The end of folders?

Oh how I hate folders. They have a fundamental flaw: what happens when a document belongs in several places at once? Since I'm usually working across multiple projects I get unstuck when trying to file stuff (and remember 'filing stuff' is just a time sink). Should the document go in 'strategy' or '.com' or 'web 2.0'?


Increasingly I've not been bothering, just sticking files into new folders each month and using Spotlight to find them. It's fast to file, fast to find, and especially removes the 'mental overhead' of having to take the time to think about where to file stuff.

Included in Spotlight is the ability to embed metadata within a file. This metadata can then be searched against. However the standard way to add metadata using the Finder is very clunky. You have to select the file, choose 'get info' and then type the label into a text field...



I've just stumbled upon an application that very nearly solves this. It's called Tagbot. It provides 'tag' management panel that allows you to quickly add tags (ie labels) to files and folders from an editable list of tags. It also provides one-click search to retrieve all files with that tag, plus the ability to tag multiple files at once:


All that's missing is the ability to apply multiple tags to a file in one step. Coming soon no doubt.

Highly recommended. It's only a matter of time imho before the metaphor of a 'folder' disappears from our desktops (in much the same way that the idea of a 'structure' underlying a web site is becoming increasingly nonsensical).