The idea of tagging files as an organization and project management method has been around for some time now, and we've mentioned applications in the past (FileSpot, TagBot, Punakea ... ) which touched on some useful applications for the tagging method. A truly seamless, system-wide implementation, however, has been hard to find. Back at WWDC, Gravity applications gave me a taste of a new application which takes the concept to a new level. Tags, finally released yesterday, provides a hotkey-triggered HUD which allows tagging and searching from a wide range of applications, including:

• Finder and Path Finder
• Mail
• Address Book
• iPhoto
• Safari
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, etc.)
• Adobe Photoshop
• Xcode
• Rapidweaver
• Omnioutliner
• Pages and Keynote
• Quicktime

The list goes on. Basically, any application which can tell AppleScript what the current context is will work with Tags. Those that don't can also have their items tagged from Finder, which is especially easy if they have a "Reveal in Finder" shortcut.

Tags uses Spotlight metadata instead of the old Spotlight comments method. Files tagged with Tags are immediately indexed in Spotlight, allowing for searches and Smart Folders outside of Tags, as well as integration with other Spotlight-enabled applications. Its keyword storage method is directly compatible with Ironic Software's Deep, and the same method is planned for use in Leap, eventually. Ironic has actually just announced OpenMeta, an open source library for accessing and modifying this kind of metadata (more on that coming soon).

Read on for more on the concepts behind Tags.

The social media movement has trained us well to tag just about everything we see. The presence of tags on photos, videos, blog posts and even to-do items has become ubiquitous.

So this simple tip, from reader Greg F., struck me as an obvious, easy trick to help categorize contacts inside the iPhone's Contacts app. It involves using the Company field in Contacts to record tags -- just put in your tags, separated by a space, instead of a company name.

First things first. Why would you want to categorize contacts with tags? Consider Greg's example. When using the contact search feature to make a call, send an email or text message, he enters a tag, like 'drinkingbuddies,' instead of individual names. In return he's presented with a full list of contacts he can invite out for a beer.

Simple, powerful and a great way to prevent leaving anyone out when sending a quick, after-work invite. Other useful tags that come to my mind are 'family,' 'taxis,' 'pizzaplaces' and 'therapists.' It's not ideal, obviously, for contacts that actually have a real company name associated with them.

There's more to this though. Often I find myself sending photos from my iPhone, through email, to my Flickr, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitpic accounts. So I tagged each of those contacts 'Photos.' Now, it's a simple task to look these addresses up and pick the appropriate ones.

It's unfortunate the iPhone doesn't allow you to select more than one contact at a time, though. So even with this tip, it's still a time-consuming process to add multiple contacts to an email or SMS.

Scott Morrison sends word that MailTags, the Mail plugin that lets you both tag your emails and connect them directly up to iCal, has hit 2.1.1. The 2.1 release came a few days ago, and introduced incoming reply tagging-- whenever you sent out a message with tags on it, the reply that came back automatically received the same tags-- and the 2.1.1 update improves that feature. You can now tag an outgoing message as "expect reply," and MailTags can notify you through Growl and with highlighting that the reply has arrived.

The release also includes an example AppleScript that lets you use a "killed" tag to mark a message and any incoming replies to it as read-- if a thread has ceased to be important to you, you can ignore it completely. Bugfixes involving iCal interaction have also been implemented, and a column sizing interface improvement has been added.

The 2.1.1 update is a maintenance update and available for free to MailTags users over at the website. If you haven't bought the plugin yet, you can get it here for $29.95.

Chris at Trichech.us has written up a short guide (and included a useful little AppleScript) on how to run GTD in VoodooPad, the get-it-down quick application that we love so much here at TUAW.

Basically it revolves around a series of tags-- if you have a task that needs to be done in a certain context (such as home or office, or even as specific as "at the computer" or as general as "thinking"), you just tag it with @ and then whatever the tag is. When the script is run, it grabs all of the tagged lines, and combines them all on one page, so you have an at-a-glance look at what needs to be done where. And you can even date items, and see them placed on the "Actions" page as well.

