisan 🙂
I hope this helps.
I have done more research on metadata and found it embedded in the details of the picture. PSE does not put the “story” information in the “notes” information. It is under metadata – user comments, which is hard to find. I know now that I can find the information that I’ve put into MM and Historian outside those programs if I need to. What a relief! For now I will continue to use Historian, but if there is any sign they will be going out of business, I will immediately upgrade to PSE or a similar program.
Jeanna! I’m glad you worked it out. I am in Australia so only just got up to see your comment.
Adobe doesn’t display every field in the PSE file info tab (but they’ve had this field mentioned to them so perhaps in the future?), but you should also be view the metadata in Windows also in the Details tab of File Properties on your images
Jenna, I’m glad you found that the data is intact! Panstoria (the company that makes Historian) is committed to sticking around so my fingers are crossed. I’m in the process of doing a video about meta data in Historian so stay tuned!
http://www.photoskeptalive.com
Cheers, Karen
Do you know of anyway to print books that were made in the Mac version of Storybook Creator?
Hi Jen – you can save the pages as JPEGs then upload them to any printing service. I hope this helps!
This may have already been addressed, but I haven’t read all the comments…. My Computer crashed and I had to buy a new one. I was able to save the hard drive and recovered all of my photos on the new computer. But as you know they are filed randomly. I have PSE. I put all the pics into PSE, please tell me I don’t have to re-tag everything. They are all still in their random folders. How can I type in birthdays and find all my birthday pictures again, or Michigan and find all our vacation pictures, without spending hours scavenging through 70 folders? Please help!!! Thank you!
Writing the Metadata is a setting, so if you had it set up to write metadata the tags *should* be there and easy to find in PSE. Here’s a video from my friend Karen about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE-H6plsaas
I had Memory Manager on my laptop a while back, and it accidentally got deleted. I can still see all my pictures, but they are all just a little bigger then a thumbnail. Is there anything I can do to get the regular sized picture back? I don’t believe I have the disk anymore for Memory Manager, and if I do I have no idea where it is
HI Jennifer – my friend Karen is a Memory Manager expert – she has a tutorial that may help you http://photoskeptalive.com/?section=tutorials
Look for Finding your Images from Memory Manager
Hi Jennifer – sorry for the late reply! My friend Karen has a tutorial on that very question here: http://photoskeptalive.com/?section=tutorials
I need to find my activation code for SBC 4. My computer crashed and I was not able to keep any programs. I have found my codes for my product I have bought. Can anyone help me find my code so I don’t lose all my albums I have done. Thanks.
Sorry Daniella – even if you had the activation code it won’t work. You’ll need to purchase Artisan (http://digiscraphq.com/artisan) to be able to open your albums now – unless you exported them all to JPEG files.
Thanks Melissa, I did purchase artisan, but I am having trouble with that one too. I tried to activate, I entered the number but could get no further. The only option was to cancel.
Hi Daniella – are you using the new Historian code? If so Panstoria will need to help you – email support@panstoria.com. They are usually very prompt to reply
Hi Daniella,
How long ago did you purchase? Although it shouldn’t matter, that is helpful information to know. May I also suggest you try to login to your account at Panstoria as they show all your activation codes. It could be that there’s a typo.
Karen
I upgraded to Windows 10 and cannot open Memory Manager, I have backups of the Vault will that work to move Photoshop elements or do I need to move the backup to another Win 7 machine and open it to export first?
Hi Thomas
This tutorial from Karen at PhotosKeptAlive.com may help you find your images: http://photoskeptalive.com/files/resourcesmodule/5360300237785/Finding_your_images_from_Memory_Manager.pdf
You can then move that whole folder to your new computer and import it into PSE. The tags should be transferred.
I moved my creative memorie art kit and now it does not show up in my storybook creator? Where should this file be kept? I see the folder but do not know where to put it? Help please!
Hi Kimberley – give this a try…
1) Open the software
2) Go to Manage Content
3) In Artisan, there’s a link for “Add folder to library” on the left side. (in Storybook but I think there’s something similar to that command too)
Hope this helps!
🙂 Melissa
Hi i was wondering if you could point me in the right direction! My laptop decided to update to windows 10 before i could stop it and i lost my StoryBook creator plus 3.0 it wont let me download it again as the serial number has been used and no one can give me any help apart from download mystory digital…..however i don’t use my storybook for scrapbooking i use it for my business and print pages off single i don’t make books without telling everyone what i do ha ha. wondering if you can let me know if there is something available that i can use and save items as a jpeg for printing? sorry if this makes no sense 🙂
Hi Claire
You can export jpegs from your old SBC files with Artisan, which is the replacement for Story Book Creator. http://digiscraphq.com/artisan
I hope this helps!
