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by Nick Santilli

I'm not the most organized person around, but when it comes to my computer I'm set in my ways of folders within folders within folders. I'd bet you're much the same way. But a few months back I abandoned my hierarchical folder tree, and now, all my files are dumped into the Documents folder. It's ugly, and I don't really like to look at it. Ever. Yet these days I'm able to locate the files I want faster than ever before. How is this possible? Metadata.


Yes, metadata - information about information - is the answer. You already know about the Web 2.0 phenomenon called tagging. We tag our music, photos, blog posts, and everything else, so why not apply the same theories to the files on our hard drive? That's what I've done. It took a bit of getting used to, but after some tweaking, I've seen the light. Metadata and file tags is the future for me.

Methodology

It's common in webapps to tag things to the nth degree. I prefer to control my tag vocabulary. I despise one-off tags such as blog, blogs, weblog, weblogs - just don't look at my del.icio.us account - so I've adopted the approach of using the singular form of words wherever possible. For instance, 'letter', 'project', and 'photo', but sometimes where the plural is the common term, I'll use it - such as 'taxes'.


I use general categories (as you've just seen with 'letter', 'project', and 'photo') but I also apply more specific tags where it suits my needs. If I'm working on a large project, I might tag files related to the project with 'projectName' and 'logo' so that I can find the logo more easily than if I were to start at a higher level of 'projectName'. Ultimately, it's what works for you. I've been tweaking my methodology for a few months now and am still making small changes to suit my working style.

Applications

So how do we tag our files, then?

You can add comments and keywords to files in Windows XP, but searching on those fields is not easy. The next version of Windows, Vista, supposedley will have much better file metadata support. In fact I've heard - though can't personally confirm - that Vista will have (in some form) a metadata entry window, possibly in the save screens of applications. I'm not a real Windows fan, but this would be huge!

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OS X has supported metadata for over a year - since 10.4 (Tiger) came out - in the form of Spotlight. At the OS level, there are a couple of ways to add your custom metadata tags.


You can go to the Get Info screen of any file and add a Spotlight Comment - Apple's dialogue for metadata, or tags. You can create an Automator

There have been suggestions around the internet that Apple add a Spotlight Comments entry box to their save windows (possibly in Leopard, 10.5?). In the meantime, I've been told that Default Folder X may be working on a similar implementation for their shareware application. Right now I use a third option which has proven the fastest and most efficient way to accomplish this task: Quicksilver. Along with a handful of plugins and tweaks, Quicksilver is the perfect solution for a metadata-centric organizational scheme.


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(Quicksilver is a fantastic tool - for the uninitiated - but we could spend weeks going over the setup and use. If you'd like to learn more, I've begun a periodic video tutorial segment on The Apple Blog which should help you get up to speed.)


Workflow

Since OS X is the only operating system (that I use regularly) which works with metadata, and since there are a few options available for tagging files, I'm going to speak to that.


The biggest thing to get used to with this process is actually tagging all your files! You just have to make it a routine. It will feel like an extra step at first, but you'll pick it up. Since there isn't yet a way to add tags when you save a file, you're stuck having to touch the file wherever it resides on our hard drive after creating or downloading it. To handle this, I save all new files to my Desktop. This works for me because I keep my desktop clutter-free, so the files are staring me in the face, waiting to be moved; and I know that any file on my Desktop needs to be tagged. If I saved the file right to the mess that is now my Documents folder, it would be nearly impossible to remember which files were in need of tagging and which weren't.

Since I know the files on my desktop are untagged, I use Quicksilver (and a couple plugins) to grab the file and add my tags to it. (I can also grab multiple files and tag them all the same to save time.) The tag is added to the Spotlight Comments portion of the file's Get Info screen, which is then indexed in Spotlight. Then a quick move to the Documents folder completes my process.


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Finding Stuff

Since Spotlight indexes everything (text, dates, file names, etc, etc) the results weren't as precise as I would have liked. A common practice is to use the syntax, @tagname, but I found that Spotlight didn't narrow the results properly - as if it were ignoring the @ sign. I didn't want to have to get creative with my tags names because then it would be easier to forget them and the whole system would fail. I played around a bit and found that prepending tags with an ampersand (&) did the trick. So where 'project' and '@project' would bring up any files that Spotlight had indexed which had the word 'project' in them, '&project' only returns files that I've tagged as such. Nice!


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Quicksilver does us ten times better with this requirement. The tagging plugin gives you the option to prepend a symbol or text to a tag. So any time you add keywords to a file using Quicksilver and the tagging plugin, the symbol or text you've chosen is automatically stuck to the front of your tags.


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So with this scheme you can use Spotlight and get fairly specific search results. That's helpful. However, using Quicksilver, I can bring up the catalog of tags that have been created (still part of the one plugin's capabilities) and instantly search those through them, choosing to display all the relevant files. Being that I prefer keyboard to mouse, this is faster for me than using Spotlight, though both are pretty efficient.


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Smart Folders

Smart Folders are just like Smart Playlists in iTunes. You set some parameters based on the stuff you want in each, and it automatically fills them as those parameters are met. Using Smart Folders may be slightly regressing, but it may also ease you into the whole metadata world from the hierarchies that make you feel so secure. You can create Smart Folders in OS X that will dynamically fill with files that meet the criteria of your search. (Use the 'Spotlight Comments' field available under the OTHER option when selecting from the drop down list.) Create a few Smart Folders for the tags that you use most often and put those "folders" in a conveniently accessible place.


I can also have the tag of choice - from Quicksilver - open a created-on-the-fly Smart Folder with all the appropriately tagged files. This then allows me to save that &tagname as a new Smart Folder. See why I love The App That Begins with 'Q' and Which I Won't Say Its Name Anymore so much?

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Moving Forward

In the future, I'd like Smart Folders created for me and on the fly. Meaning, I'd like something like a Folder Action which watches my Documents folder every time a new file is moved into it. When this Action finds that I've got n or more files with the same tag, a Smart Folder is automatically created for them on my desktop. Take that a step further, and match n tags on files that have been touched in the past week, and you've got relevant information brought to your attention without having to manually seek it out. (Any coders/Apple Scripters out there willing to take a shot at this???)


There are a lot of directions to take this now that I'm immersed in it. As I've mentioned, I continue to tweak and evolve my process. I doubt it's something that will ever be perfected, but I'm sure going to keep trying.

Which is Better?

Once you're trained to do things the 'metadata way', and you're in a vanilla environment - that is, a basic Spotlight (and potentially Automator) type setup in OS X - the speed with which you are able to access your files is probably only slightly better than browsing through a folder hierarchy. I'll reiterate my mantra though, "Your mileage may vary!"


Using Quicksilver on the other hand, the results I've gotten are impossible to ignore. I can tag, move, and find my files faster than ever before.

It takes time to implement this new system into your workflow. I think it took me about 4-6 weeks before I got things ironed out to a point where it became effortless in execution and actually useful to me. Using a metadata filing system as opposed to folders requires a slight shift in the way you think. It's not difficult, but it is something you have to work at a bit to truly acquire the habit.


For now, get thinking in a metadata frame of mind, because it's the future of modern operating systems. And let me know in the comments if you're interested in Quicksilver setup specifics - I'm happy to detail those out, too.

Nick Santilli can be found writing shamelessly about his Quicksilver addiction at The Apple Blog.