* filetags

Tagging dialog with GUI:

#+BEGIN_HTML
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/novoid/screencasts/master/file_management/filetags_GUI_dialog_with_examples.png" />
#+END_HTML

Snippet from the filetags demo using the text interface:

#+BEGIN_HTML
<a href="https://karl-voit.at/demo-filetags-tagging">
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/novoid/screencasts/master/file_management/filetags_tagging.gif" />
</a>
#+END_HTML


[[file:bin/screencast.gif]]

... filetags example demonstrating: controlled vocabulary file
=~/.filetags=, tagging multiple files at once, removing tags by
prepending a minus character, tagging using the proposed number
shortcuts, tab completion of tags via =Tab=, and mutually exclusive
tags (switching from =draft= to =final= without removing =draft=).

This Python script adds or removes tags to file names in the following
form:

- "file without time stamp in name -​- *tag2*.txt"
- "file name with several tags -​- *tag1 tag2*.jpeg"
- "another example file name with multiple example tags -​- *fun* *videos* *kids*.mpeg"
- "2013-05-09 a file name with ISO date stamp in name -​- *tag1*.jpg"
- "2013-05-09T16.17 file name with time stamp -​- *tag3*.csv"

The script accepts an arbitrary number of files (see your shell for
possible length limitations).

- *Target group*: users who are able to use command line tools and who
  are using tags in file names.
- Hosted on github: https://github.com/novoid/filetags
- Note that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folder_(computing)#Folder_metaphor]["directories" are to "folders"]] what "files" are to
  "documents".

[[https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/trained_a_neural_net.png]] (Source: [[https://xkcd.com/2173/][xkcd]])

** Why

Besides the fact that I am using [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso_date][ISO dates and times]] in file names
(as shown in examples above), I am using tags with file names. To
separate tags from the file name, I am using the separator
"space dash dash space".

For people familiar with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regex][Regular Expressions]]:

: (<ISO date/time stamp>)?(?<descriptive file name>)?( -- <list of tags separated by spaces>)?.<file extension>

Tagging files this way requires a file renaming process. Adding (or
removing) tag(s) to a set of file results in multiple renaming
processes. Despite advanced renaming tools like vidir (from
[[http://joeyh.name/code/moreutils/][moreutils]]) it's handy to have a tool that makes adding and removing
tags as simple as possible.

You may like to add this tool to your image or file manager of
choice. I added mine to [[http://geeqie.sourceforge.net/][geeqie]] which is my favorite image viewer on
GNU/Linux.

Here is [[https://glt18-programm.linuxtage.at/events/321.html][a 45 minute talk I gave]] at [[https://glt18.linuxtage.at/][Linuxtage Graz 2018]] presenting the
idea of and workflows related to filetags and other handy tools for
file management:

[[https://media.ccc.de/v/GLT18_-_321_-_en_-_g_ap147_004_-_201804281550_-_the_advantages_of_file_name_conventions_and_tagging_-_karl_voit/][bin/2018-05-06 filetags demo slide for video preview with video button -- screenshots.png]]

** Installation

This tool needs [[http://www.python.org/downloads/][Python 3 to be installed]].

You can install filetags either via [[https://packaging.python.org/tutorials/installing-packages/][pip]] or [[https://docs.astral.sh/uv/][uv]].

On Arch Linux you can use the [[https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/filetags-git][AUR package]]: `yay -S filetags-git`

Or you can install filetags using the source code, e.g., by cloning
the [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/][GitHub repository of filetags]].

*** Installation Via Pip

If you have installed Python 2 and Python 3 in parallel, make sure to
use the correct pip version. You might need to use =pip3= instead of
=pip=. If you only have Python 3 installed, you don't have to care ;-)

On Microsoft Windows (only), ~pypiwin32~ is an additional as prerequisite. For easy Windows File Explorer
integration, take a look at [[https://github.com/novoid/integratethis][integratethis]].

Now install filetags via [[https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/][pip]]: ~pip install filetags~

If you wish to install ~filetags~ from the default branch of the blessed GitHub
repository, run ~pip install git+https://github.com/novoid/filetags~.

You get updates by executing the very same pip command again.

