Smart Group which finds all normal Groups

[halloleo]

I want to create a Smart Group/Search which returns all normal groups in a database. I do

Is there a direct way to search for it ? Tags seem to be Groups as well.

Thanks!

[pete31]

@halloleo

Is there a direct way to search for it ?

No, what you’re doing is the most direct way.

@halloleo

a Smart Group/Search which returns all normal groups in a database

For me “normal groups” means:

• groups I created via Data > New > Group

and

• no tags

but also

• no tags group
• no annotations group
• no incoming group

Although they are obviously technically groups I don’t want them when I’m looking for “normal groups.” Unfortunately there’s no direct way to exclude them.

However by using a marker (e.g. a unique string added to the comments) it’s possible to exclude them in a Smart Group or Rule.

E.g. kind:group kind:!tag comment!=EXCLUDE BUILT IN GROUPS

[halloleo]

Hey @pete31, thanks for chiming in!

@pete31

For me “normal groups” means:
…

• no tags group

I assume this is a tag containing tags? (Like in the tag hierarchy

article --> german
        --> english

blog-post --> german
          --> english

article and blog-post are “tag groups”?

@pete31

• no annotations group
• no incoming group

What the heck is an “annotations group” and what is an “incoming group”?

@pete31

However by using a marker (e.g. a unique string added to the comments) it’s possible to exclude…

Very smart idea! Do you use a special script when you create a normal group, so that it contains the marker comment?

[pete31]

@halloleo

What the heck is an “annotations group” and what is an “incoming group”?

These are “built-in” groups that sit in a database’s root:

• tags group: the “Tags” group that holds all tags
• annotations group: the “Annotations” group that holds all annotations
• incoming group: the “Inbox” of a database

The terms are used in DEVONthink’s AppleScript dictionary, I use them as I‘m not aware of other terms for these groups.

@halloleo

Do you use a special script when you create a normal group, so that it contains the marker comment?

It’s the other way round: I add a comment to the „built-in“ groups to filter them out.

[halloleo]

@pete31

These are “built-in” groups that sit in a database’s root…

Interesting! Thanks.

@pete31

It’s the other way round: I add a comment to the „built-in“ groups to filter them out.

Of course! If the groups you want to filter out are only a fixed number of builtin groups, that’s the way to go.