Tagging file system instead of directories? [close

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Closed 7 years ago.

In the modern file systems there are files and directories. In a directory, there are sub-directories and files.

My question is, wouldn't it be better if all the files were in one place, and each file could tagged? So each file have tags, just like in Stack Overflow: every question has tags. The main advantage, is that searching could be much more faster.

What is your opinion? For you, was it more comfortable?

Answer 1

You may take a look at Reggata It's a simple tagging system for local files.

Answer 2

Hmm. Current research goes into this direction. For example tracker or WinFS.

Personally I believe that we cannot easily resign from directory structure as:

• It is tightly connected with how computers file systems works and what programs expects
• Hierarchical organisation helps manage large number of files if there is strong separation. I.e. I have folders Projects, Music, University etc. which shares no files in common
• I guess that semi-power users (like *nix geek on windows) need to know the underlying structure easily. I gave up when I tried to do 'search for file XYZ.exe and delete the folder containing it' using standard tools in Windows 7.

On the other hand tags function better when the sets overlaps like:

• Photos of family, photos of buildings - where photo of my parents in from of monument belongs?
• Music
• Questions

If user is 'power-user' enough he might want to use hierarchical tags and form some ontologies. Those on the other hand can be simulated on *nixes by symlinks.

To conclude - in certain areas I prefer tags but not for all of them. Sometimes I need to know underlying structure. But probably as most other stackoverflow users.

Answer 3

File system tagging would be useful - not as a replacement, but as a complement of a directory system. I don't want to have all files in one directory, but I would like to have some files or directories inside a tree hierarchy (like image/video/music collections) organized using tags.

Answer 4

I've started a project to develop a tagging filesystem. Check it at http://code.google.com/p/labelfs/

Answer 5

Having developed my own tagging program http://www.taggtool.com I can offer the following thoughts:

It is super useful to be able to cross-reference multiple files using tags but it involves a lot of upfront and ongoing effort to add tags to your files although automatic rules help.

Technically on Windows it's a challenge to code such a system, where do you save the tag metadata? Ideally in the file but that's only possible with a tiny set of file formats.

Alternative Data Stream offered a possible solution but it feels like a half baked solution.

The other option is to store the metadata in a database which introduces the new challenge of keeping everything in sync.

It's a shame that the native OS doesn't provide a robust metadata storage for files but that's the way it is at the moment.