Software Request: Open Source Personal Content Repository

Posted by nathanb
Sep 13, 2018 at 04:52 PM

Franz Grieser wrote:

>You also mentioned TagSpaces in the thread. Do you (still) use it? I
>find the concept appealing but wouldn’t want TagSpaces to mess with my
>files’ names. I know that the Pro edition uses a different mechanism but
>the free trial doesn’t.

Ha! No I don’t actually use it. I’ve tested it out a few times and it is one of my favorite options to possibly transition to. I like it’s open nature and because it embeds everything in the filename you don’t have to worry about a particular installation breaking or being tied to one workstation. I wasn’t put off by it extending filenames, I’m quite used to butchering filenames with Z-codes anyway and actually like that seeing intentional tagging/z-coding following the actual name is itself information that tells me that file is special enough in some way to have warranted this extra forced layer of metadata. I mean, we have tens of thousands of files littering our hard-drives…er…storage mediums. Only of which a few hundred/thousand enough are personally relevant enough to be ongoing ‘reference’ material. I’m going to want to add some kind of marker to differentiate the signal from the noise.

The reason I don’t use tagspaces is because my zettel-stamping of some of my files/folders has proven ‘good enough’ organization. This is mostly because I’ve given up on straightening out my directories and just consider that a ‘back-end’ to my info system. Like 3% of my files are ones I seek out and open directly on a regular basis by drilling down into the folders. Basically my current hot projects. I rely on my note systems (currently OneNote and Notion) and task manager (currently todoist) to be my index to most my stuff.

There is of course a lot of value in having a well-organized file system like some other people here have described (my hat’s-off to them!). It’s been on my to-do list for years now. I’ve started it like 30 times and instantly run into roadblocks of deciding whether this tax document goes under ‘financial’, ‘2017’, ‘archives’ etc. Or if this manual to my mower should be associated with the receipt and therefore by month bought or in some ‘house-maintenance’ folder. So I just think in circles for a few minutes, get frustrated at the inherent limitations of single-hierarchy filing, give up and do something else. If I ever decide to finally suck it up and spend an entire weekend whipping my files in shape, it’s definitely going to be with tagspaces…because that’s the only tool I’m aware of that allows me to organize via multiple categories and doesn’t lock me into a proprietary system.

I don’t like the idea of relying on simple search in lieu of intentional organizing, but that’s my reality. However, it turns out that blind search and my scattered z-codes have proven to be reliable. I can usually find what I need, when I need it. So I don’t know if it’d be worth the efficiency/clarity gain to intentionally tag/file ALL of it and keep it that way. I’m starting to come to peace with most of my digital mess remaining a mess, with the occasional z-code ensuring findability of the neat stuff. Then selectively putting structure on a select few subsets of things. I’m finding Notion.so to be quite helpful with that. It lets me dump-notes away in my normal randomish One-Note fashion and occasionally embed real databases to add structure on-demand. That’s perfect for things like reading lists, product research, software research etc.