*** Installation Via Source Code and uv

If you use the GitHub sources (and not pip):

- The executable is ~filetags/__init__.py~.
- You can install all dependencies and run the script with [[https://docs.astral.sh/uv/][uv]]:

: uv --project ${HOME}/src/filetags run ${HOME}/src/filetags/filetags/__init__.py --interactive --gui "$@"

Of course, you need to modify the paths according to your situation:

The =--project= parameter points to the main folder of filetags source
code that also contains the file =pyproject.toml= that holds all the
dependencies =uv= is looking for.

** Usage

 # #+BEGIN_SRC sh :results output :wrap src
 # ./filetags/__init__.py --help | sed 'sX/home/vkX\$HOMEX'
 # #+END_SRC

#+BEGIN_SRC
usage: filetags [-h] [-t "STRING WITH TAGS"] [--remove] [-i] [--gui] [-R] [-s] 
                [--overwrite] [--hardlinks] [-f] [--filebrowser PATH_TO_FILEBROWSER] 
                [--tagtrees] [--tagtrees-handle-no-tag "treeroot" | "ignore" | "FOLDERNAME"] 
                [--tagtrees-link-missing-mutual-tagged-items] 
                [--tagtrees-dir <existing_directory>] [--tagtrees-depth TAGTREES_DEPTH] 
                [--ln] [--la] [--lu] [--tag-gardening] [-v] [-q] [--version] [FILE ...]

This tool adds or removes simple tags to/from file names.

Tags within file names are placed between the actual file name and
the file extension, separated with " -- ". Multiple tags are
separated with " ":
  Update for the Boss -- projectA presentation.pptx
  2013-05-16T15.31.42 Error message -- screenshot projectB.png

This easy to use tag system has a drawback: for tagging a larger
set of files with the same tag, you have to rename each file
separately. With this tool, this only requires one step.

Example usages:
  filetags --tags="presentation projectA" *.pptx
      … adds the tags "presentation" and "projectA" to all PPTX-files
  filetags --tags="presentation -projectA" *.pptx
      … adds the tag "presentation" to and removes tag "projectA" from all PPTX-files
  filetags -i *
      … ask for tag(s) and add them to all files in current folder
  filetags -r draft *report*
      … removes the tag "draft" from all files containing the word "report"

This tools is looking for the optional first text file named ".filetags" in
current and parent directories. Each of its lines is interpreted as a tag
for tag completion. Multiple tags per line are considered mutual exclusive.

Verbose description: http://Karl-Voit.at/managing-digital-photographs/

positional arguments:
  FILE                  One or more files to tag

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -t, --tags "STRING WITH TAGS"
                        One or more tags (in quotes, separated by spaces) to add/remove
  --remove              Remove tags from (instead of adding to) file name(s)
  -i, --interactive     Interactive mode: ask for (a)dding or (r)emoving and name of tag(s)
  --gui                 In interactive mode: use a GUI dialog instead of the text based version
  -R, --recursive       Recursively go through the current directory and all of its subdirectories. Implemented for --tag-gardening and --tagtrees
  -s, --dryrun          Enable dryrun mode: just simulate what would happen, do not modify files
  --overwrite           If a link is about to be created and a previous file/link exists, the old will be deleted if this is enabled.
  --hardlinks           Use hard links instead of symbolic links. This is ignored on Windows systems. Note that renaming link originals when tagging does not work with hardlinks.
  -f, --filter          Ask for list of tags and generate links in "/home/rise/.filetags_tagfilter" containing links to all files with matching tags and start the filebrowser. Target directory can be overridden by
                        --tagtrees-dir.
  --filebrowser PATH_TO_FILEBROWSER
                        Use this option to override the tool to view/manage files (for --filter; default: geeqie). Use "none" to omit the default one.
  --tagtrees            This generates nested directories in "/home/rise/.filetags_tagfilter" for each combination of tags up to a limit of 2. Target directory can be overridden by --tagtrees-dir. Please note that this may
                        take long since it relates exponentially to the number of tags involved. Can be combined with --filter. See also http://Karl-Voit.at/tagstore/ and http://Karl-Voit.at/tagstore/downloads/Voit2012b.pdf
  --tagtrees-handle-no-tag "treeroot" | "ignore" | "FOLDERNAME"
                        When tagtrees are created, this parameter defines how to handle items that got no tag at all. The value "treeroot" is the default behavior: items without a tag are linked to the tagtrees root. The
                        value "ignore" will not link any non-tagged items at all. Any other value is interpreted as a folder name within the tagreees which is used to link all non-tagged items to.
  --tagtrees-link-missing-mutual-tagged-items
                        When the controlled vocabulary holds mutual exclusive tags (multiple tags in one line) this option generates directories in the tagtrees root that hold links to items that have no single tag from
                        those mutual exclusive sets. For example, when "draft final" is defined in the vocabulary, all items without "draft" and "final" are linked to the "no-draft-final" directory.
  --tagtrees-dir <existing_directory>
                        When tagtrees are created, this parameter overrides the default target directory "/home/rise/.filetags_tagfilter" with a user-defined one. It has to be an empty directory or a non-existing directory
                        which will be created. This also overrides the default directory for --filter.
  --tagtrees-depth TAGTREES_DEPTH
                        When tagtrees are created, this parameter defines the level of depth of the tagtree hierarchy. The default value is 2. Please note that increasing the depth increases the number of links
                        exponentially. Especially when running Windows (using lnk-files instead of symbolic links) the performance is really slow. Choose wisely.
  --ln, --list-tags-by-number
                        List all file-tags sorted by their number of use
  --la, --list-tags-by-alphabet
                        List all file-tags sorted by their name
  --lu, --list-tags-unknown-to-vocabulary
                        List all file-tags which are found in file names but are not part of .filetags
  --tag-gardening       This is for getting an overview on tags that might require to be renamed (typos, singular/plural, ...). See also http://www.webology.org/2008/v5n3/a58.html
  --force-cv            Only allow tags that are part of the controlled vocabulary (.filetags)
  -v, --verbose         Enable verbose mode
  -q, --quiet           Enable quiet mode
  --version             Display version and exit

