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How do you tag (or even organize) your files?
Armando:
Hi smeraldo,
I'd like to know if you have any new system or software about tagging files
'cause it's becoming a real (and "real" is a tiny euphemism) mess in my hard drives/computers and so on
--- End quote ---
I've stopped looking for something many months ago. My system works fine for my needs and works for everything, anywhere (file names, file content, etc.). You need to be slightly disciplined though, and be willing to learn (easy) AHK a bit.
I've started to tag web pages I save localy with the firefox extension zotero
I know it is not intended for that but it allows tags, highlights, notes, keep the url, would probably be transferable easily on mac or linux (I'm on xp)
but it is a bit slow, it is a database (how robust ?) and I don't know if it is searchable from outside 'cause I'm not yet using any local search engine
--- End quote ---
I just use the system described in my first post -- apply it in URLs. I don't use bookmarks as I find them harder to manage than URLs. So I use "favorites" in firefox using the "PlainOldFavorites" plug-in. Works well and insures compatibility with IE and other browsers not relying on the "bookmarks" system. Plus, they're more easily searcheable with programs like FARR and Everything.
plus evernote : tagging possibilities, but same question about search
--- End quote ---
Evernote is completely proprietary. If you tag stuf in there, you have to search stuff from inside EverNote.
but so far, armando, you convinced me that tags within the file name is the only robust solution (actually I thought that before but was too lazy or ignorant to do sth)
--- End quote ---
I'm still using the same system today. My tag database (in my AHK script) is now fairly large but very manageable. AHKs scripts are easy to navigate and edit, compared to other "text expanding" programs UIs.
I have to try to really use farr (it is installed but not used)
about local search engine, are you still using archivarius or x1 ?
--- End quote ---
I don't use X1 anymore. I'd love to, but I had some performance issues with it, plus it didn't index huge documents quite well (like... more than 450 pages... can't remember exactly, but it's probably more related to the number of words rather than the number of pages) and didn't index MS Word comments very well either. Still, X1 is the best in terms of features and useability, IMO.
I use Archivarius, but I find it clunkyer and does have a few issues -- the scheduling function is buggy (scheduler will just stop working sometimes and database needs to be updated manually)
I thought that creating a .txt file for each file could have been a solution to avoid the length limitation on the name, to create note, to paste a url, to be searchable
but it is probably a bad solution 'cause nobody is doing so, I guess it is too long but maybe could be automated, and also 'cause I've never been able to use the hardlink possibility with ntfs, besides this hardlinking possibility is probably not portable
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I never liked the idea of poluting my filesystem with tons of secondary files... Plus it'd be extremely hard to manage -- but I won't enter the details now.
and lastly what about bookmarks, zoteros, and evernotes ?
--- End quote ---
I do use my tagging system in a database application calles InfoQube. So my system is basically the same, but I enter my tags in a special "field" for each item... Of course, InfoQube's database is only searchable from inside IQ though -- well Archivarius is actually able to search display the DB content, but it's not very... aesthetical (just plain txt).
this topic is, on the web, what I've found the deepest about tagging files
I'm really surprised that there is not a damn software that would do the trick
I don't know, something like a multiplatorm soft embedding files or adding a couple of bytes to each file to allow hard tagging
I have to say that I know nothing in programming or computer stuff, I'm just a user, so if you feel I'm saying stupid things, you can tell me, I won't be offended
--- End quote ---
tag2find was using the NTFS alternate data streams, which is similar to what you describe (You can find some info about ADS here)
+ a database to store all the tag info in case something went wrong. It has a few tricks up its sleeves... Unfortunately it's pretty much dead (seemed like it was going to resurrect as a FOSS for a short while, but...)
ADS are not cross platform or even always cross software (even within the same OS) and all your work might be (permanently ?) lost if you decide to change software. There are also some privacy issues -- your tags traveling with your files with no obvious ways to see them when you share these. And if you burn your files to a CD or DVD they won't follow. etc. etc.
Armando:
Here's an excerpt from the link posted in my previous post :
So When to Use Alternate Streams?
Certainly you should not use alternate streams for storing any critical information. Older file systems are still widely used, and they don't support the advanced NTFS features. If you copy an NTFS file to a USB drive, flash card, CD-R/RW, or any other non-NTFS drive, the system will copy the main stream only and will ignore all the alternate streams. The same is true for FTP/HTTP transfers. No warning is given, and a user, relying on alternate streams, might get a nasty surprise. So the Microsoft reluctance to provide user tools for alternate streams is not all that unfounded.
However alternate streams are still extremely useful. There is a lot of non-critical information that alternate streams is the most natural place to store to. Examples are thumbnails for graphical files, parsing information for program sources, spellcheck and formatting data for documents, or any other info that can be recovered easily. This way the file can be stored on any file system, but keeping the file on an NTFS drive will greatly increase processing speed.
smeraldo:
Hi armando
thanks a lot for your detailed answer, very interesting
it raises a couple of questions
ok for the ADS
and tag2find, if it does not seem to have much activity, is not dead apparently, martin from tag2find's latest post was in july
we'll see (but I'm not sure to be that interested)
thank you for what you say about favourites and bookmarks
I actually never noticed that they were different (yeah, yeah, yeah...), I thought only the name was different
I gonna investigate a bit
I do use my tagging system in a database application calles InfoQube. So my system is basically the same, but I enter my tags in a special "field" for each item... Of course, InfoQube's database is only searchable from inside IQ though -- well Archivarius is actually able to search display the DB content, but it's not very... aesthetical (just plain txt).
