This is all very helpful. Thank you, everyone.
Your explanation of tagging is super helpful to me and may resolve some of the challenges Iāve had with groups. And I love how you explained the difference between groups and tags here. That clarifies my thinking. Thank you!
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Iāve been using DTP for > 15 years. I have only 3 databases: personal, professional and technical. Lots of tags in the personal db, highly idiosyncratic. The technical one contains information about how I use DT in relation to other apps, tips about its advanced features, and to remind myself of the logic for different smart groups and scripts. No tags. There are lots of tags in the professional db, but mostly = keywords automatically captured when articles are imported. Many of them are irrelevant to my research. So I donāt bother. Rather I use groups with 2 roots: one for my own work, the other organized by discipline ā my research is multidisciplinary. There groups may go down to 5 levels based on topics of interest or sub-disciplines. I tend to use sub-disciplines only for methods; e.g., ontology vs taxonomy vs types or hypergraph theory vs set theory. Rather than tags, I prefer to use smart groups, scripts and replications, and to rely on DTs intelligent search capability.
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I have been using DT for a long time, through various (different) job roles. One of the successful applications I usually mention to anyone asking about DT is a patent database I created and maintained now almost 2 decades. This is a database for a specific company which wanted to be well informed about their competitive landscape as well as their own IP. The groups/folders/subfolders in this database represent the major relevant technological areas. Each patent has two tags: company name and priority date.
So with a new patent I can use āclassifyā to (fairly) quickly find the relevant technology grouping where it belongs. That means that if I need to focus on briefing all IP related to a project or product, I have most of the relevant patents right there. Additionally, engineers that come up with a new bright idea I would ask to write down in some detail what the idea is and again using the classification function can now provide them with competitive patents to review to see if their idea is indeed new or not or possibly can be augmented by reading prior art.
Getting a quick overview of a particular competitive IP is as simple as navigating the tag hierarchy and clicking the competitor. Same with getting a good impression on the ācompetitive bubbleā (length and bulk of competitor patents) by clicking the priority date.
Additionally, Iāve written a bit of code to transform the collected data into trends so one can see where competitors are busy innovating.
Using DT for patents was eye opening for me, it transformed a collection of mumbo jumbo into something I could work with and give direction to.
I do think the classification function could use improvement, particularly now that we have LLMs I could imagine this to work even better. Patents have a lot of boiler plate and references and these make it difficult to classify sometimes. Potentially with a GPT like function this could be improved as well as ask it interactive questions about what the database contains would be nice. But even without any of that fancy stuff, rigorously collecting, classifying and tagging generated tremousdous value for the company.
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I use tags in similar ways to other respondents. I can give a āworkā example, even though I am retired. I monitor mining and metallurgical project development. I use tags to identify overall geographic region (Place - North America, Place - Southern Africa), metal (Metal - Copper, Metal - Gold), and status (Status - Exploration, Status - Feasibility, Status - Operation). I can use other tags for special issues, and I use custom metadata if I want to be really specific about ownership our country.
As others have said, tags allow me to rapidly find information and create smart lists.
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No Jim, I did try nested tags, but I prefer single level Place - North America etc.
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I mostly use groups because (I believe) DT doesnāt help classify by tags or factor tags into document similarity. Tags are mostly for information DT canāt connect on its own, like items relevant to certain family members.
You can choose either content or tags for classification in the inspector.
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True. I wish we didnāt have to choose between using content and tags there.
Development would have to assess the feasibility of such a change in behavior. I just report the facts 
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I use both groups and tags. My research database is sorted into groups of topics and subtopics. I use tags to denote the type of file. So I have tags for:
- Report
- Academic paper
- Article
- Note
- Seminar
Etc., etc.
I often want to sort for a certain file type so I find this useful (e.g. if I know I read a good paper about dragons but I canāt remember the name of it, Iād go in my dragon group then filter on the āacademic paperā tag) to find it).
I also have tags with a numerical prefix that denote the fileās priority and next action, e.g.
- 01 - High Priority
- 02 - Medium Priority
- 03 - Low Priority
Currently working on
To action
(āTo actionā means Iāve read a paper but not started notes yet. āCurrently working onā means Iām using the file currently, in the process of reading, or in the processing of writing about).
Because far more paperwork crosses my desk than I can reasonably deal with, this triaging helps me keep an eye on it all.
Occasionally Iām working on a report that requires files scattered across multiple groups. I use a temporary tag when that happens so that all my references are pulled together. It just makes life easier. (I do also use replicants and duplicates, but this kind of file ācollectionā is temporary and I donāt want it to become a permanent part of my database). I delete these tags when Iām done, though they may last many months while work is ongoing.
Finally, I also have tags for the year now. I tag each academic paper or report with the year I read and finish notes. This is just for fun so that at the end of the year I know how many papers I got through 
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This is an important distinction to understand: Tags can be temporary, impermanent. Theyāre like changing your clothes, not like getting a tattoo 
your workflow is very interesting.
may I ask how you enter the tags with this special symbols? do you each time have to open the emoji keyboard to select the icons to enter the tag?
I do something similar to @MsLogica . I use the text expansion of BTT. In this specific case I would do it like this:
cw space space ā Currently working on
ta space space ā To action
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just to understand better, you tag files when creating them, you add or delete tags when working on them or when finishing working on them, respectively. but then, you mainly use them when searching for files? can I create smartrules that filter for a combination of tags in the current open group? and is there a possibility to export all files with a certain tag, or even files with certain tags from groups and subgroups (by mantaining the folder and subgroup structure in the export)?
thanks. so you need these tags in order to search for files with the tag āto actionā? I use labels for that.
Likewise, labels for status; Active, Completed, Pending, ā¦
Custom metadata is also useful for a mutually exclusive set of tags
I donāt know how MsLogica navigates her databases. But tags are not just for search. You can navigate tags like a group hierarchy in the sidebar. For quick access, you can add a tag to your Favorites section. I donāt think you can do that with labels.
Smart Rules? Or Smart Groups? Smart Rules are global, but you always limit the search location to somewhere. And you can create a smart group filtering on tags anywhere.
But it sounds like you want something more dynamic. Did you ever look at the tag filter? I think you would like it! I often forget it exists, but itās very nice. Great for quick filtering. I also think you could set up a template to make it quick to create a smart group filtering on certain tags at any location.
Itās easy to export files with a certain set of tags. I imagine itās possible to maintain a group hierarchy, but Iām not sure how. Maybe needs to be scripted.
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can I create smartrules that filter for a combination of tags in the current open group?
There is no criterion for current open group.
and is there a possibility to export all files with a certain tag, or even files with certain tags from groups and subgroups (by mantaining the folder and subgroup structure in the export)?
Many things are possible. That doesnāt necessarily make them expedient. I do a lot of things that are the former but not necessarily the latter.
Instead of asking whatās possible, present an actual use case.
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