:copyright: (c) by Karl Voit <tools@Karl-Voit.at>
:license: GPL v3 or any later version
:URL: https://github.com/novoid/filetags
:bugreports: via github or <tools@Karl-Voit.at>
:version: 2025-09-02
#+END_SRC

*** Examples:

: filetags --tags foo a_file_name.txt
... adds tag "foo" such that it results in ~a_file_name -- foo.txt~

: filetags -i *.jpeg
... interactive mode: asking for list of tags (for the JPEG files) from the user

: filetags --tags "foo bar" "file name 1.jpg" "file name 2 -- foo.txt" "file name 3 -- bar.csv"
... adds tag "foo" such that it results in ...
: "file name 1 -- foo bar.jpg"
: "file name 2 -- foo bar.txt"
: "file name 3 -- bar foo.csv"

: filetags --remove --tags foo "foo a_file_name -- foo.txt"
... removes tag "foo" such that it results in ~foo a_file_name.txt~

: filetags --tag-gardening
... prints out a summary of tags in current and sub-folders used and
tags that are most likely typos or abandoned

For =--filter= and =--tagtrees= examples see sections below.

Independent to tags you might define on the fly, the optional file
.filetags stores a controlled vocabulary of recurrent tags; adjust
this content to your needs.  In an interactive session, this set is
available to tag any file in the folder .filetags resides (click tab
key) and propagates into folders of lower hierachy.

