I'm sure some of us have done this. We've saved a lot of files and folders, and even though we've put them into folders with meaningful names, we might wish to organize some of them in other ways.

The idea is to use a 2-pane PIM to accomplish this. The left pane hierarchical tree has nodes for the topics, and in the right-hand pane corresponding to each node are links (shortcuts) to the appropriate files and folders.

Many PIMS have the capability of including such links, but it is often cumbersome to create the links, or one can only create links for certain file types. What one really wants is an easy way to create such links, say by dragging a file or folder name into a right pane.

So far, I've only found one PIM in my collection that seems to do this for all the folders and file types I've tried: TreePad Business.

Hopefully, it would be useful to gather a list of other PIMS that have this "universal" drag and drop capability.

I believe you can add MyInfo to the list, if my memory is correct. I'm not sure if each node can handle multiple links, however. (I'm not at my office, where I have access to my Windows PC to test it out.)

Another option for achieving something to this effect is TheBrain, though without the dual pane approach. Drag folders or files from Windows Explorer or (on a Mac) the Finder and it creates "virtual folders" with links to all the files in the folder

Steve Z.

You can also do this in ConnectedText. In the edit view you can build whatever hierarchy you like (5 levels deep) using headings (so this would be your new "folder" organisation (which can be viewed as a left pane, if you select to have the "Table of Contents" pane docked on the left), and into the hierarchy you can drag and drop folders or files. When you switch to the "view" mode, you would have the two-pane effect. In addition a "files" window can also be docked e.g. on the right, so you would have a list of all the files in a third pane.

Originally I thought I would be using UltraRecall for this sort of thing but there are several advantages doing this in CT. First, you will be able to see the contents of all the "folders" in a single page (if by "folders" we mean the new headings). Also, it is easy to rearrange the hierarchy (cut and paste or select and drag text). Finally, you can annotate any "folder" or the target folders and files directly inside their "folder" (heading), and it is all displayed in a flat view, i.e. everything is always visible (as opposed to other two-pane PIM where you can only see the contents of the folder you had clicked on).

For me the the flat view and the ability to annotate things directly and in an unlimited way are the main attraction, as they allow for a meaningful processing and analysis of the folders and files, which is the main purpose of the exercise in the end.

Another cool feature is the ability to chop up a document (e.g. a long list of folders and files as described above) and sink them into the background by packing them away into new documents to which only a hyperlink remains (which is another way to simplify a complex hierarchy, if the list gets too big).

This is something that good ole' Smereka TreeProjects does as well - very fast, and with full-text indexing as well (at least of file types it recognises). And images!

Cheers,
Bill

For reference, I would add UltraRecall to the list of PIMS that can do this.

Hi Andus,

I am looking into ConnectedText (again!). Is it possible to auto-update the list of files in each folder? By this I mean will new files be visible in a given folder if dropped in after folder creation?

Also is web import supported, or only web-linking?

Thanks, /Pavi

Dr Andus wrote:

You can also do this in ConnectedText. In the edit view you can build whatever
hierarchy you like (5 levels deep) using headings (so this would be your new "folder"
organisation (which can be viewed as a left pane, if you select to have the "Table of
Contents" pane docked on the left), and into the hierarchy you can drag and drop
folders or files. When you switch to the "view" mode, you would have the two-pane
effect. In addition a "files" window can also be docked e.g. on the right, so you would
have a list of all the files in a third pane.

Originally I thought I would be using
UltraRecall for this sort of thing but there are several advantages doing this in CT.
First, you will be able to see the contents of all the "folders" in a single page (if by
"folders" we mean the new headings). Also, it is easy to rearrange the hierarchy (cut
and paste or select and drag text). Finally, you can annotate any "folder" or the
target folders and files directly inside their "folder" (heading), and it is all
displayed in a flat view, i.e. everything is always visible (as opposed to other
two-pane PIM where you can only see the contents of the folder you had clicked
on).

For me the the flat view and the ability to annotate things directly and in an
unlimited way are the main attraction, as they allow for a meaningful processing and
analysis of the folders and files, which is the main purpose of the exercise in the
end.

Another cool feature is the ability to chop up a document (e.g. a long list of
folders and files as described above) and sink them into the background by packing
them away into new documents to which only a hyperlink remains (which is another way to
simplify a complex hierarchy, if the list gets too big).

Pavi wrote:

Hi Andus,
I am looking into ConnectedText (again!). Is it possible to auto-update
the list of files in each folder? By this I mean will new files be visible in a given
folder if dropped in after folder creation?

