#macpowerusers

David and Katie take a look at the new version of Keyboard Maestro and discuss what it does, how you can use it to automate tasks on your Mac, when you should use Keyboard Maestro over other automation tools and choosing the right tool for the right job.

My Digital Life, Filing part 3: Tags, Folders, or Both

Intro

MacPowerUsers had a cool episode with Brett Terpstra talking about tagging vs folders. It encapsulated the debate well -- do you rely on a:

non-hierarchical system of tags for your files; or

regimented system of folders to provide appropriate differentiation and order to your files?

The show described those who take the former approach as being hunters (finding files by searching, as the location is less relevant) and the latter as gatherers.

Brett was pro tagging, but not at the expense of folders, in fact he seemed to have as many or more layers of folders as I do (though as he works on his home machine, this may make sense).

My system aims to combine both.

Defining terms

Tags are non hierarchical keywords embedded alongside a file, often separately from the filename itself. They are in specific formats such as the open source openmeta format compatible (currently) with OS X. Each file can have many disparate tags.

Folders group files hierarchically by subject. You can have layers of sub folders to further constrain and define the files contained therein. Each file can only exist in one folder. They are natively in every non-mobile OS / file system. If an OS can read the relevant file system it can interpret the folder structure.

Tags

Pros

see Brett‘s pitch for tags from his site and mindmeister

Never having to worry about where to file

Never getting lost in a myriad of folders to locate what you need

File metadata is protected wherever the file is -- it is independent of folder names

Allows cross-linkages between files that would not be readily connected in a folder (i.e. akin to a database, not a filing cabinet)

Using dedicated tagging software can allow you to add or edit tags on large collections of files very quickly, with things like autocomplete. These don't change the filename.

Cons

Lots of typing required, certainly if the tags are in the filename itself

The tagging framework (such as openmeta) may not continue to work in the OS or be supported, requiring a potentially annoying migration

Tags largely do not sync between operating systems (no iOS app beyond Simplenote seems to support them)

Can lead to a long list of tags that creates confusion, without order

Need extra software on the mac to add, search, view tags

Even with software, tags are not, I think, readily visible in Finder

Tags can be used in gmail, but other dedicated data systems all generally use folders

NB

Although tags, as used by Brett, are held separately from the filename, they can be added to the filename itself.

using a designated nomenclature to differentiate tags from names

this is bit hacky, but almost as effective.

One kind of filename based approach for tags is that by Dougist.

he talks of transitioning more and more to a single folder for all his notes, using search to filter down readily to what he needs

this has a lot of appeal, but I didn't find that it completely worked for me.

I will refer back to his approach in other articles.

Folders

Folders are probably how most people organise their stuff (assuming they organise at all).

Pros

They are easy and ubiquitous

Quick to create, move, edit

Quick to select all items under one issue

Works across systems

allows people to often not to think about naming files with much precision (though I view this as bad practice)

Allow increasing or decreasing of the relative importance of a bunch of files as every folder (1 of 1000 files) has equal weight in the structure

Cons

Can make things easy to forget about if lost in a sub folder somewhere

Placing too much metadata in the folder structure, as opposed to the filename, can make the contents of the file unknowable when moved out of context.

Too many nested folders can be confusing

Can't see links between files easily, which is supposed to be one of the advantages of a modern, digital filing system

Nested folders are not compatible with nvALT, my note storage system of choice, or with iCloud.

The solution: Synthesis!

My preferred approach is to take the best of both tags and folders.

Use folders to organize data in a structured hierarchy

Use a relatively controlled system of tags in the filename itself

This preserves metadata in filenames, albeit at the cost of time and effort to set up and maintain the system (at least until you develop tricks and shortcuts). So, this may be gold plating it for many.

It can allow for forming connections across folders if filename tags are done right.

It creates some duplicate information -- I may have both a tag and a folder called 'money' -- but this allows for automated filing (e.g. using Hazel).

Folders definitely have their place

To separate types of data: photos, ebooks, documents

Within each data type, to provide separation of files at the broadest levels: for instance keeping photos separated by year, decade, or event

These folders can also provide equality across bulks of files, or relegate 1000 files (placed in a single folder) to be on equal footing to a single file in the same root directory. I find this very useful for maintaining focus on the files I should be focusing on, and not simply getting lost in a sea of files

this getting lost is is the affect I get from Dougist's approach).

I see this approach as akin to outlining, where you can dive down a level to explore an issue, but then fold it up easily when you want to focus elsewhere

But tags are useful too

Tags, in my view, should be in the filename, to provide persistence

The number of tags should be kept to a minimum, and in a consistent way

I use a consistent prefix before tags of a dash