Comments on: Gmail functionality, within explorer?

Question: Gmail functionality, within explorer?

TomMelee — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:00:54 -0800

Spoiled by GMail, *really* looking for a way to use tags/labels for everyday files.

I've seen this great lifehacker post, but that's really not what I'm looking for. In particular, I make and use a lot of pdf's that could potentially fall into lots of categories (donations, recycling income, follow up, etc.). I've got a fairly anal system of storing these files, and I try to be disgustingly accurate with file names..."Volunteer Weekday Work Policy 2007 WiP", but still, I find it lacking.

I'm looking for suggestions for software that would let me tag *any* file (I use a lot of standard .txt), especially pdf's, jpg's, doc's, etc, and then allow me to easily re-find common files. The vista trick comes really close, but the filetype limitation is a killer.

Looked at Paperport, saw Fuji's new notebook software, but of course I'd prefer free/open source where possible.

Feed me, hivemind!

Oh, almost forgot. Main laptop is Vista, but I'd really like this for my home comp too, which is XP. Tags, labels, statuses...help!

By: Tubes

Tubes — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:28:47 -0800

I haven't tried File Notes Organizer yet, but it's the only thing I've found in my similar quest that seems to fit the bill.

By: Pigpen

Pigpen — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 22:10:54 -0800

tag2find

By: TomMelee

TomMelee — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:53:58 -0800

Hmm, interesting...both of them. Gonna play with them both later on in the day...in the mean time, suggest more people!

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:01:00 -0800

Create a folder for each tag.

To apply a tag to an object, create a shortcut to the object inside that tag's folder.

This is easily done by right-click-dragging the object and dropping it into or onto the tag folder, then selecting Create Shortcut(s) Here from the resulting context menu.

Mass tagging is easily done using multiple selection (click, control-click and/or shift-click) then right-click-drag and drop.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:03:06 -0800

Mass tagging works particularly well when you use it in a Search Results window, by the way.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:04:59 -0800

Using Thumbnail View on a tag folder can be very handy too.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:10:36 -0800

Plus, Windows shortcuts are usually smart enough not to lose their connection to the objects they point to when those objects are moved or renamed. So if you want to do your tagging on your Desktop, then dump the tagged files into an undifferentiated mess inside My Documents, that's fine too.

By: lackutrol

lackutrol — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 08:13:59 -0800

I realize you're not on a Mac, but if Mac users happen by that are interested in this, you can do this by clicking on a file and hitting command-i (Get Info). Then tag away in the "Spotlight comments" section.

By: Myself

Myself — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:06:13 -0800

Oooh, I might consider that shortcut thing. I've been using ACDSee's built-in support for 4DOS descript.ion files (an archaic, but relevant, format) to tag my pictures.

Trouble is, Windows Explorer doesn't recognize descript.ions so if I slip up and move files outside ACDSee, they lose their metadata.

By: Tubes

Tubes — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 21:44:23 -0800

Whoa! Tag2Find looks even more like what I've been after. I like flabdablet's technique, too, but I'm a sucker for predictive-searching like Tag2Find's. I may have to give both a try. Thanks for the thread, TomMelee.

By: radsqd

radsqd — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 08:31:56 -0800

vista has tags built in now

the link below should show how to add tags to folders

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/0acda837-dacc-4a88-bb01-43dc816ad3821033.mspx