I’m new to DEVONthink but now Im getting used to creating a good workflow I thought Id share what Im doing with tags in case others (esp new users) might find it helpful. I moved to DT cos Evernote, so some of my workflow practices are inherited from that system, and one of them is using tags to organise content. I don’t think this post duplicates others but if it does I’ll happily delete.
Other posts in the DT forum are more about how tags impacting search or moving tags around in DBs, but Im more thinking about finding a bunch of previously related content easily and quickly via a common tag, using visual lists. In EN I used a parent ‘category’ of tags to group them, and these then allowed me to collapse or expand very long lists of tags. It was a great way to find specific related content very quickly but not end up with a very cluttered sidebar. Eg:
TECHNICAL: anything related to coding, dev, tech specs, standards etc
PhD: all my journal papers and related material for the thesis I was working on
WORK: job stuff, current contracts, time records etc
PERSONAL: personal things including blog posts etc
Ive now just discovered that you can do this in DT by dragging and dropping tags into their category heading. Just click on the main Tags menu item in the sidebar, that displays all tags in the ‘search’ results. Drag and drop into nominated categories. This REALLY tidies up how tags are displayed. No, I dont think tags can be duplicated in multiple parent categories, but for me that’s not a problem. All tags still get displayed in the cloud window, or by clicking on the master Tags menu item in the sidebar.
Of course I might be missing some critical factor that does this easier, or reasons why you shouldn’t do it! Im a newbie. Forgive my enthusiasm for getting to know the DT workspace.
Welcome @drpen and thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. And we are glad to hear of your enthusiasm!
No, I dont think tags can be duplicated in multiple parent categories, but for me that’s not a problem.
Technically, tags can be duplicated into other tag groups. However, we don’t feel this is a wise practice as it leads to unexpected results in searches, etc. And as the Tags group isn’t intended as the main structure to be used for navigation, there’s no other need to have duplicate tags. See the Getting Started > Tagging > Nested Tags section of the built-in Help and manual for more on this subject.
Have you looked into the possibilities presented by smart groups?
Also, you may want to explore the Tools > Filter > Tags pane.
I have a concern with Devonthink’s implementation of nested tags
As described in the manual; When you add a child tag, the item automatically inherits the parent tags. In the example shown below, adding a tag of “Casper” to an item would automatically add the “Wyoming” and “US” tags.
I like the tag organization, but I don’t want the parent tags assigned to an item
So instead, I reflect hierarchy in the tag-name; for example US-Wyoming-Casper
Yes I’m going to start looking at the Smart groups and I’ve looked a bit at using the tag cloud icon to bring up tag filters (at the top). I think you can also add a tag with a text cmd? I’d have to check! There’s a lot to get used to. I love multiple tabs open with different tags searching similar but different terms. It’s a fantastic tool for a researcher like me.