Not in the example I have given. The "folders" I was talking about are not really folders. They are just headings within a single document which can be used to thematically organise links to folders and files that can be dragged and dropped into the document. And these headings are limited to 5 levels. So my example is more suitable for thematic analysis and organisation of the contents of a directory where you are not planning to add any new files or folders. It's kind of the final step of analysing a specific project and its related folders and files.

Also is web import supported, or only
web-linking?

In my example it's only linking. However, I'm still a relative newbie with CT, so there might be other solutions I'm not aware of. However, for the process you describe, CT is probably not the right tool for.

Dr Andus wrote:

So my example is more suitable for thematic analysis
and organisation of the contents of a directory where you are not planning to add any
new files or folders. It's kind of the final step of analysing a specific project and
its related folders and files.

Another way to put this: if you have a folder directory with hundreds of folders and files, CT can be used to thematically organise and analyse (annotate) them (by dragging and dropping them) in a single document view (which is further aided by some additional panes, such as the Table of Contents and the Files pane). I'm talking about a qualitative analysis process. Once you have organised them into various themes using the sub-headings, the single document can be broken up into multiple documents, all hyperlinked to the original document, thus creating another form of hierarchy (a node with multiple linked documents).

Dr Andus wrote:

Another way to put this: if you have a folder directory
with hundreds of folders and files, CT can be used to thematically organise and
analyse (annotate) them (by dragging and dropping them) in a single document view
(which is further aided by some additional panes, such as the Table of Contents and the
Files pane). I'm talking about a qualitative analysis process. Once you have
organised them into various themes using the sub-headings, the single document can
be broken up into multiple documents, all hyperlinked to the original document, thus
creating another form of hierarchy (a node with multiple linked documents).

This is only useful of course if you have a specific objective as to why you want to analyse the contents of those folders and annotate the files, such as when organising and evaluating research materials stored in a directory, with the view of wanting to say something about them (such as writing a report etc.).

Dr. Andus,

Thanks for the detailed replies. I am really amazed with the power of Connectedtext as you describe it. I have demoing recently - the ability to drag a page, topic or category from any open database to an outline, and export that outline, is actually quite insane!

I am not sure how to consolidate my research, since I have many pdfs and webpages, not to mention files. These would probably be better suited to TreeProjects, using a standard tree format, as storing them with revisions is desirable as are automatically imported folders (special folders). However, I am completed fascinated by the possibilities of organizing more "free form" in CT. Is there any way to store files in the TreeProjects database, and access them (export?) in CT, I wonder?

Right now, Ultra Recall offers a good blend of techniques, and I can manage all my requirements from it, with some limitations. Moving to leverage the capabilities of other programs might help my overall workflow, though.

Best, /Pavi


Dr Andus wrote:

This is only useful of course if you have a specific objective as to why you want to
analyse the contents of those folders and annotate the files, such as when organising
and evaluating research materials stored in a directory, with the view of wanting to
say something about them (such as writing a report etc.).

Pavi wrote:

I am not sure how to consolidate my research, since I have
many pdfs and webpages, not to mention files. These would probably be better suited to
TreeProjects, using a standard tree format, as storing them with revisions is
desirable as are automatically imported folders (special folders). However, I am
completed fascinated by the possibilities of organizing more "free form" in CT. Is
there any way to store files in the TreeProjects database, and access them (export?)
in CT, I wonder?

That I don't know. You might be better off contacting the TreeProjects developer or ask the folks on the ConnectedText forum.

As I said, I think CT is better suited for doing the analysis of content once the data collection is done and you don't plan to add much new data to those folders. I am now using CT as my main CAQDAS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_assisted_qualitative_data_analysis_software I did however take a seminar in Atlas.ti and taught myself NVivo by watching the tutorial videos and using it extensively for the first half of my project. However after discovering CT I realised that I can not only model all the main processes of NVivo in CT but can even do stuff that NVivo is not good at. Also, CT is much faster and more pliable, not to mention more affordable.

The big thing for me is that I can model my own work flow (analytical steps) and implement it in CT, while in NVivo you are stuck with the imagination of the NVivo developers. Of course NVivo also has some bells and whistles that CT doesn't have but I found I don't need those for my purposes.

P.S. Here is where I described one of those analytical processes in CT:

http://www.outlinersoftware.com/messages/viewm/14417
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3799

Fascinating! I confess I've rather avoided CT - tiptoed round it, so to speak, but maybe I'll have to take a look; for the Greater Good, you understand...

Thanks for the cross-references. I've gotta try that!