The big problem with me and any GTD plan is just that I tend to be so picky-- if a system doesn't work exactly the way I want it to, I tend to get lazy and start ditching it for good old pen and paper again (which causes me to fall back into the same old gaps). But Chris' system looks solid enough to use without a lot of configuration, and yet adaptable enough that I can shape it to my own mind. If you've got VoodooPad (and if you don't, why not) and you're on the hunt for a GTD system, give it a try.

[ via Gus Mueller ]

While I wasn't exactly dying without Keyword Manager in iPhoto '08 just yet, thanks to its new built-in keyword abilities, I am nonetheless relieved to see that my favorite iPhoto keyword plug-in for power users has just been updated for the latest version. While the major new feature in Keyword Manager v1.3 is of course iPhoto '08 compatibility, I have noticed what I believe is a new, dedicated Keyword Manager button added to the controls in the lower left of the iPhoto window (or has that been there all along? I've always just used the keyboard shortcut to invoke it so I never looked down there). Also on the new features list is slightly better performance when selecting many photos, an updated UI for the Keyword Manager windows to match iPhoto '08's new Adjust palette UI, and updates to the Danish translation of the plug-in. It is also worth noting that Keyword Manager still works with iPhoto '06 as well.

A demo is available from Bullstorm Software, while a license costs $19 USD (or €19).

I've been waiting (impatiently) for a tagging UI like this to come to iPhoto for some time now, and I'm generally happy to say that iPhoto '08 finally does tagging well (for the sake of this post, however, I'll be using the terms 'tags' and 'keywords' interchangeably, since iPhoto refuses to adopt the web 2.0 terminology). If you display keywords beneath your photos (View > Keywords or shift-command-K), you can simply click below your photo in that field (even if it doesn't have any keywords yet) and begin typing. iPhoto will attempt to auto-fill from your keyword library, or it will add new keywords you create on the fly.

For keyword ninjas this still might not replace powerful plug-ins like Keyword Manager, but it's definitely a step in the right direction for the general iPhoto user. Since it's barely been 24 hours, Keyword Manager understandably hasn't updated yet, but I don't find myself gasping for breath without it. Thanks to this improvement and others which I'll explore, iPhoto has gained respectable features that finally allow users to manage their library with the power of tags. Read on to see what else is new with iPhoto's keyword features.

In case you missed TUAW Podcast #24, I've gone gaga for Philip Dow's Journler. It's a phenomenal donationware app that offers robust features for keeping a diary, storing files you need to keep track of, recording audio/video entries and even blogging. One of Journler's cruxes, however, is that its UI for tagging entries wasn't quite up to par; tags were separated with spaces or commas (your choice), but aside from searching, there was no decent way to really grab hold of and utilize your tags.

Fortunately, a beta posted by Dow in the Journler forums offers a glimpse at how the app's tagging paradigm is changing for the better - much better. As you can see, tags are now 'officially' recognized by Journler, and pressing return invokes a satisfying blue bubble around them, securing their entry in Journler's database. As you work with these new tags, Journler will also begin to auto-complete them, saving you more and more time as you continue down the path to Journler goodness.

[Update: I didn't even realize this, but Dow built in an even cooler, killer feature with these tags - you can click on then in an entry or in the entry browser and view a list of other entries using that same tag. I'm in love.]

If you decide to check out this new version though, be sure to read through the entire forum post. Dow had to make some changes to the way Journler stores and creates your tags, so he had to create an AppleScript you only have to run once to help get the new version up to par and convert over all your old tags for the new system. Naturally, you should back up your Journler folder in Application Support before trying any of this, but I happily performed the upgrade with nary a bump on the trip.

Don't forget: Journler is donationware, and Philip Dow sure would appreciate a few bucks for his excellent work.

A recent update to iGTD brought some significant enhancements, one of which is very, very rich integration with Scott Morrison's MailTags 2.0. With v1.4.3, iGTD can process most of the MailTags 2 information attached to an Apple Mail message. For example: keywords in MailTags prefixed with @ will get translated into contexts, while your other tags will simply become regular tags in iGTD. Same with projects, deadlines, priorities and even notes added to Apple Mail messages with MailTags: they'll all effortlessly transfer over into iGTD when importing messages with an F-key.

