I have created a tag called ‘Customer’ with a number of tags for each customer nested within it (e.g. ‘John Doe’). They are all at the same level ‘within’ this customer tag. What I wish to do is sort the tags within this ‘Customer’ tag by the number of items assigned to each one, in descending order. Items are of different file sizes so the ‘by Size’ option, in View > Sort, doesn’t satisfy my requirement.
Is there a straightforward solution to my problem?
Welcome @ari
Sorry but this is currently not possible at this time. Perhaps it will be in the future.
Is there a less straightforward solution? A different way I can structure it, so that I may sort by number of items?
At this time, no. The item count isn’t a sortable column, and other attributes, like size or word count, wouldn’t be reliable.
Development would have to assess the potential here.
Alright. I believe it would be a useful feature to add, for my workflow. Evidently, though, it hasn’t been a pressing issue for the community.
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
You’re welcome. No promises, but the request has noted. 
Hi @ari, if you create a smart group (kind:tag) and attach this triggered script to it (in the info inspector) you can sort your tags with the comment column.
-- Make tags sortable by child count (via finder comment)
-- Assuming you don't use the finder comments of tags (as they will be overwritten) you could attach this triggered script to a smart group that searches for "kind:tag". When you click the smart group it updates the comments.
on triggered(theRecord)
tell application id "DNtp"
try
set theTagGroup to tag group of current database
repeat with thisTag in theTagGroup
my walkTags(thisTag)
end repeat
on error error_message number error_number
if the error_number is not -128 then display alert "DEVONthink" message error_message as warning
end try
end tell
end triggered
on walkTags(thisTag)
tell application id "DNtp"
try
if type of thisTag = group then
set theChildCount to (count of (children of thisTag whose type ≠ group)) as string
set comment of thisTag to theChildCount
end if
set theChildren to children of thisTag whose type = group as list
repeat with thisChild in theChildren
my walkTags(thisChild)
end repeat
on error error_message number error_number
if the error_number is not -128 then display alert "DEVONthink" message error_message as warning
end try
end tell
end walkTags
Hey @pete31, Thanks A lot! I got your solution to work. I only have to adjust my tag hierarchy structure.
How I have it, I include an additional tag on the same level as the items (where the script does its count), with suffixes such as “_paid”. While the items of the “suffixed tags” aren’t included in the child count of the script, Devonthink includes the total count of items, which includes the nested items in those tags. The sort is correct on the first level but Devonthink including the total count of all items nested in that tag, makes it look like it isn’t sorted properly.
This looks strange to anyone who doesn’t understand what is happening in the smart group. But i’m just nitpicking, your solution is functionally sound at the moment, even though Devonthink adds that weird visual quirk. Thanks again.
Try this (I’m quite sure this is not the right way to do it but maybe it’s ok)
-- Sort Tags by child count (via finder comment)
on triggered(theRecord)
tell application id "DNtp"
try
set theTagGroup to tag group of current database
repeat with thisTag in theTagGroup
my walkTags(thisTag)
set theComments to {}
set theGroups to ((children of thisTag) whose type = group)
repeat with thisGroup in theGroups
set end of theComments to comment of thisGroup as string
end repeat
set addAll to 0
repeat with thisComment in theComments
set addAll to addAll + (thisComment as integer)
end repeat
set addAll to addAll + (count of (children of thisTag whose type ≠ group))
set comment of thisTag to addAll as string
end repeat
on error error_message number error_number
if the error_number is not -128 then display alert "DEVONthink" message error_message as warning
end try
end tell
end triggered
on walkTags(thisTag)
tell application id "DNtp"
try
if type of thisTag = group then
set theChildCount to (count of (children of thisTag)) as string
set comment of thisTag to theChildCount
end if
set theChildren to children of thisTag whose type = group as list
repeat with thisChild in theChildren
my walkTags(thisChild)
end repeat
on error error_message number error_number
if the error_number is not -128 then display alert "DEVONthink" message error_message as warning
end try
end tell
end walkTags
Hey @pete31 is there anyway I can get the script to only include the filtered tags of the smart group I attach it to? Currently it appears to affect all the tags in my database. I want to run the script on the findings of a smart group
You could try to extract the tags from the smart rules search predicates (which is a string), make it a list, and then use this instead of “tag group of current database” in
set theTagGroup to tag group of current database
Hi, I second that request 
Hello! Just checking: is there still no way to sort tags or documents by number of items? It seems like a fundamental functionality… but I am not an expert.
It would be wonderful if there could be a column option created for “Item Count”. We could then sort easily and even disable the option to “Display number of items inside groups” (which I feel clutters the sidebar, but that’s just my opinion) but still easily see the item counts.
I would mark this as a feature request but I am not sure how in a response. Thanks for all that you do!
It’s a rare request but we’ll consider this for future releases.