Cheers,
Bill

Dr. Andus,

Thank you for the detailed information! My main "problem" is breaking from traditional thinking, which for me mean means hierarchical trees and having all data in one place. Also, my needs are totally different from yours, as my research is mainly derived from pdfs, webpages, and my own notes and files. However, Connectedtext seems like the ideal software to attempt to make the break between personal needs and a research environment, as the power and features are simply amazing.

Now I simply need to dive in and learn how to get my research environment up and running without a break in my work flow.

Best, /Pavi

Pavi wrote:

Also, my needs are totally different from yours, as my research is
mainly derived from pdfs, webpages, and my own notes and files.

Not necessarily. Here is a mini case study of what I've been doing the last two days.

I have 167 folders in one directory that contain further sub-folders as well as hundreds of different files (Word, PPT, Excel, text, PDF, images etc.) that I've collected over 6 years. They've been organised into chronological folders named as "2008_11_28" etc., denoting the date when the folder was created (and when its contents were collected). Problem: I no longer remembered what was in the folders or where certain things were. However, I needed to find out, so I could organise the material meaningfully and use certain files as evidence or as material that needs to be analysed further. The main purpose is to connect this material to some documents I already have in ConnectedText. The main obstacle is the hierarchical organisation: Windows Explorer or my other PIMs would only allow me to see the contents of one folder at a time. I want to be able to see all my folders and files, so I can start rearranging the contents into new themes or connect them to existing themes. CT allows me to do this.

Here is my process flow. I work with two monitors.
1. Left monitor: CT is open. I create a new topic (document) and have the Table of Contents (TOC) open on the left, and the topic open in edit view.
2. Right monitor: I have Windows Explorer open with the folder hierarchy and with file preview pane (in Win7).
3. I start going through each folder one by one, to see what's in the folder.
4. I create headings in CT that look like this:

=2008= (to keep data organised by years)

==28-Nov-08: the name describing the contents of the folder==

===emails===

===images===

===notes===
etc.

5. Then I drag and drop either the entire folder or individual files from Win Explorer, depending on how detailed I want to be, and drop them into CT under the relevant heading.

I repeat this with every folder. It did take me two days but at the end of it I have my 167 folders and its contents laid out and labelled (via the headings) in front of my eyes in a single document. Although its a very long document, I can navigate it easily because in the TOC I can see all the headings of every folder and I can collapse the top level headings (2008, 2009 etc.) if I want to focus on a smaller set. As for the main window, whether I look at it in the view or edit mode, I can now click on any of the files or folders and they open in their respective applications. I can also open and dock the "Files" pane to the right of CT, so I can see all the files and folders that have been thus linked to this CT document.

At the moment however this is still just a replica of the hierarchical Win Explorer organisation, although the folder names are now labelled with descriptive names (the headings). The next step is to organise this content into thematic groups (as opposed to chronological groups). This is easy. All I need to do is start a new main heading, e.g. =Company A= and then drag or cut and paste all the various sections that contain the related files there. So at the end I may end up with a new organisation, where I have

=Company A=
==2008==
===28-Nov-08: the name describing the contents of the folder===
etc.
==2009==
etc.

then
=Company B=
=2008=
etc.

When I'm finished with reorganising my content, then I can just highlight everything belonging to Company A and select "Cut to new topic" from the context menu, and the content is removed from the original document and is placed into a new document that is hyperlinked to the original document. I repeat with all the other sections, until the original document becomes a home page for this sub-set of hyperlinked documents. Then I can go and analyse and work on each document in detail. In some cases I may want to hyperlink the new documents created to other existing documents within CT with the given theme.

The end result is that the contents of 167 folders have all been identified, annotated, organised into themes and connected to other themes, resulting in a totally new hierarchy which is now multi-connected through a variety of links (a networked hierarchy). Most importantly, I can draw conclusions from each new document created, and then aggregate the conclusions, thus putting an end to the analysis process. Thanks to the hyperlinking, TOC, and CT's search capabilities, it will always be easy to find any single file. But hopefully I won't have to return to them because now I have processed them and drew the necessary conclusions, which I aggregate elsewhere.

I apologise to anyone who had been bored by this, I promise I won't mention CT for a while :)

P.S. I'll just add that even though it took 2 days to transfer and create headings for all the files from 167 folders, once all that information was on a single page in CT, it only took me about 50 minutes to organise those 167 headings ("folders") into 17 main themes using cut-and-paste. This speed is possible because everything is on one page but also because the TOC now updates live, and the main headings can be collapsed, making it easier to navigate and focus on specific topics.

