There is a tagging feature that would bring Devonthink from a tool for world conquest to a true intergalactic weapon.
And I don’t think it would be terribly complex.
Imagine you’ve got a database of a few thousand documents. As you search through them, you develop linkages and networks through tagging.
You’re looking at a document with five tags, each tag with helpful related tags.
You can reveal any of the five tags, but at the cost of losing your place in the current document.
If you click on a related tag, it adds it to the present document. That yields the opportunity to reveal that related tag, but at the cost of adding the tag. Eventually, everything gets tagged with every tag as you explore.
But what if there was an option for each tag and each related tag to reveal the tag in a new window?
Now I could use tags somewhat like WikiLinks, which have the right-click option of opening the linked item in a new tab.
If I wanted to jump to a tag, that would be the current reveal tag function. If I wanted to refer to a tag while still pondering the current document, that would be the new “reveal tag in new window” feature.
While on the subject, I would also vote for the reveal tag function, whether in the same window or a new one. to land in the tag with the current document still selected, not the tag group with no documents selected.
That would help maintain continuity, I think.
Revealing a related tag, either in the current or a new window, should just land on the tag, not any particular document. The current document isn’t in that tag.
I think there is sound psychology behind revealing tags in new windows, too. I both suffer from and leverage something called the door syndrome. When I change context, I tend to leave behind my collected thoughts. When I get up to fetch a glass of water, I’ll forget why I got up when I walk through a doorway.
Revealing a tag in a new window would avoid changing context when you just wanted to take a look at a side reference.
I think the hardest part of implementing this would be deciding if mankind can be trusted with tools that powerful. For my part, I would use the feature for good, not evil. I promise, assuming I can remember why I revealed that tag…