--- End quote ---
this software seems to be very interesting, free at the moment, and a portable version exists
I'll give it a look and try
how do you save web pages ? I'm not talking about favourites or bookmarks
as mentioned previously I'm using zotero in firefox but I'd like to find another way
that would mean .htm or .mht or .maff I think, and I like none of them (htm because of file+folder(=pollution), the 2 others for integrity and compatibility consideration)
I never liked the idea of poluting my filesystem with tons of secondary files... Plus it'd be extremely hard to manage -- but I won't enter the details now.
--- End quote ---
you're right, I do agree on these 2 points, but thought that maybe someone more expert than I could have done sthg
when I discovered evernote, I also discovered the possibility to ocr text images and keep at the same time the original image, I found that great, I actually was looking for such a thing for a long time
and the I discovered that acrobat could do that too (and probably for a long time...), and more than decently in the last 9th version (I read that the ocr engine has been completely rewritten)
so the question is simple (and the answer probably obvious) : can archivarius index this kind of pdf made of a combination of, let's say, jpgs but ocr'ed ?
do you have a way to search on all your search engines with just one action ? I mean for a basic search, 'cause I suppose that archivarius, evernote, and infoqube authorise complex search actions that are not exactly the same and then hard or impossible from outside.
You need to be slightly disciplined though, and be willing to learn (easy) AHK a bit.
--- End quote ---
You're right, except that I think "strictly" will be necessary
I did not know AHK before, I find it very powerful, and yes, pretty easy to learn (for my basic needs at least)
question off topic : I very recently bought a tabletpc and was hoping to be able to use the expendable text capability of AHK with the text recognition, but, noops, it does not work, the "space" or "enter" or punctuation character is not recognized. I must confess I haven't done any further investigations, maybe I should take a look towards stenography softwares, if existing, it could help. Well, just in case, I wanted to know if you know sthg about AHK and tabletpc, or expandable text capability and tabletpc.
off topic end
thank you for your help
sword:
Re: smeraldo's questions August 11, 2009 08:47:24
HOW "any new system or software...save web pages...folder style organization...tag (or even organize) your files..."
AND "...XP...hard drives/computers...firefox..."
NOT "...too slow, too complicated, too many clicks, too database, too proprietary, too simple..."
My:
XP, Win2000, Win98SE
All pages/data gathered with FireFox, organized in RTF, JPG or BMP and sent to temporary formatting folders .
Folders and sub-folders have distinct, three-letter names in five sections. Names can have number equivalents.
Example: equivalent to:
pln 1
org 11
tod 12
prs 2
tod 21
gen 22
gth 3
txt 31
src 32
gly 33
fnf 4
org 41
ppl 46
tip 5
eml 51
fmt 52
Numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9 in folder names are reserved for current priority numbers. O (zero) is used for indexes.
All new data is saved under a file name using date (YMDD) where 13 Aug 2009 is 9813 and a letter (a, b, c).
Optional:
Capital letters A through J are reserved for codes A/safest, B/best, etc. and Capital Letters after J are reserved
for use in filenames for M/summary, O/outline, R/reply, S/search etc. as needed. Folder numbers can be used
in filenames for convenience, example: 9813aS33 [ first search in 33 = gth/gather gly/genealogy ].
Gathering is with FireFox and: ScrapBook; QuickNote (77KB); Shelve (38KB), [needs AutoIT]; Textise (8KB);
Snapper (about 110KB) and Zotero (1198KB) [seldom used]. In stead of Zotero, I use Quote URL text (12KB) in
FireFox2 [it only runs in FireFox up to v 3].
Clips are saved using, in order of preference: Advanced Clipboard Manager [needs Java 6]; ClipMate; KeyNote
v1.6.5; ScrapBook; MS OneNote; MS ClipBook.
Formatting is applied with simple editors: Wordpad, Keynote, QJot and saved temporarily to drives D: or E:
before being indexed and saved to disk, in flat files (no folders) or transferred to other boxes to be used with
other applications: WordPerfect; MS Publisher; DreamWeaver (in tables); DataBase Pro; ACT; OneNote.
Tags are made from the parent folder name plus folder name, example: gthgly [see above] and I use only about
a dozen tags and only for about two percent of the most important files. Searching with WordPerfect or Windows
Find is usually very fast and the files are available to all of my applications. Useful files are saved as, or renamed,
something like 51S8712aB6tipeml = tip, email, Search, 2008, Jul, 12th, item 'a', Best, priority 6, tag: tipeml. A
lot of files remain as 8712b
Why use numbers? Where folders are added or deleted frequently, the order remains constant.
J-Mac:
Not sure I'm following that, Sword. Is that just how you are tagging? Or is it a response to something someone else posted?
Jim
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