** Changelog

- [[https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/335043859404951554][2013-05-16]]: first version on GitHub
- [[https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/546449664179195904][2014-12-21]]: ~--list-tags-by-number~, ~--list-tags-by-alphabet~, and ~--tag-gardening~
- [[https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/551050830678605824][2015-01-02]]: tab completion for interactive tag input
  - Example: entering =myt= + pressing =TAB= completes the entered
    string to =mytag= if =mytag= is found in the vocabulary or
    existing file tags
- [[https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/675388298735575041][2015-12-11]]: shortcut numbers for removing tags
- [[https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/685507528856367104][2016-01-08]]: shortcut numbers for top nine tags for adding tags
  - Example: when filetags shows you =Top nine previously used tags in
    this directory:= with =mytag(1) anothertag(2) oncemore(3)=, you
    don't have to type in the tag names but use the numbers instead.
    Combinations of numbers are fine as well.
- [[https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/767343476665159680][2016-08-21]]: mutually exclusive tags: see chapter below
- [[https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/768167397895180289][2016-08-23]]: installable via ~pip install filetags~
- 2016-08-26: =--filter= option requires /all/ tags to be matching
- 2016-10-15: added tag gardening: vocabulary tags not used + tags not
  in vocabulary
- 2016-10-16: interactively adding tags: omit already assigned tags in
  shortcuts and vocabulary
- 2016-11-27: added existing shared tags to visual tags
- 2017-02-06: better help text for =--filter= option
- 2017-02-25: shortcut tags can be mixed with non-shortcut tags
  - Example: =mytag 49 anothertag= does add tags =mytag= and
    =anothertag= and the shortcut tags =4= and =9=
- 2017-04-09:
  - interactively removing tags via =-tagname=:
    - Example: the tag input =tagname -removeme= adds the tag
      =tagname= and removes the tag =removeme= from the filename(s)
  - try to find alternative filename if file not found
    - Example: if you try to tag file =My file name.pdf= which is not
      found, filetags tries to look for a different (unique and
      existing) filename that shares the same start of the file name
      such as =My file name -- mytag.pdf=. Very handy!
    - This happens a lof when you are interactively adding multiple
      tags one by one by simply re-executing the previous command
      line: the file name changes in between because of the previous
      tag(s) being added.
- 2017-08-27: when tagging symbolic links whose source file has a
  matching file name, the source file gets the same tags as the
  symbolic link of it
  - This is especially useful when using the =--filter= option
- 2017-08-28:
  - moved from optparse to [[https://docs.python.org/3/library/argparse.html][argparse]]
  - removed option =--tag= (in favor to =--tags=)
  - added option shortcut for recursive: =-R=
  - renamed option =--imageviewer= to =--filebrowser= and enabled its functionality
  - added new feature =--tagtrees=
- 2017-08-31:
  - improved screen output when renaming files
- 2017-09-03:
  - =--recursive= option now works for linking files to tagtrees as well
  - corresponding =.filetags= files get linked to the output of tagtrees as well
- 2017-11-11:
  - removed command line options =-r=, =-d=, and =--delete=
    - keeping =--remove= as the only option for removing tags
    - removing tags was overrepresented in the command line options, blocking them to be used for other useful commands
  - added =--tagtrees-handle-no-tag "treeroot" | "ignore" | "FOLDERNAME"=
  - added =--tagtrees-link-missing-mutual-tagged-items=
- 2017-12-30:
  - added =--tagtrees-dir <existing_directory>=
    - overriding the default target directory for the tagtrees result
  - added =--tagtrees-depth TAGTREES_DEPTH=
    - allowing to override the default depth of tagtrees
    - use with care: especially on Windows a larger depth than 2 takes very long
  - tagtrees now work with Windows using =lnk= files
    - in contrast to symbolic links, that have rather poor performance
      though: generation of tagtrees take way longer than on Linux or
      macOS
- 2018-01-30:
  - fixed the pip3 package
- 2018-03-18:
  - added more detailed statistics on usage of tag groups when doing tag gardening
  - added internal data structure =cache_of_files_with_metadata=
- 2018-04-05:
  - =--tagtrees-dir= can now be used for =--filter=
  - much deeper support for Windows =.lnk= files:
    - tagging lnk files within tagtrees also tag their original files
    - .filetags files can now be .lnk files as well
    - the unit tests now work on Windows and test some Windows specialities
- 2018-04-18:
  - comments in =.filetags= files that contain the controlled vocabulary
- 2018-04-25:
  - added hints to [[https://github.com/novoid/integratethis][=integratethis=]] to ease the Windows Explorer
    integration
- 2018-07-23: =--tagtrees== can now be filtered with =--filter=
- 2018-08-02: added option =--hardlinks= as an alternative for non-Windows systems
- 2019-12-22: added manual file globbing for Windows because of [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/issues/25][#25]]
- 2021-04-03: added support for =#donotsuggest= lines within =.filetags= files to omit tags from being proposed
- 2025-09-02: added =--gui= option for the =--interactive= invocation.
  This is the first GUI dialog of filetags that simplifies integration
  into tools very much.

** Get the most out of filetags: controlled vocabulary ~.filetags~
:PROPERTIES:
:ID: 2018-07-08-cv
:CREATED:  [2015-01-02 Fri 17:12]
:END:

This awesome tool is providing support for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_vocabulary][controlled vocabularies]].
When invoked for interactive tagging, it is looking for files named
~.filetags~ in the current working directory and its parent
directories as well. The first file of this name found is read in.
Each line represents one tag. Those tags are used for *tag
completion*.