If this is all getting your productivity and GTD gears turning but you haven't purchased MailTags yet, Scott Morrison and Bartlomiej Bargiel (iGTD's developer) have just offered a partner promotion that should do the trick: for a limited time, when users donate to iGTD, they can contact the author and receive a $5 coupon off the $29.95 retail price of MailTags 2.0. I say 'limited time' because, as of this writing, they have 35 coupons left, though Scott said he's definitely willing to whip up more coupons depending on how much interest spawns from this promotion (I know, I know: I warned them about the TUAW effect, so we'll see).

As an extremely happy and paid user of MailTags and a budding GTD user for whom iGTD finally made sense, this sounds like a great deal for anyone looking to get more productive with their email. MailTags and iGTD: two great tastes that taste great together.

Scott Morrison's fantastic MailTags 2.0 is hands-down the best (and not because it is the only) plug-in that brings the wonders of tagging and iCal integration to Apple Mail. We've mentioned it plenty of times here on TUAW, and with good reason: Scott has put this new version of MailTags and its healthy dose of new features through a rigorous beta testing period, and tonight the plug-in makes that coveted leap from 'beta' to 'official release.' While Scott pops some well-deserved bubbly to celebrate his hard work, check out this list of tasty features designed for those who need more from an integrated desktop email client:

• IMAP support - sync your tags over IMAP servers and use them to keep your mail organized and synced across any Mac you have MailTags installed on
• A much-improved integrated interface for viewing and editing tags
• The ability to view tags in Mail's List view (an extra, optional column to let you know a message is tagged)
• Dynamic coloring of messages based on project, approaching due dates and priorities
• Integration with iCal, allowing you to create to dos and events right from Mail
• Including tags in your outbound messages for other MailTags users
• Better integration with Mail's search tools, allowing you to specify searching only for message tags, projects or even notes you've applied with MailTags (in addition to Mail's default criteria of Entire Message, From, To, etc.)
• Better integration with Mail's smart mailboxes
• Applescript compatibility

I've been a happy user of MailTags 2.0 since it the early days of the beta, and I tip my hat to Scott for releasing such a great product. You can grab your own demo that runs for 21 days, while a license costs $29.95, with educational and volume discounts available upon requests.

The two major keyword plugins for iPhoto have both been updated recently. First up is everyone's favorite free alternative, Ken Ferry's Keyword Assistant which we've covered in the past. This new 1.9.4 version adds a panel with tag keyword auto-completion, and it can also alphabetize the keyword list.

Next is Keyword Manager, a shareware plugin for iPhoto that brings some more robust features to the table for seriously serious iPhoto keyword junkies. New in version 1.2 is:

• Copy and paste keywords between photos
• Jump directly to next untagged photo
• Fixed crash bug in Dutch version
• Minor stability bugs fixed
• Japanse localization
• German localization
• Chinese localization

A demo is of course available, while a single license to Keyword Manager is $19 from Bullstorm Software.

Brett's AutoTag bundle works with WordPress 2.1 and its Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin to present a window (pictured) containing all the tags you've used on your WordPress blog; perfect for tagging your posts on the fly and helping you to keep your tag system tidy. But one might ask: what is an AutoTag plugin without some auto action, right? AutoTag can tag your post for you by scanning what you've written and comparing it against your tag database. Simply type 'auto' and press tab to watch the magic happen. And as if that wasn't enough, AutoTag even has a command for suggesting new tags, again based on a scan of your post's content or even Yahoo's Tag Suggestion feature. With all this clever 'auto' functionality going on, let's just hope Brett's next plugin isn't called 'AutoBlog,' or we might all be in trouble.

To give your TextMate + WordPress workflow a tagging boost, you simply need to install a UTW-RPC plugin for WordPress (available with the AutoTag bundle) in order for TextMate to access your database of tags. Setup is really simple, but be sure to download the version of AutoTag that corresponds to the version of TextMate you're running, i.e. - Cutting-Edge or the regular version available from the Macromates site.

The AutoTag bundle and UTW-RPC WordPress plugin are open source and available from Circle Six Design.

