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a file browser usable as a PIM, as follows ...
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Posted by jimspoon
Jun 5, 2011 at 08:38 AM
I am very frustrated with how I have to search various data stores to find info I need ... when I’m looking for something, I may need to search in my PIM database, in my file system files, in my email database ... I wish it were all integrated better. I often wonder if I could think of way to use the file system as a note manager. Each note would be a separate file, and thus would be easily accessible to many different programs.
I am curious whether any of you has ever seen a file browser with a feature like this. In every file browser i’ve ever seen, the details view shows a single line of data about each file - name, size, created date, modified date, etc. Windows Explorer offers many columns/fields to choose from, for the tabular display.
Have you ever seen a file browser that uses more than one line to display the fields for each file? You could display more fields that way.
And here is what I’m more interested in ... have you seen a browser that will display the wrap the contents of a single field over multiple lines? For example - a browser could show lines of text from each file in a “text” column. I could use that for browsing short text files - i could see text from multiple files at the same time in a tabular display.
To take the metaphor even farther, I’m wondering if there is a file browser that works like a spreadsheet? You could make in-place edits to various file fields, not just the file name.
jim
Posted by jimspoon
Jun 5, 2011 at 08:44 AM
I might add that the “single-line” problem extends to the typical three-pane “outliner” - where you have three panes (1) a navigation tree pane to the left, showing folders or container items; (2) a columnar list of items in each container; and (3) a pane to display the contents of the item selected in the list pane. Usually, you can’t see the contents of more than one item at a time - the one that is selected in the list pane. To see the contents of another item, you have to click the next item in the list pane. In contrast, with a single-pane outliner - you are able to see the contents of multiple items at the same time.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Jun 5, 2011 at 07:51 PM
It’s probably not quite what you had in mind, but take a look at this old post of mine: http://www.outlinersoftware.com/messages/viewm/4871
I see that the program mentioned, Nemo, is under continued development and has almost reached v.1 http://www.nemo-docs.com/ (a long way ahead of the Linux version)
Other than that, I know that there is at least one file manager discussed here in the past which allows you to enter notes for any file and view them when browsing, but I am uncertain of its name—Filenotes ot something similar I think.
Posted by Cassius
Jun 5, 2011 at 09:47 PM
One can always add notes in the Summary tab of a file’s “Properties.”
Posted by jimspoon
Jun 6, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
>It’s probably not quite what you had in mind, but take a look at this old post of mine:
>http://www.outlinersoftware.com/messages/viewm/4871
Good post, thanks. We have the same basic idea - instead of using a program-specific database, which other programs don’t know how to use - why not use the file system, or at least a very common data format? That way the same data can be viewed and edited in multiple ways by multiple programs.
One possibility - put each note (or “record”) in a separate text file. Each note could be given a meaningful file name. I put the date and time in many of my file names, so that I can use a tool like Voidtools Everything (which searches filenames) - to retrieve files from many different folders and put them in chronological order. Different file extensions could be used for different kinds of data. Perhaps metadata “fields” could be placed somewhere in each file - perhaps at the bottom. For example, you could have something like this at the bottom of each file:
PurchaseDate: 4/29/2011
Manufacturer: Sony
etc etc.
A properly designed program could then gather the notes and metadata fields from many different files into one tabular display - and the data could be edited within that program, too.
Another advantage - it would be an easy matter to keep such a “database” synced across different computers using Dropbox or some such utility. A change to an individual note would be synced as soon as it is saved - you wouldn’t have to close an entire database of notes before the whole thing is synced.
Perhaps an “outliner” could be designed where a subitem is stored in a file system subdirectory associated with a a parent note item.
If a note belongs in several places in the outline, this might be accomplished by using file system “hard links” or “symbolic links”.
Maybe there is something already out there that works along these lines, but I haven’t found it yet.
>I see that the program
>mentioned, Nemo, is under continued development and has almost reached v.1
>http://www.nemo-docs.com/ (a long way ahead of the Linux version)
thanks, I’ve downloaded both Nemo and Gen-9 Noah, and will have a look at them.
>Other than
>that, I know that there is at least one file manager discussed here in the past which
>allows you to enter notes for any file and view them when browsing, but I am uncertain of
>its name—Filenotes ot something similar I think.
Could it be Atlast Filenotes Organizer?
http://www.filenotes.com/
jim