Infoselect 9 Preliminary Version

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Posted by Graham Smith
May 11, 2006 at 10:05 AM

Ian,

What I do with Zoot, as I don’t like wasting time assigning keywords or categories, is when the key words aren’t already in the text, I add them at the beginning of the text. So if I have a bit of text that refers to project “xyz” but project xyz isn’t mentioned in the text. I simply write “xyz” at the beginning of the first line.

It then appears in the Zoot virtual folder that is set up to gather all records that mention xyz. the same approach could be used with the auto assign rules for folders in IS.

The only problem I can see is that pysically you seem to be restricted for space in IS as to the number of folders you can set up. Not a problem with Zoot, but this has given me a bit of a problem as I try to work out how to setup IS.

Ian Goldsmid wrote:

>linking, which extends this a bit - in IS we
>seem required to choose
>one and only one parent topic (category or category group)
>for any
>item. In reality though, the information contained in any particular
>item
>can easily mean it should belong to many parent topics (categories).

Posted by Dominik Holenstein
May 11, 2006 at 10:46 AM

Ian,

This is a very good question!
I have stopped to categorize my topics in ADM with Keywords and have found a much more pragmatic and low-tech approach which could help you to find a solution in IS 9:

First, I create a template for notes where the following items are listed (on top or at the bottom of the note - this is up to you). I am using small letters only to simplify the typing:
category:
date:
author:

Then I create a new topic and choosing the template.
The next step is to add the necessary information. To make sure that the search works properly I add the category right after the : without a space. This looks then like this:
category:outliner
date:11.05.2006
author:dominik

Now you can capture all your notes with this template and add all necessary categories.
In IS you can now create a new folder called ‘Outline by Dominik’ including this searches:
[OR] category:outliner
[AND] author:dominik

Whenever you click on that folder you get all items listed matching this query.

I am not a supporter of categorizing or tagging systems anymore. Why? First, it takes me a considerable amount of time to keep the category or keyword list up-to-date. Second, I ended up having an equal amount of categories in a picklist like having topics in the same file. Or another example: In Gmail, the E-Mail system of Google, I have a very long list of lables to tag the incoming emails. The longer the list gets the more lazy I am to choose the right lables for an email.

So it is much easier for me to just type down a category each time than to dig through a picklist. I never have to think of updating a category or keyword list with this approach.
Another advantage with this approach is that I am nearly independent of the system or application I am using. This approach works in ADM, IS, Ultra Recall and even with a search engine like Coveo, X1 or Yahoo Desktop search.

It will be very interesting to discuss this topic with other members of this group. If interest is high enough we could open a new thread.

Regards,
Dominik

Posted by Kenneth Rhee
May 11, 2006 at 10:48 AM

Graham Smith wrote:
>Ian,
> >What I do with Zoot, as I don’t like wasting time assigning keywords or
>categories, is when the key words aren’t already in the text, I add them at the
>beginning of the text. So if I have a bit of text that refers to project “xyz” but project
>xyz isn’t mentioned in the text. I simply write “xyz” at the beginning of the first
>line.
> >It then appears in the Zoot virtual folder that is set up to gather all records
>that mention xyz. the same approach could be used with the auto assign rules for
>folders in IS.
> >The only problem I can see is that pysically you seem to be restricted
>for space in IS as to the number of folders you can set up. Not a problem with Zoot, but
>this has given me a bit of a problem as I try to work out how to setup IS.

A couple of suggestions:

If you are using a free note, you can create a template with category headings and enter the category or keyword. For instance, this is what I have for note category:

Date:
Category:
Keyword:

You can then set up the smart folders to organize your categories or keywords. Even doing the search you can do the Boolean search, and then if you are going to use this frequently, then set up the conext tabs for it.

Of course, you can also create a database note, and enter your notes using that. In the past, I used this feature to create custom note forms.

As far as physical space limitation of smart folders, if you pull down the smart folder toolbar area, it will bring in down to the whole row. I figure I can have quite a few folders displayed in the fresh row.

Hope this helps.

Posted by Graham Smith
May 11, 2006 at 11:16 AM

Kenneth,

I think the difference between IS and Zoot in the respect of virtual folders is that with Zoot the folders are arranged vertically, and therefore in theory you can have as many as you want, with IS you are restricted to the width of the screen, and you need to think about using short names. I tend to use virtual folders in Zoot in a fairly casual manner, maybe with IS it needs structured a bit more.

The idea for categories and keywords, good as it is, was probably aimed at another poster as I don’t want to use keywords or categories, but simply use the exiting text, only on a very rare occasion when I realise the text fails to include anything that would be picked up in search do I add an an appropriate key word to make sure it is found.

Having said that, I can certainly see uses for this approach where a structure to the notes would be valuable.

As an aside, IS seems to be shaping up as the first program i have tried that may prove a viable replacement for Zoot

Thanks,

Graham

Kenneth Rhee wrote:

>
>A couple of suggestions:
> >If you are using a free note, you can
>create a template with category headings and enter the category or keyword. For
>instance, this is what I have for note category:
> >Date:
>Category:
>Keyword:
> >You
>can then set up the smart folders to organize your categories or keywords. Even doing
>the search you can do the Boolean search, and then if you are going to use this
>frequently, then set up the conext tabs for it.
> >Of course, you can also create a
>database note, and enter your notes using that. In the past, I used this feature to
>create custom note forms.
> >As far as physical space limitation of smart folders, if
>you pull down the smart folder toolbar area, it will bring in down to the whole row. I
>figure I can have quite a few folders displayed in the fresh row.
> >Hope this helps.

Posted by Ian Goldsmid
May 12, 2006 at 12:02 AM

Thanks to All - this has completely clarified how I can do something like MDE InfoHandler type categorization in IS 9 (if I choose). The template function in IS 9 turns out to be particularly useful here. I can create a template Note (well a Form as its officially called in IS) and put several custom fields in it - the main field being for notes, and then several other fields which are drop down lists - like a field called @Context - with drop down picklist items (values) like @Computer, @Downtown etc. I then create and save in a Folder, any combination of boolean search for specific combinations of field values.

Although as Dominik says, and I agree, it is a major commitment to assign keywords, categories whatever to items, so I’m going to try to do without it initially! It’s just great to know that possibility is there if I choose to use it.

Regards, Ian

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