I posted this a week or so ago in the troubleshooting section, and am now submitting this as a formal request: allow the nesting of smart groups.
Currently, the way the smart group function works, is completely inadequate. Details below:
Now that tags are here, I really want to push toward a flat file structure, with all groups, categories, etc. largely governed by tags. Iâll dump info into a small number of meta-level categories, and use tagging for the drill-down. At least, this is what I want to do. However, I canât seem to be able to nest smart groups. Why not? Iâd never tried it before in DTPO, but assumed the functionality would be there.
E.g., I can have a meta-level folder âSchool,â where I keep ALL school docs. I then want a smart group for, say âContracts.â No problem. But then, what if I have a huge number of docs (notes, papers, presentations, etc.) in that group that I want to further define into Notes, Papers, Presentations smart groups? No dice, unless I want all of those smart groups to exist as another branch on the âSchoolâ tree, so to speak.
The point of a smart group is to âsmartlyâ search all of oneâs content based on certain parameters, and then aggregate it into one place. These smart groups, however, should allow for increasing degrees of precision. If I have an âInventionsâ folder and want to smart group all my âWidgets,â but then further sub-classify âWidgetsâ into âWidgets-with-wingsâ and further âWidgets-with-wings-with-wheelsâ and. . . etc. This process should be allowed to continue ad infinitum.
However, in the current setup, my âWidgets,â Widgets-with-wings," and âWidgets-with-wings-with-wheelsâ smart groups are all at the same hierarchical level within the âInventionsâ folder. This is illogical and counterintuitive, as all smart groups after âWidgetsâ (in this example) are a sub-classification of that âWidgetâ class. So, the folder/search hierarchy should be thus:
Inventions[regular folder]>Widgets[smart]>Widgets-with-wings[smart]>Widgets-with-wings-with-wheels[smart]
Each of those should be nested within the preceding item in the hierarchy.
This is the beauty of smart groups. They can be as precise or as imprecise as one wishes, and they are not permanentâthey can be wiped away without a second thought, when they cease to be useful (unlike a traditional folder hierarchy, in which everything would have to be physically moved).
So, please allow the nesting of smart groups.