Tags: Tags work like keywords you assign to files. You can set up a hierarchy of folders by putting folders into other folders, but you usually wouldn't put one file into multiple folders. Here's how each one works:įolders: Folders sort files into groups. Tags and folders are tools you can use to organize your files in different ways. Here's how to tag your files to find and sort them more easily.īuild automation into your folders and filesĬreate your tags and go through a test run Tags add another dimension to your file system to help you make sense of the chaos. Folders help us make sense of our files, but they can be a one-dimensional system. Simon has been involved in software development since the days of paper tape.If your files look anything like mine, they're a maze of folders wrangling the hundreds (thousands?) of documents you keep on hand. He has developed niche software for information management.įinding electronic documents and emails can be a problem. The conventional approach has been to put them into a hierarchical folder structure, but with the advent of mobile devices with small screens and the requirement for minimal user cognitive load, the filesystem has become completely hidden and file managers are not part of the main operating system. Historically, a hierarchical folder structure is easier to implement than a tag retrieval system and much more suited to fixed structures such as computer operating systems. A study was conducted in 2008 compared tag and folder-based retrieval on email messages with two clients, one labeling messages with tags and the other grouping them into folders. The authors concluded that neither tagging nor folders was superior to the other for information retrieval: best results were achieved by combining their use. They also observed that users had a much richer concept of information than folders or tags or a combination of them could represent.Īll the software reviewed has the ability to provide a different view of collections of documents based on user-generated information, with the potential of improving information retrieval. However, there is great variation in interface design, terminology, functionality and support level. Many software products are available for download or purchase long after support or development has ceased, so consulting a review may help to avoid disappointment. Many of the products implement a file manager, which runs over a single database rather than a filesystem, with elements of a folder hierarchy optionally treated as tags. The database contains links to the files in the filesystem location. Renaming or moving files or folders outside the application requires some method of updating the database if database links are to remain functional. Tagging for Windows uses a database closely integrated with File Explorer to persist tags even though files or folders are copied or moved. Tag persistence can also be achieved by a continuously running monitoring component (as used by Tabbles). XYplorer is actually a file manager closely resembling File Explorer, but with additional tagging functionality. It represents what File (once Windows) Explorer could have been. Searching replaces folder browsing in the database architecture. Database performance becomes a critical factor if many thousands of file links are stored. As free versions of software frequently limit the number of files stored or the number of tags applied, it is difficult to test performance in this situation.Īnother approach to tagging is to embed the tags into the file or folder name. This is more robust than the database approach and allows tagged items to be retrieved on any platform using only native search, but changing the names of folders and files will result in files that are linked by paths (such as linked Excel spreadsheets) having their links broken. SetTags and TagSpaces use this approach, with SetTags additionally using the target tracking property of Windows shortcuts to allow files to be retrieved by tag after moves or renames.
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