Thanks i was just looking at that is that $59.99 AUS $$ or USA $$ ? do you know 🙂
It’s in US dollars
Thanks thought it would be 🙂
I have a book on storybook creator 4.0 that I did not get printed and I’d like to print it now but how?? I don’t really want to pay $60 to buy the other program to pay another fee to print my book :/ I will just use Shutterfly from here on out most likely. Any suggestions? Also how do I get my memory vault back?! :/
I would suggest downloading the trial of Artisan http://digiscraphq.com/artisan
Then open your album, and save each page as a JPG. Then you can print from anywhere.
Or you could just print from the trial version to the Forever print shop.
For the Memory vault, you can get the trial of Historian, write the metadata to files, then export the vault.
I hope this helps!
I know this is an old post, but I did find it helpful.
FYI, The trial of Historian does not let me open a vault that was created with a previous version of the application. I was hoping to export my photos to use in Adobe Lightroom.
I was hoping this would work since, the exports from Memory Manager 2.0 do not have the “Tell the Story” and adjusted or entered dates are in the date modified field, so that would have to be moved manually one by one.
5/5/2017
I’m sorry to hear this – I’m going to try to get some help for you
Hi Trish – could you email help@digiscraphq.com and I’ll give you a hand with this.
Hi Trish – could you email help @ digiscraphq.com and I can help you with this 😀
Thanks! Done.
Hello Melissa. Newbie here. Actually my wife is (or was) the Creative Memories user. My role is to try to figure out what is going to happen to our Creative Memories photo library when we upgrade to Windows 10. Will everything come across with the upgrade or will it be lost? I’ll recommend my wife get in touch regarding where to go from here with photo scrapbooking. Thanks.
Hi Robert – you’ll need to re-activate the software after you upgrade.Unfortunately this old software can’t be activated anymore.
The most straightforward option is to purchase Artisan http://digiscraphq.com/artisan and Historian http://digiscraphq.com/historian to replace the old software.
You’ll be able to bring across all the previously created pages and your vault of photos etc.
I hope this helps.
Hi, I haven’t scrapped for a while and went to access all my photos in memory manager and of course cannot access them – I am not into digital scrappbooking at this stage but print my photos as needed – please what is the best way to access my photos – what do I need to do ?
thank you
I’d suggest purchasing Historian – that’s the simplest way to update your vault to access your photos http://digiscraphq.com/historian
Alternatively, just export the vault with the 30 trial.
Sure! The easiest solution is to buy Historian http://DigiScrapHQ.com/Historian
Then your old CMMM vault will be transferred with all your data there.
Or you could use the trial version to export the vault and just manage your files within Windows.
I hope this helps!
🙂 Melissa
Just a question, do you know if all of the digital packages are compatible? Does this new $59.00 software come with additional content?
The digital packages from previous CM SBC software is compatible.
Artisan includes 4 kits plus access to dozens of freebies in the store. However, there are still a lot more kits you can purchase too 🙂 I hope this helps!
So glad to have found this site. I created multiple storybooks back in 2010. After battling a serious illness I am now ready to finish them. At that time I had a pc. It has crashed and now I have a mac. The books are saved to an external drive. If I understand what I am reading, Historian or Artisian will allow me to access them again. correct? And will their programs work on a mac?
Yes, you will be able to access the old files! The programs do not work on a Mac though.
hI – and help! I just completed a digital scrapbook using Storybook creator, but have not done one in a long time. The last time I was able to export the whole thing to Panstoria and it was printed for me. But when I tried to do it this time, I did not achieve any link to Panstoria. What do I do???
Hi Patti
Unfortunately you can no longer order via Storybook creator, as the software is no longer supported.
You can go ahead and purchase Artisan http://digiscraphq.com/artisan
Artisan 5 is on sale for 40% off right now!
If your computer is older and only 32-bit, you can buy Artisan 4 for 32 bit machines (check your settings and it will tell you). If you are using Windows XP or Vista that is the one for you. There’s more details here: http://digiscraphq.com/artisan
Then you just open your project and you’ll be able to print right away.
I hope this helps!
🙂 Melissa
Does Forever edit the the same as Creative Memories did? I used the CM editor to “cut” a firepit out of a picture and replaced it with leaves. You could not tell the difference! I have not found an app that was as easy to use as CM. Thanks for your help.
Artisan replaces Storybook creator and Historian replaces Memory Manager – with many more features too!
