Forum Posts Feed
Organizing vs. searching
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Posted by dg
Sep 3, 2006 at 02:07 PM
> how do you plan on “tagging” your files? Just in the file name?
>
>Chris
>
I use the “Comment” field on files to attach meta-data.
I use xplorer2 as my file manager http://www.zabkat.com/ which has a hot key (Alt-z) that allows a quick pop-up dialog to edit the Comment field. This can be done from Windows Explorer, too, in the File Properties box, but it requires a few more keystrokes.
I then use MS Windows Desktop Search (WDS) v02.06.5000-5401 to search on the Comment field—i.e., “comment:blah”.
Very quick and fast.
—
dgg
Posted by Jan Rifkinson
Sep 3, 2006 at 03:29 PM
Chris, At the end of the day, you are probably right stating that there is no one program to do it all.
But having said that trying to parse the “type” of information & to find an appropriate program to handle it seems self-defeating to me because, IMO, that’s what currently exists by an large.
However, I often tried to explain my different uses of Ariadne & ADM in this way. For day to day use, i.e. todo lists, AB, calendaring, etc. I use Ariadne while I use ADM for data gathering, primarily from external sources—email & websites.
So for me, I think the natural line of diviision when it comes to information has been static/self generating info goes into Ariadne while externally driven info, i..e email & webhosting goes into ADM.
I admit both these programs are a bit buggy at times though I think both are making progress in that dept and I must say, despite the bugs here & there, I have never lost any data over the years via either of those programs.
Like you, I think Zoot is ultimately ia the most powerful data manipulator out there but, even in its sophistiction, it’s in the stone age IMO & I don’t know how long/if it will catch up with today’s expectations. OTOH, I will keep my eye on it.
I think I’ve tried most of them & I’m willing to jump to something better but for the time being, I’m pretty satisfied where I’ve come down in this dept although I keep looking..
I think a lot of this discussion depends on where you come down on structure vs unstructured data at the entry point.
Here’s an example. For my digital photography I use a program called iMatch to keep track of my +/- 17,000 images. The beauty of this program, IMO, is that you can be a specific in cataloging your images as you want to. Some of it is automated but you can categorize & gather to your hearts content. It depends on what suits you. This is what I call un-structured data entry. Same goes for ADM.
On the flip side of that is a program like Outlook which requires the user to adhere to a strict format while it’s being entered. The more the user has to think abou the format, the less useful I think the program is.
So you might find some answers by trying a different perspective.
—
Jan Rifkinson
Ridgefield, CT USA
skype janrif
Posted by Ken Ashworth
Sep 4, 2006 at 05:04 PM
Jan Rifkinson wrote:
>Here’s an
>example. For my digital photography I use a program called iMatch to keep track of my
>+/- 17,000 images. The beauty of this program, IMO, is that you can be a specific in
>cataloging your images as you want to. Some of it is automated but you can categorize &
>gather to your hearts content. It depends on what suits you. This is what I call
>un-structured data entry. Same goes for ADM.
I am also an iMatch user (http://www.photools.com), well I’ve dabbled in it, but have not gotten around to devoting full attention - keep getting sidetracked by something else.
This is something new to the latest version - course iMatch is not a writing tool.
From their Supported File Formats section:
Document, Office and Multimedia Formats
Although IMatch is focused on digital image management, it provides support for a wide range of non-image formats too. For many formats IMatch can even render thumbnails or previews7. For other file formats, IMatch uses the standard icon representation you know from Windows Explorer.
All file-management features in IMatch (including Copy/Move/Rename and Categorize) are also available for non-image formats.
Adobe PDF (PDF)
Microsoft Office (DOC,XML,PPT,MSP,...)
Multimedia-Formats (AVI, MOV, RM,MPEG,MPG,...)
MP3 Audio (MP3)
Encapsulated Postscript (EPS)
Others can be configured as needed
Later,
Ken Ashworth
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Sep 4, 2006 at 10:57 PM
dg, how does this file manager compare with other programs out there?
Does anyone know whether it is better than IDEA, or whether its functionality is something much different?
Daly
dg wrote:
>
>> how do you plan on “tagging” your files? Just in the file name?
>>
>>Chris
>>
>
>I use
>the “Comment” field on files to attach meta-data.
>
>I use xplorer2 as my file manager
>http://www.zabkat.com/ which has a hot key (Alt-z) that allows a quick pop-up dialog
>to edit the Comment field. This can be done from Windows Explorer, too, in the File
>Properties box, but it requires a few more keystrokes.
>
>I then use MS Windows Desktop
>Search (WDS) v02.06.5000-5401 to search on the Comment field—i.e.,
>“comment:blah”.
>
>Very quick and fast.
>—
>dgg
Posted by Jack Crawford
Sep 5, 2006 at 03:09 AM
Daly
Idea! isn’t really a file manager. It is more in the same class as UltraRecall i.e. a data management app (at least for me).
I use PowerDesk as a my Explorer and have done so for many years. It does hav an ability to add file notes, but it is functionality I don’t use.
I think we have discussed this before, so if you search those wonderful archives for PowerDesk or ExplorerPlus you should get something.
Jack