This is purely great: with tags within ~.filetags~ you don't have to
enter the tags entrirely: just type the first characters and press =TAB=
(twice to show you all possibilities). You will be amazed how
efficiently you are going to tag things! :-)

Of course, you can remove existing tags by prepending a =-= character
to the tag: =-tagname=. This also works interactively using the tab
completion feature.

You can use comments in =.filetags= files: everything after a =#=
character is considered a comment. You can even add a comment after a
tag like "=mytag   # this is a test tag=".

If you do use tags you do not want to get proposed for tagging, you
can write them in lines like the following ones to omit their proposal
(case insensitive):

: #donotsuggest omit-this-tag dontshow
: #donotsuggest wontpropose

** Mutually exclusive tags
:PROPERTIES:
:ID:       2018-07-08-mutually-exclusive-tags
:END:

If you enter multiple tags in the same line in ~.filetags~, they are
interpreted as *mutually exclusive tags*. For example, if your
~.filetags~ contains the line ~winter spring summer autumn~, filetags
replaces any season-tag with the new one. So if you tag the file …

: example file -- summer anothertag.txt

… with the tag ~winter~, it gets renamed to …

: example file -- winter anothertag.txt

… without having to manually remove the tag ~summer~.

Common mutually exclusive tags are =draft final= or =confidential
internal public=.

** Filter
:PROPERTIES:
:CREATED:  [2018-08-01 Wed 11:44]
:END:

Consider you have a directory that contains hundreds of files.

If you want to retrieve a file whose tags you know, you can skim
through all the files. However, filetags offers you a more elegant
possibility: you can filter the files according to one or more tags.

For example, we take a look at following situation:

: $HOME/my party/
: |_ 2018-06-25 Party invitation -- scan correspondence.pdf
: |_ 2018-07-31 Guest list -- correspondence.txt
: |_ 2018-08-01T11.51.44 Uncle Bob arrives.jpg
: |_ 2018-08-01T12.31.42 Sheila with her new boyfriend -- friends.jpg
: |_ 2018-08-01T14.12.23 Start of BBQ with the big steak.jpg
: |_ ...
: |_ 2018-08-01T23.53.19 Even uncle Bob desides to go home -- fun.jpg
: |_ 2018-08-05 Lessons learned for planning a party -- scan.pdf
: |_ 2018-08-06 Thank-you letter Bob -- scan.pdf
: |_ Bills/
:   |_ 2018-07-30 Beverages by FreshYouUp -- scan taxes.pdf
:   |_ 2018-08-03 Bill of the butcher -- scan taxes.pdf

Following command and interaction would generate following temporal
link structure:

: filetags --filter

User gets asked to enter one or more tags and she enters "scan". What
now happens is that filetags creates a directory whose content
consists of links to all matching files from your query. By default,
the resulting directory is =.filetags_tagfilter= in your home
directory. After invoking for our example, the content of this
retrieval directory looks like that:

: $HOME/.filetags_tagfilter/
: |_ 2018-06-25 Party invitation -- scan correspondence.pdf
: |_ 2018-08-05 Lessons learned for planning a party -- scan.pdf
: |_ 2018-08-06 Thank-you letter Bob -- scan.pdf

This way, our user is quickly able to skim through all scanned
documents to locate the one desired to retrieve.

To locate all matching files in all sub-directories as well, the user
is able to add the parameter =--recursive= ...

: filetags --filter --recursive

... and chooses to enter the tag "scan" which would generate following
temporal link structure:

: $HOME/.filetags_tagfilter/
: |_ 2018-06-25 Party invitation -- scan correspondence.pdf
: |_ 2018-08-05 Lessons learned for planning a party -- scan.pdf
: |_ 2018-08-06 Thank-you letter Bob -- scan.pdf
: |_ 2018-07-30 Beverages by FreshYouUp -- scan taxes.pdf
: |_ 2018-08-03 Bill of the butcher -- scan taxes.pdf

** TagTrees
:PROPERTIES:
:ID:       2018-07-08-tagtrees
:END:

This functions is somewhat sophisticated as it is not a very
well-known thing to have. If you're really interested in the whole
story behind the visualization/navigation of tags using TagTrees, feel
free to read [[http://Karl-Voit.at/tagstore/downloads/Voit2012b.pdf][my PhD thesis]] about it on [[http://Karl-Voit.at/tagstore/][the tagstore webpage]]. It is
surely a piece of work I am proud of and the general chapters of it
are written so that the average person is perfectly well able to
follow.