Dr Andus wrote:

The main obstacle is the hierarchical organisation: Windows
Explorer or my other PIMs would only allow me to see the contents of one folder at a time.
I want to be able to see all my folders and files, so I can start rearranging the contents
into new themes or connect them to existing themes.

FYI there's at least two alternatives to Windows Explorer that can show so called "flat views" including all files in subfolders in a single view. They are Directory Opus (paid) and UltraExplorer (freeware). UltraExplorer's website http://www.mustangpeak.net/ seems to have gone blank but a Google search will find the installer in many software libraries.

I've found this view very useful for overview and reorganisation via links. Keep in mind that it might require increased PC resources for large numbers of files.

Alexander Deliyannis

FYI there's at least
two alternatives to Windows Explorer that can show so called "flat views" including
all files in subfolders in a single view. They are Directory Opus (paid) and
UltraExplorer (freeware). UltraExplorer's website
http://www.mustangpeak.net/ seems to have gone blank but a Google search will find
the installer in many software libraries.

Many thanks for this! I've downloaded UltraExplorer but I couldn't really reproduce this view in Opus which seems to be the most interesting to me, as it shows the folder names alongside the file names (UltraExplorer only seems to show the file path):
http://www.gpsoft.com.au/program/ss/13.jpg

I'll need to check out Opus as it looks good. It would definitely speed up the drag and drop into CT for annotation and analysis.

Here is another method that others may find useful - it involves two tools - Voidtools Everything and xplorer2.

Everything is the fastest file searcher for Windows that I'm aware of. Probably many of you use it and I rely on it. It indexes path and filenames. The indexing is ultrafast and continuously updated. It doesn't index by traversing the whole file tree; rather it gets its information from the NTFS USN (?) file journal.

With Everything, you can type in any string, and any file whose name (or path) that contains that string will appear instantly in a list. If you type in two strings separated by a space, the list will show all files that contain both strings - a boolean AND. You can chose to search filenames only, or paths as well. The list is sortable by filename, path, date, etc. All the usual right-click menu options are available. The key aspect of Everything is the speed.

Unfortunately Everything has no file preview window.

xplorer2 to the rescue. xplorer2 has something called a "scrap pane" in which you can collect files from many different directories. (Any file search in xplorer2 displays its results in a scrap pane). It can easily give you a flat view of the files in a folder and all its subfolders.

You can highlight all the files turned by an Everything search, and drop them into an xplorer2 scrap pane. Voila! Now you can browse through all those files and view each file's contents in a preview pane.

Topicscape pro 2 does this well in the Topic Center View, and Zoot XT is also very powerful in linking both folders and files - if you link in a folder, it can link in all the subfolders and files and also gives summary information on each in the separate pains, and it also indexes the files.

zman

Dr. Andus: DOpus has the flat view, but there is also a "Group By" setting. Right click in the lister, click on "Group By" and select "None." Also note the other grouping options, which you might find useful. And as long as we're in the same thread, please keep the posts about your ConnectedText experience coming. I haven't yet taken the plunge, but I will soon, and your insights into using it are inspiring!

critStock wrote:

Dr. Andus: DOpus has the flat view, but there is also a "Group By" setting. Right click
in the lister, click on "Group By" and select "None." Also note the other grouping
options, which you might find useful. And as long as we're in the same thread, please
keep the posts about your ConnectedText experience coming. I haven't yet taken the
plunge, but I will soon, and your insights into using it are inspiring!

Thanks. DOpus is interesting, I'll continue evaluating it. As for CT, I'm still in the honeymoon period, as you can probably tell :)

Dr Andus wrote:

critStock wrote:
>Dr. Andus: DOpus has the flat view, but there is also a "Group By"
setting. Right click
>in the lister, click on "Group By" and select "None." Also note
the other grouping
>options, which you might find useful. And as long as we're in the
same thread, please
>keep the posts about your ConnectedText experience coming. I
haven't yet taken the
>plunge, but I will soon, and your insights into using it are
inspiring!

Thanks. DOpus is interesting, I'll continue evaluating it.

As luck would have it, DOpus is coming up 42% off on http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/directory-opus-10/

Dr Andus wrote:

As luck would have it, DOpus is coming up
42% off on http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/directory-opus-10/

Speaking of DOpus, I can highly recommend Andy's (of The "Other Manual") customised configuration available at http://www.asiteaboutnothing.net/c_dopus.html which rearranges the tool bars in a much more user-friendly way (unless you're already a pro :)

Dr Andus wrote:

Dr Andus wrote:
>As luck would have it, DOpus is coming up
>42% off on
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/directory-opus-10/

Directory Opus sale is on today (AUD$49).