obscure and befuddling properties of CLASSIFY

[dclayton]

1. is AUTO-CLASSIFY from the menu supposed to do the same thing as the CLASSIFY button on the bottom right – and if not, what exactly does it do? Sometimes AUTO-CLASSIFY seems to do nothing, and I just see a list of candidate groupings on the right panel. Sometimes i get another log window indicating “not classified” – even though there are groups listed on the right. Sometimes auto-classify makes the target DISAPPEAR, apparently moved to … one? or more? of the candidate groupings.
2. How do I interpret “score” on the classification list? On my screen, most scores are white on the right end of the rectangle, and yellow toward the left, sometimes with red mixed in the middle. I never see green. What’s the relative significance of color versus extent or width along the x-axis?
3. How do I interpret color of the LED button at the bottom of the CLASSIFY panel? Either I’m stupid, or it’s not at all intuitive (or maybe both). (Again, there’s a combination of color and width metaphors).
4. I think I’m seeing different shadings over some of the suggested groupings in the CLASSIFY panel. I’ve seen dark blue, light blue, gray, and no shading. Is there Deep Meaning in these colors, or is this just random weirdness?

[eboehnisch]

@dclayton@uiuc.edu

1. is AUTO-CLASSIFY from the menu supposed to do the same thing as the CLASSIFY button on the bottom right – and if not, what exactly does it do? Sometimes AUTO-CLASSIFY seems to do nothing, and I just see a list of candidate groupings on the right panel. Sometimes i get another log window indicating “not classified” – even though there are groups listed on the right. Sometimes auto-classify makes the target DISAPPEAR, apparently moved to … one? or more? of the candidate groupings.

Auto-classify tries to immediately classify one or more document(s). If DEVONthink is note sure enough of where to put it, it simply leaves these documents where they are. This is what you experience as “nothing happens”.

2. How do I interpret “score” on the classification list? On my screen, most scores are white on the right end of the rectangle, and yellow toward the left, sometimes with red mixed in the middle. I never see green. What’s the relative significance of color versus extent or width along the x-axis?

Color and extent are the same. The better you have manually classified/grouped your documents, the better DEVONthink will be able to classify newly added documents. It only shows green when it absolutely sure, i.e. there’s only ONE groups where the document PERFECTLY fits.

3. How do I interpret color of the LED button at the bottom of the CLASSIFY panel? Either I’m stupid, or it’s not at all intuitive (or maybe both). (Again, there’s a combination of color and width metaphors).

This shows how sure DEVONthink in general is about classifiying this document. The more yellor or green the more sure DEVONthink is.

4. I think I’m seeing different shadings over some of the suggested groupings in the CLASSIFY panel. I’ve seen dark blue, light blue, gray, and no shading. Is there Deep Meaning in these colors, or is this just random weirdness?

Like with many lists, there’s a light blue/white background to make it easier to distinguish every other line. When DEVONthink is pretty sure about where to put a document, it’s also preselected. This is the group where also auto-classify would put it.

Best,

Eric.

[riddle]

For what it’s worth, I’m another new user who was initially confused by the Classify and Autoclassify features. I didn’t understand that I had to bring up a view of a specific item in order to classify it – I thought highlighting it in the group list should be sufficient. As a result I couldn’t figure out why I never saw the “Classify” button in the lower right that the docs refer to. I was close to giving up on DEVONthink before I found it.

This still seems like an inconsistency to me: why can’t I classify from the list on the left? And why can I put Autoclassify on the toolbar but not Classify?

I’m still struggling with some other usability issues. If I can organize them I may post in the suggestions forum. Regardless, thanks for putting out such a nifty tool.

[eboehnisch]

@riddle

This still seems like an inconsistency to me: why can’t I classify from the list on the left?

You can. Select the document you want to classify (which also displays it), then press the classify button. Or: Highlight the document(s) you want to classify and choose Data > Auto Classify.

And why can I put Autoclassify on the toolbar but not Classify?

Because there is already a Classify button on the bottom of every displayed document. This would be a dupe.

I’m still struggling with some other usability issues. If I can organize them I may post in the suggestions forum.

Sure, please do.

Best,

Eric.

[ddauerbach]

I have a confusion about this. You said:

You can. Select the document you want to classify (which also displays it), then press the classify button.

But if I select a document without displaying (one click, not two) I see no classify button anywhere. I feel like I’m missing something here.

[Bill_DeVille]

@ddauerbach

I have a confusion about this. You said:

You can. Select the document you want to classify (which also displays it), then press the classify button.

But if I select a document without displaying (one click, not two) I see no classify button anywhere. I feel like I’m missing something here.

If you select (one click) a document in either the Vertical Split, Horizontal Split or Three-Panes view, the document will be displayed and the Classify button will be visible.

[ddauerbach]

I was picking the “wrong” view. Thanks.