So if you did that edit in SBC or CMMM you will be able to do it in the Forever Software too 🙂
I hope this helps!
I have completed many pages in my CM Storybook software as well as purchased several pre-designed pages. Is there a way to convert them to Photoshop? Instead of investing in more software that may not be able to use a couple years later, I’d like to switch to Adobe.
You can save your pages as JPG files for print or opening in PSE. But there’s no way to convert them for easy editing in PSE. I’d suggest that you complete the predesigned pages in SBC, then move on up to Photoshop.
Melissa, I know it has been a long time since this discussion started. If you get this, I’d like some info on Storybook Creator Plus. I had the program on my computer and was still able to use my purchased embellishments, paper, etc. I just printed them at home. Well, I got a new computer and somehow lost my program. I cannot find disc 1. I see where I can purchase it from Amazon. My questions is: If I purchase a new copy, will I be able to sign in and still have my purchases? If you can help, I’d appreciate it. My email is: llfenstermaker@frontier.com. Thank you.
Hi Lana
You won’t be able use Storybook Creator even if you purchase the program and install it. It is no longer able to be activated. So you will need to go ahead and purchase Artisan, the new software that replaces SBC. http://digiscraphq.com/artisan
You won’t have your past purchases unless you still have the downloaded and the receipts to re-activate them.
I hope this helps.
Melissa
Hi – I was wondering if you might be able to help me. I’m trying to put the pieces back together from an old PC that had Creative Memories and a directory called My Memory Vault, on a new system. Anyways, my friend wants to pull up some old pictures with annotations and it was not working. I have a new PC that I set up with Win 10 and also downloaded a copy of Historian from “Forever.com”, yet Historian does not recognize the “My Memory Vault” as a vault. Would you have any time to perhaps steer me into some sort of direction? I would appreciate any help! Cheers.
I’ve emailed you Steven
Hi Melissa im hoping that you are able to assist. I had CM storybook creator 4.0 and was successfully using the program up until my computer got a virus. As a result I lost everything on my computer.
Since having this fixed, I have attempted to download the program again but as I don’t have the activation codes, (also lost) this has not been possible.
I have contacted my story and forever and they are not able to assist. Are you aware of any way to be able to download the program and subsequent digital contents that I have discs for. Unfortunately I had a number ie overlays and some pages, that we sent via email which were some of my most frequently used tools that also have lost.
Any assistance you can offer is appreciated
Thanks Janette
Sorry to be the bearer of bad new, Janette, but you will need to purchase Artisan and begin a new collection of supplies if you don’t have access to the old ones or the activation codes.
As for the files on disc you should be able to import them: https://forever1.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/214120678-How-to-import-content-from-Storybook-into-Artisan-NEW-Computer-
thanks Melissa. I am in the process of purchasing Artisan probably 5 over 4. i have been given some CM discs but i am not sure if she purchased artisan and activated them. If she has, what impact will there be if i install them and activate them?
I am not sure, I suggest you contact Forever support for help with the artwork disks.
I have multiple Storybook creator plus software, can they be used anymore?
Sorry, they can no longer be activated when you try to install them.
I’m interested in photoshop elements. Do you need a previous software to use vol 15? I downloaded a free copy but it is not working and adobe is not much help.
Hi Hilary, Version 15 is a stand alone program. What operating system are you using?
Hi, I’m doing some research because my computer crashed and I had Memory Manger 4.0 for years. But now I don’t know how to recover that as I’m being told it’s something else now? I have thousands of pics on Memory Manger. Do you know how I can recover these without buying another product?
Hi Kristy
You can access the files directly from inside your hard drive folders with this tutorial from Karen Fitting
http://photoskeptalive.com/files/resourcesmodule/5360300237785/Finding_your_images_from_Memory_Manager.pdf
I would recommend purchasing the affordable Historian software to maintain your pictures into the future: http://Digiscraphq.com/historian
It’s easy to just install it and open your old Memory Manager vault in Historian and pick up when you left off.
Hope this helps.
Melissa
Hi, I have Storybook Creator, and I am missing a passcode for Reminisce Heritage, I have it, but I can’t use it as I am missing this.
Any ideas, I started a project a long time ago, I now want to finish it.
I still have Memory Manager and Scrapbook Creator on my Windows PC. I am moving to a MacBook so no Artisan to move to. I know I can export my photos from Memory Manager. But, I have over 325 Storybook Creator kits that I don’t want to lose the contents of. Is there a way to export them to use with PSE or another program? Oh please help! That is a lot of money for kits that I would have to give up if I can’t export/import the contents somehow.