In short: this function takes the files of the current directory and
generates hierarchies up to level of =$maxdepth= (by default 2, can be
overridden via =--tagtrees-depth=) of all combinations of tags,
[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link][linking]] all files according to their tags.

Too complicated? Then let's explain it with some examples.

Consider having a file like:

: My new car -- car hardware expensive.jpg

Now you generate the TagTrees, you'll find [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link][links]] to this file within
sub-directories of =~/.filetags=, the default target directory: =car/=
and =hardware/= and =expensive/= and =car/hardware/= and
=car/expensive/= and =hardware/car/= and so on. You get the idea.

The default target directory can be overridden via =--tagtrees-dir=.

Therefore, within the folder =new/expensive/= you will find all files
that have at least the tags "new" and "expensive" in any order. This
is /really/ cool to have.

Files of the current directory that don't have any tag at all, are
linked directly to =~/.filetags= so that you can find and tag them
easily.

I personally, do use this feature within my image viewer of choice
([[http://geeqie.sourceforge.net/][geeqie]]). I mapped it to =Alt-T= because =Alt-t= is occupied by
=filetags= for tagging of course. So when I am within my image viewer
and I press =Alt-T=, TagTrees of the currently shown images are
created. Then an additional image viewer window opens up for me,
showing the resulting TagTrees. This way, I can quickly navigate
through the tag combinations to easily interactively filter according
to tags.

Please note: when you are tagging linked files within the TagTrees
with filetags, only the current link gets updated with the new name.
All other links to this modified filename within the other directories
of the TagTrees gets broken. You have to re-create the TagTrees to
update all the links after tagging files.

The option =--tagtrees-handle-no-tag= controls how files with no tags
should be handled. When set to =treeroot=, untagged files are linked
in the TagTrees target directory directly. The option =ignore= does
not link them at all. The option =FOLDERNAME= links them to a
directory named accordingly to the value which is a sub-directory of
the TagTrees target directory.

With the option =--tagtrees-link-missing-mutual-tagged-items= you can
control, whether or not there will be an additional TagTrees folder
that contains all files which lack one of the mutually exclusive tags.
Using the example ~winter spring summer autumn~ from above, all files
that got none of those four tags get linked to a TagTrees directory
named "no_winter_spring_summer_autumn". This way, you can easily find
and tag files that don't participate in this set of mutually exclusive
tags.

Using the example files from above:

: $HOME/my party/
: |_ 2018-06-25 Party invitation -- scan correspondence.pdf
: |_ 2018-07-31 Guest list -- correspondence.txt
: |_ 2018-08-01T11.51.44 Uncle Bob arrives.jpg
: |_ 2018-08-01T12.31.42 Sheila with her new boyfriend -- friends.jpg
: |_ 2018-08-01T14.12.23 Start of BBQ with the big steak.jpg
: |_ ...
: |_ 2018-08-01T23.53.19 Even uncle Bob desides to go home -- fun.jpg
: |_ 2018-08-05 Lessons learned for planning a party -- scan.pdf
: |_ 2018-08-06 Thank-you letter Bob -- scan.pdf
: |_ Bills/
:   |_ 2018-07-30 Beverages by FreshYouUp -- scan taxes.pdf
:   |_ 2018-08-03 Bill of the butcher -- scan taxes.pdf

... and the command line ...

: filetags --tagtrees --tagtrees-handle-no-tag "has_no_tag" --tagtrees-depth 2 --recursive

... filetags generates the temporal link structure:

: $HOME/.filetags_tagfilter/
: |_ scan/
:   |_ 2018-06-25 Party invitation -- scan correspondence.pdf
:   |_ 2018-08-05 Lessons learned for planning a party -- scan.pdf
:   |_ 2018-08-06 Thank-you letter Bob -- scan.pdf
:   |_ 2018-07-30 Beverages by FreshYouUp -- scan taxes.pdf
:   |_ 2018-08-03 Bill of the butcher -- scan taxes.pdf
:   |_ correspondence/
:     |_ 2018-06-25 Party invitation -- scan correspondence.pdf
:   |_ taxes/
:     |_ 2018-07-30 Beverages by FreshYouUp -- scan taxes.pdf
:     |_ 2018-08-03 Bill of the butcher -- scan taxes.pdf
: |_ correspondence/
:   |_ 2018-06-25 Party invitation -- scan correspondence.pdf
:   |_ 2018-07-31 Guest list -- correspondence.txt
:   |_ scan/
:     |_ 2018-06-25 Party invitation -- scan correspondence.pdf
: |_ friends/
:   |_ 2018-08-01T12.31.42 Sheila with her new boyfriend -- friends.jpg
: |_ fun/
:   |_ 2018-08-01T23.53.19 Even uncle Bob desides to go home -- fun.jpg
: |_ taxes/
:   |_ 2018-07-30 Beverages by FreshYouUp -- scan taxes.pdf
:   |_ 2018-08-03 Bill of the butcher -- scan taxes.pdf
:   |_ scan/
:     |_ 2018-07-30 Beverages by FreshYouUp -- scan taxes.pdf
:     |_ 2018-08-03 Bill of the butcher -- scan taxes.pdf
: |_ has_no_tag/
:   |_ 2018-08-01T11.51.44 Uncle Bob arrives.jpg
:   |_ 2018-08-01T14.12.23 Start of BBQ with the big steak.jpg
:   |_ ...

This looks complicated because there are many links generated the user
does not really need. The beauty of this solution is that the user is
able to navigate to a file using a wide set of different paths (the
TagTrees) and she is able to choose the one path that suits the
current cognitive model.

For example, she might want to retrieve "the one document from the
last party which she remembers of having scanned and which she used
for the invitation correspondence". With this mind-set, she most
likely retrieves the document via
=$HOME/.filetags_tagfilter/scan/correspondence/= or
=$HOME/.filetags_tagfilter/correspondence/scan/= (does not matter
which).

The large number of other TagTrees can be ignored for this retrieval
task.

Another retrieval task example would be "all photos that do have no
tag in order to continue tagging the photos". In this example, the
user visits =$HOME/.filetags_tagfilter/has_no_tag/=, fires her image
viewer (which has filetags integrated already - see below) and
continues with the tagging activity. Since filetags synchronizes the
tags within TagTrees linked files and the original files, the original
files get renamed accordingly.

** Bonus: Using tags to specify a sub-set of photographs
:PROPERTIES:
:ID:       2018-07-08-sel-photos
:END:

You know the problem: got back from Paris and you can not show 937
image files to your friends. It's just too much.

My solution: I tag to define selections. For example, I am using ~sel~
("selection") for the ultimate cool photographs using ~filetags~, of
course.

Within geeqie, which is my preferred image viewer, I redefined ~F~ to
call filetags with its =--filter= parameter. Now I get asked to enter
one or more tags to filter the current folder. For presenting only the
files that were tagged with ~sel~, I enter ~sel~ and confirm with
~Enter~.

This creates a temporary folder with symbolic links to all photographs
of the current folder that contain the tag ~sel~ and it starts a new
(additional) instance of geeqie.

In short: after returning from a trip, I mark all "cool" photographs
within geeqie, choose ~t~ and tag them with ~sel~ (described in
previous section). For showing only ~sel~ images, I just press ~F~,
enter ~sel~ and instead of 937 photographs, my friends just have to
watch the best 50 or so. :-)

Watch [[https://media.ccc.de/v/GLT18_-_321_-_en_-_g_ap147_004_-_201804281550_-_the_advantages_of_file_name_conventions_and_tagging_-_karl_voit][this 45 minute talk]] on how I am using this (and other) features.

* Integration Into Common Tools

If your system has Python 3 installed, you can start using filetags
right away in any command line environment.

However, users do want to integrate tools like filetags also in
various GUI tools.

The [[file:Integration.org][Integration.org file]] explains integration in some tools that allow
external commands being added:

- [[http://geeqie.sourceforge.net/][geeqie]], a GNU/Linux image viewer I am using
- [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunar][Thunar]] is a popular GNU/Linux file browser for the xfce environment
- [[https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/nautilus][GNOME Nautilus]] file manager ("Files")
- Windows Explorer
- [[http://freecommander.com/en/summary/][FreeCommander]], my recommendated alternative to Windows explorer
- [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dired][Dired]], the GNU/Emacs file manager

If you have integrated filetags in additional commonly used tools,
please send me a short how-to so that others are able to get the most
out of filetags as well.