Keyword Manager from Bullstorm scored a license purchase from yours truly the day we found it, and the feature-packed iPhoto keyword plugin recently had an unassuming but handy upgrade to v1.1. Clicking on the "What's New?" heading at Bullstorm's site reveals a strong list of new features, including:

• Address Book auto-completion
• Share keywords between photo libraries
• Alphabetic sorting of keyword lists
• Preferences windows
• Built-in software update

If you've been looking for an easier-to-use and more powerful way to wrangle your iPhoto library, I highly recommend giving Keyword Manager's full-featured demo a try. One of its most useful features, besides highly streamlining the tagging/keyword assigning process, is its ability to filter keywords in a search. This is something iPhoto is sorely lacking, but Keyword Manager makes it easy to pick keywords to both search for and exclude. This feature alone is easily worth a good portion of the plugin's $19 USD (€19 in Sweden and EU) for a single license.

Kenneth Kirksey has posted two AppleScripts on the Yojimbo mailing list for importing your del.icio.us bookmarks into Yojimbo, complete with all your tags. You can get these scripts from the mailing list archives of course, but Kenneth gave me permission to host both of them here on TUAW to make things easier on you readers.

The first script, titled All del.icio.us to Yojimbo, imports all your del.icio.us bookmarks into Yojimbo, bringing along all of your tags to boot (If you're a messy tagger, I highly recommend tidying up your del.icio.us tags before you run this script). Per Kenneth's instructions, you simply need to download the text file we've zipped for you, copy all the code from the file into a Script Editor window, and then edit the "set delAccount" and "set delPassword" lines to add your account details in quotes.

The second script, called Last del.icio.us to Yojimbo, simply imports your most recent del.icio.us bookmark into Yojimbo. Same instructions apply.

Since these scripts make use of Yojimbo 1.3's new tag feature, I'm pretty sure these won't play well with previous versions. Feel free to share your experiences with the scripts here, and be sure to hit up the Yojimbo mailing list if you need more help with them.

I don't know how I missed this post at Hawk Wings a few weeks ago, but I am glad I found it at least sooner or later: Tim Gaden has been keeping a watchful eye on the Yojimbo mailing list, and he caught a set of scripts written by Dylan Damian that can take a link from either Safari or NetNewsWire, bookmark it on del.icio.us with Pukka (which I highly recommend as a paid user) and then archive the link in Yojimbo using the same tags you used on del.icio.us. I completely agree with Tim: after testing these scripts out with NetNewsWire, they work like a charm and have just been added to my toolbelt.

You can score the scripts by checking the Yojimbo mailing list archives (they're online here if you aren't subscribed), or simply by heading over to Tim's post at Hawk Wings, as he is hosting the files himself.

For as long as I can remember, Ken Ferry's Keyword Assistant has been the only iPhoto plugin (at least, AFAIK) for adding some real power and, dare I say, "tagging" to iPhoto's keyword system. Now there's a new kid on the block by the name of Keyword Manager, and it definitely brings some interesting features to the table. Keyword Manager uses two separate windows that both have their own keyboard shortcuts for toggling visibility. The first is a Quick Assigner window (pictured on right) which, as you might guess, allows you to quickly tag add keywords to your photos. It offers keyword completion (via a slick drop down menu) and support for multiple word keywords. The second panel (on left) is a very nice Keyword Manager, allowing you to organize keywords in a hierarchy to help keep your organization in check. Naturally, since both of these panels have their own keyboard shortcuts, you can call them even when in iPhoto's full-screen mode. All this is done with a very nice iPhoto Adjustment Panel-like UI.

Now Keyword Manager is pretty impressive, but I think they're reaching just a little too high by charging $19 for a plugin, especially in light of Keyword Assistant being free. I think $14.99 would hit the sweet spot for a plugin like this, but then again, I admittedly haven't plunged into organizing my increasingly sprawling iPhoto library yet, so YMMV.

[Update: Commenters Jools tipped us off to promotional codes at VersionTracker that drop the price to $12 in the US or €12 in the EU: VT-542U845 (US) and VT-542E845 (EU). No word on how long those codes are good for, but that's a much more reasonable price in my book.]

Keyword Manager is available from Bullstorm, and a demo is available which allows you to assign keywords 75 times before requiring a license.

Thanks Bernt