Use only tags, no folders

Hello everyone!

I am trying to decide wether to use one only tags and no folders in my DTP. All documents would go into and sty on my global inbox, all my searches (and clicks) would go for tags.
Is this doable, does anyone use DTP it like this or has used it like this?
I would be happy to read any advice on this idea and any help in doing so!

1 Like

I use a combination of tags & Smart Folders which works well for me. I find it much more flexible than a traditional folder structure.

1 Like

I’m a tagger
Not a fan of keeping all records in the Global Inbox; I have a FilingCabinet database

I use an Applescript to assist in processing Inbox records; title, tags, …
Every note is assigned a type tag; for example !Type-Task, !Type-Receipt, …
The type drives further tag assignment; for example receipts get tags for vendor and budget category

folders are for projects & tags are for reference materials - see Tags or folders? Depends on the file. | Academic workflows on a Mac

I use a unique tag for each project (example #Project:Automation)
This links project notes, tasks, reference material, …

When completed, I assign a Completed tag to task notes
For completed projects, I prefix the project tag with an x (example #Project:xAutomation)

These are very subjective concepts, not the only approach. Indeed, in the cited article the author says…

I therefore find tagging reference files very logical. True, I do not use these tags very frequently because it’s often easier for me to remember the title or the author of the article (and then Spotlight it). However, in some situations tagging does wonders. For example, recently a colleague asked for all my materials on Ukraine. I could easily find all the files tagged regions:fsu:ukraine including pdfs, notes, maps and bookmarks saved at different times (and in different folders).

Yes of course - the system described is one that has worked well for me.

I pondered whether to embrace a tagging system primarily, but turns out folders are pretty ingrained in me and I fell back to it quite quickly.

I do use tags now, but in a manner I suspect makes people wince. I use a tag just to record what type of file it is (e.g. book, study note, report, academic paper, etc.). Whilst I can’t see a scenario where I’d want to sort all my files by type like this, it makes me feel better that they’re labelled and I could find them if I wanted to.

This sums up the DEVONthink experience :heart: :slight_smile:

Thanks all for your great answers! I switched to a system of tags and intelligent groups and get along very well so far!

1 Like

I thought I would do the same. Ran into lots of problems, like this one How to move indexed item from tag into group without replicating

… and, perhaps ironically, in DEVONthink tags are “folders” (groups, actually).

except they don’t act like them, for example in my link above