Filed under: Software, Productivity, Tips and tricks
To Tag or Not to Tag: Punakea and SpotMeta
Everybody knows about the endless wars: Mac vs. PC, Coke vs. Pepsi, Tags vs. Hierarchical Filing... Well, okay, so the last one isn't quite as long-running, but it does seem like a point of controversy. A nice article on theappleblog about Spotlight and meta-data has gotten me thinking again about the whole tagging thing. The file folder metaphor is so strongly embedded in the way many of us long-time computer users think that it's sometimes hard to appreciate the benefits of new ways of doing things. I still instinctively crave hierarchical folder systems and was very happy, for instance, when iTunes finely gained folders (and remain annoyed that Yojimbo doesn't support nested Collection Folders). That said, as big of a stick in the mud as I normally am, del.icio.us (especially with Pukka) and some other tagging implementations have finally got me seeing that tags are definitely useful. At the end of the day, of course, there's no need to choose since neither filing method is exclusive of the other, so I think I'll continue to use both for the foreseeable future.
All of that was a lead-in to a couple of applications that make tagging with OS X easier. Of course, the best thing would be if Leopard included an official tagging mechanism, rather than the improvised systems involving Spotlight comments, but even if it does not there are some tools out there worth looking at if tagging is your thing. First there's Punkaea (donation requested) from nudge:nudge. Punakea features a drawer that pops out of the side of your screen onto which you can drag and drop files. When you do so, it will pop up a small dialog allowing you to define tags for that file. You can then search for tags with Spotlight or use the Tag Cloud within Punakea's browser window to find your files. Punakea can even be set to manage files you drop into it. That is, you can define a folder for Punakea to manage, and whenever you drop a file onto Punakea's application icon it will ask you for the tags and then move that file to the folder, in essence creating a non-hierarchical filing system.
SpotMeta, an open-source project from Ben Summers, takes a different approach, which is more integrated into the Finder, but also seems a bit more limited as to the practical number of tags possible. With SpotMeta you must first define your tags or "keys"in the application, and then whenever you want to tag a file, you just right-click in the Finder and select "Edit Metadata with SpotMeta...". (or alternatively you can select the file and then hit SpotMeta's Hotkey combo). This will bring up an editing window in which you can chose one of your pre-defined "keys" or tags. Finally, when you want to find you tagged files, you can just use Spotlight directly or search by Kind with the Finder search box.
Of course, in addition to these two applications, there's also the very handy File Tagging plugin for Quicksilver.Thanks to Steve for the SpotMeta tip!
[Edit: fixed SpotMeta description; turns out it's not as new as I had thought]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bungle said 9:02AM on 2-04-2007
Interesting reading Mat, thanks.
And on a site level - what a change to read a well-written, factual piece about something current and relevant, instead of flimsy, under-researched waffle from bloggers more concerned with their post count than the quality of their output. Yes Erica, I'm looking at you.
Reply
Nathan Ziarek said 11:50AM on 2-04-2007
Interesting, but don't downplay SpotMeta like that. I've been using it for probably two years. To say "new" makes it seem like it isn't as powerful, well-thought-out and stable as it really is.
Reply
Adam Rice said 10:51AM on 2-04-2007
Actually, Spotmeta's been around for quite a bit longer than Punakea. Its approach to tagging is much more flexible and more in keeping with the new metadata constructs in OS X 10.4 (as described by John Siracusa). Punakea just serializes your tags into the Finder comments; Spotmeta uses Apple's xattr system, which can be used in the Finder's "find" command (by turning on "add to Finder favorites").
For plain free-tagging, the best option in Spotmeta (which isn't immediately obvious) is to create a new key of type "choice", subtype "token list" with "allow options not listed" turned on. But the fact that Spotmeta allows this simultaneously with controlled-vocabulary tagging, or single-choice states, etc, makes it pretty cool.
I'm not completely sold on the UI, but it's usable.
Reply
Nathan Ziarek said 11:56AM on 2-04-2007
Just to clarify, spotmeta lets you create a new group, say "Projects" that you can then add to: Web Site Redesign, Super Cool New App, Picture Refinishing.
You can then make Smart folders where the attribute can be "Projects" and the match value can be any one of your project names. Instead of relying on apple providing all the "blanks" and titles, you can create your own attributes and fill them with whatever data you like.
The interface is blah, and could definitely learn a thing or two, but it is far more powerful than any thing else I've tried...
Reply
Kenny said 12:12PM on 2-04-2007
Vannevar Bush - Writing in 1945
"The real heart of the matter of selection, however, goes deeper... Our ineptitude in getting at the record is largely caused by the artificiality of systems of indexing. When data of any sort are placed in storage, they are filed alphabetically or numerically, and information is found (when it is) by tracing it down from subclass to subclass. It can be in only one place, unless duplicates are used; one has to have rules as to which path will locate it, and the rules are cumbersome. Having found one item, moreover, one has to emerge from the system and re-enter on a new path.
