Tags vs indexed folders

I’m confused about tags for indexed items…

I’m used to using tags VERY sparingly in Finder. I basically use them to get to files quickly according to status: “active” “next” “to do” “reference” “to read” etc… I have a bunch of databases in DT3, some are indexed Finder folders, others are just within DT. I get that tags sync between Finder and DT for indexed items, which is what I want. What I don’t get is why I see the whole Finder structure within Tags in the DT sidebar?? I would expect to only see the tags no? For example, the “active” tag is nowhere to be seen on the sidebar. I need to navigate within the database that contains items with that tag to eventually get to the specific item with the tag… Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?? What’s the point of having the exact same structure in Tags and in the Database??

There must be something off in the way I set up the database… I have checked the “Exclude groups from tagging”. What am I missing? If someone could enlighten me, I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks!

Post a screen capture of what you’re referring to.

If you only use that small number of tags you could add them to the Favorites without cluttering the sidebar.

OK I think I got it. My mistake, too many documents, too little experience with DT…

So in the sidebar, Tags are grouped by databases, but then are visible at the first level (ie. no need to dig them out as I said), and the tagged items are in the main window, where I can navigate within the groups/folders. So far that’s similar to what I would see in Finder, except I can’t see all the items with the “active” tag in all databases at once. I guess that’s expected behavior? Since I don’t use that many tags (for now), I can just create a Smart group with the tag I want, searching all databases, and that will get all items with that tag.

Two other elements still confuse me though…

  1. When I see a small triangle beside a tag, I would expect to see nested tags within it, not groups/folders. Is there any way to not see the groups/folders in the Tags sidebar?
  2. The number associated with a tag reflects the total number of items within all the groups/folders with that tag, not just the number of items with the tag.

I guess my main issue is that I fail to see why all groups/folders are available to navigate in the Tags sidebar, since they already are in the main window. This mix of Tags and Groups in the sidebar confuses me…

Thanks for the suggestion. I think Smart groups might be more helpful since I would then be able to combine items from all databases with the same tag. But something I’ll keep in mind!