Perhaps I’m using the wrong terminology. The context is that I use tags to file things into groups (i.e. I use groups as tags), so when I say a replicant is under a tag, I mean that the replicant is there in the group in the 3 pane view (not the tag view where I see everything with the tag regardless of where it is filed in the group structure - which is what I believe you are talking about).
So everything I’m referring to is in 3 pane view, where groups are like a folder hierarchy, even though they are also tags.
For example, I have the following groups:
ParentA
– ChildA
– ChildB
In 3 pane view, if I tag a document with ChildA, it will be automatically tagged with ParentA and ChildA, but I will see the document only when I click on group ChildA, but NOT parentA (in tag view, I will see the document under both - but this is 3 pane view). I am referring to a replicant as a document that will appear in 3 pane view when I click on the tag. So in this case, ParentA does not have a replicant, even though the document is tagged with ParentA (perhaps there is another word for this?).
If I use cmd-opt drag to replicate the document in ParentA, then I will see it in both ParentA and ChildA even in 3 pane view, despite the fact that the tags are identical to the case described above (in both cases, the document is tagged with ParentA and ChildA, but above, I only see it under ChildA, and here, I see it under both ParentA and ChildA in 3 pane view).
The problem is this: If I want a document to have two tags, or to appear as a replicant in two groups, and if both of those groups are nested under two parents, I already have 6 tags on my document, which is too many to see in the single line window showing tags at the bottom of the document. In 3 pane view, when I click reveal tag, I will only see my document appear for two of the tags - not all 6. What I want is to be able to either see all of the tags at once (if I have to see all 6) OR be able to just see the two tags where if I click Reveal Tag in 3 pane view, I will find my document in the list.
In short - I am using groups as tags to quickly file documents into my group structure. I want to also quickly go backwards to see the groups that contain the document, and right now that is very difficult because it gets all of the parent group tags, which I can’t easily see or filter through to understand where the file sits in my tree.
There is also no way to distinguish whether a document is in a Child and Parent group as a replicant (under 3 pane view) or just the child - these are different instances in DT, and there must be someway for DT to know this because they behave differently in 3 pane view even though the tags are the same (as described above).
Sorry if I am using the wrong terminology - I’m happy to learn.
Thanks and best.
p.s. if the answer is going to be to use tags as tags and groups as groups, then I would be very disappointed, because one of the great powers of DT is the ability to quickly file documents into my hierarchy using groups as tags (and I would be confused as to when one is supposed to do this). Plus - it is possible, at the very least, to allow tags to wrap to multiple lines under the document so I can see them all at once. And, it is clear that DT understands the difference, because it behaves differently if I drag-replicate a document in a parent versus just getting the tag automatically due to the child - so there is something “special” about tags that show the document in 3 pane view versus those that don’t - I just want to make that explicit and visual - even if these tags are just a different color.