The human mind does not work that way. It operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain. It has other characteristics, of course; trails that are not frequently followed are prone to fade, items are not fully permanent, memory is transitory. Yet the speed of action, the intricacy of trails, the detail of mental pictures, is awe-inspiring beyond all else in nature.
Man cannot hope fully to duplicate this mental process artificially, but he certainly ought to be able to learn from it. In minor ways he may even improve, for his records have relative permanency. The first idea, however, to be drawn from the analogy concerns selection. Selection by association, rather than indexing, may yet be mechanized. One cannot hope thus to equal the speed and flexibility with which the mind follows an associative trail, but it should be possible to beat the mind decisively in regard to the permanence and clarity of the items resurrected from storage."
Reply
Pete said 12:31PM on 2-04-2007
Personally I'm far more comfortable with a hierarchical system -- it just seems more natural and less cluttered to me.
Of course, that assumes you don't have a large number of things that belong in multiple places (tricky in a hierarchical system, but not so bad in finder (for example) with smart folders, etc).
Reply
Aron Trimble said 2:38PM on 2-04-2007
It would be nice if Leopard (or some other application) would make tagging in Finder as easy at it is with the use of Ken Ferry's "Keyword Assistant" in iPhoto.
Reply
Samuel Oltz said 4:51PM on 2-04-2007
Reading this post reminded me of my unfinished project to convert my hierarchal documents folder to a spotlight comments based documents folder. I dusted off my incomplete Applescript and finished it. If anyone finds this useful, pass it on! http://www.freewebtown.com/pianomansam/Folders2Tags-1.0.scpt
Reply
Samuel Oltz said 4:55PM on 2-04-2007
I should probably tell you what it does! The script puts a spotlight comment on each file in your document folder's subfolders based on each parent folder's name up to the document folder. So for every file in ~/Documents/School/Fall 2006/English, each will be giving the comment English Fall 2006 School. The script won't overwrite existing comments (hopefully), and shows a progress dialog.
Reply
Adam Rice said 6:21PM on 2-04-2007
In the hopes of re-clarifying something about Spotmeta: there's not real limit on tags, as far as I can tell. You can make up as many tags on the fly as you want; you're not constrained to using a controlled vocabulary at all.
Reply
Clark said 7:16PM on 2-04-2007
Tagging in the finder takes up too much time and requires too much thought.
Reply
Rex Pechler said 8:52PM on 2-04-2007
If you're interested in more than filing your stuff away, check out SpotlightFS, developed for MacFUSE. It's an extension of Apple's Smart Folders, in that it will show any smart folders in ~/Library/Saved Searches/ but you can actually have them mounted and use them from the terminal, as well as browse new folders and spotlight results will show up dynamically. It's interesting, but I haven't really found it very useful myself yet. I guess it's a hint at what Apple could do in the future, if tagging is integrated into the OS.
What I'm mainly using Punakea for, is clearing my desktop. I don't think it's the best, but it works and it's fast.
Now all I want to set up some sort of alert that will tell me when one of my tags reaches 4.4 GB so I can burn a DVD archive.
Reply
Tod said 12:55AM on 2-05-2007
Full disclosure: I'm a 64-YO old fuddy duddy who's been working as a *user* of computers since the late 1960s; been a happy Mac user since 1985.
So here hardly a day goes by when I don't see something here or on other Mac blogs or in Version Tracker alluding to "tags" and "tagging." I'm having a hard time learning about what tags are and why they'd be useful for me.
From what I can tell, tagging seems to be a means of adding "metadata" to files and folders, data that more completely describe the contents of the file than a simple filename or the folder hierarchy. So far, so good, right?
So a couple of years ago I bought and started using an app called Shoebox where I could go through thousands of digital images and tag them with all sorts of expressive tags. The trouble is, I got through perhaps 150 before my eyes crossed and my typing fingers got tired.
So now tagging is becoming more pervasive it seems, and I think that tagging is a good addition to anyone's box of utilities. However, the thing that bothers me is the time needed initially to rummage through perhaps tens of thousands of files and folders and create meaningful tags for them. So is there some way of easing this burden? I don't particularly want to spend a good percentage of my remaining years (though I'll live to 90) tagging, for gosh sakes.
By the way, the article and followup comments were quite interesting. thanks, folks.
-Tod
Reply
Pierre Bernard said 6:21AM on 2-05-2007
SpotMeta being fully integrated into Spotlight, the tags created using SpotMeta may be used for search criteria in HoudahSpot (http://www.houdahspot.com). I guess I should some day blog about the workflow of filing, cataloging and retrieving such created.
Reply
Jeff Flowers said 3:18PM on 2-06-2007
I have been so disappointed with Spotlight that I disable it on my Mac. Reading about these utilities has me reconsidering that decision.
If you invest heavily in tagging your files, be sure that you are using a backup method that preserves all metadata. There were some very imformitive articles on the PlasticsFurniture blog that pointed out that many utilities are lax where metadata is concerned. You can read more here:
http://blog.plasticsfuture.org/
SuperDuper was the only utility that really saved everything.
Reply