* Related Tools and Workflows

This tool is part of a tool-set which I use to manage my digital files
such as photographs. My work-flows are described in [[http://karl-voit.at/managing-digital-photographs/][this blog posting]]
you might like to read and in the video which is linked above.

In short:

For *tagging*, please refer to [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags][filetags]] and its documentation.

See [[https://github.com/novoid/date2name][date2name]] for easily adding ISO *time-stamps or date-stamps* to
files.

For *easily naming and tagging* files within file browsers that allow
integration of external tools, see [[https://github.com/novoid/appendfilename][appendfilename]] (once more) and
[[https://github.com/novoid/filetags][filetags]].

Moving to the archive folders is done using [[https://github.com/novoid/move2archive][move2archive]].

Having tagged photographs gives you many advantages. For example, I
automatically [[https://github.com/novoid/set_desktop_background_according_to_season][choose my *desktop background image* according to the
current season]].

Files containing an ISO time/date-stamp gets indexed by the
filename-module of [[https://github.com/novoid/Memacs][Memacs]].

-----------

- Alternative implementations of the =filetags= concept:
  - [[https://github.com/beutelma/filetags.el][GitHub - DerBeutlin/filetags.el: Emacs package to manage filetags in the filename]]
  - With [[https://github.com/protesilaos/denote][denote]], Protesilaos
    Stavrou implemented a conceptually related approach to manage notes
    within an Emacs buffer.  With ~dired~, this method equally may be
    applied on files, too.

- A research platform for testing file-tagging on all platforms: [[https://karl-voit.at/tagstore/][tagstore]]
  - This happens to be an important part of [[https://karl-voit.at/tagstore/downloads/Voit2012b.pdf][my PhD thesis]] in PIM.

- Good resources for tagging software in general
  - [[https://turbofuture.com/computers/Whats-the-Best-Software-for-Tagging-Files-A-Review][What's the Best Software for Tagging Files? | TurboFuture]]
  - "Marktübersicht von Tagging-Werkzeugen und Vergleich mit tagstore" (German, 2013): linked on [[https://karl-voit.at/tagstore/en/papers.shtml][this page]] of the [[https://karl-voit.at/tagstore/][tagstore project]]

- If you do like filetags but you prefer the syntax of [[https://www.tagspaces.org/][TagSpaces]] for
  adding tags to file names, you should check out [[https://github.com/jgru/filetags][this filetags fork]].
  Maintenance is limited though. Please notice that my other tools
  working with tags do not support TagSpaces-style either.

- https://forge.chapril.org/tykayn/rangement.git
  - An NPM implementation of a subset of GuessFileName (using image exif header), append2name, move2archive
  - You probably need to read a bit of French

* How to Thank Me

I'm glad you like my tools. If you want to support me:

- Send old-fashioned *postcard* per snailmail - I love personal feedback!
  - see [[http://tinyurl.com/j6w8hyo][my address]]
- Send feature wishes or improvements as an issue on GitHub
- Create issues on GitHub for bugs
- Contribute merge requests for bug fixes
- Check out my other cool [[https://github.com/novoid][projects on GitHub]]

* Exhaustive List of All Features
:PROPERTIES:
:CREATED:  [2018-07-08 Sun 13:09]
:END:

This section is an exhaustive list of features of =filetags=. You
might skip this when you're a first-time user in order *not* to get
irritated for simple use-cases only.

This section is particularily helpful for re-implementing =filetags=
functionality and for power-users which are interested in the advanced
functions provided by this tool.

** General

| *Before*                         | *When*             | *After*                          | *Note*                                     |
|----------------------------------+--------------------+----------------------------------+--------------------------------------------|
| =Some file name.jpeg=            | tagging with =foo= | =Some file name -- foo.jpeg=     | Tag separator is added automatically       |
| =Some file name=                 | tagging with =foo= | =Some file name -- foo=          | There is no need for a file extension      |
| =Some file name -- foo.jpeg=     | tagging with =bar= | =Some file name -- foo bar.jpeg= | =bar= becomes last tag                     |
| =Some file name.jpeg.lnk=        | tagging with =bar= | =Some file name -- bar.jpeg.lnk= | The =.lnk= extension is taken into account |
| =Some file name -- bar.jpeg=     | untagging =bar=    | =Some file name.jpeg=            | Tag separator is removed                   |
| =Some file name -- foo bar.jpeg= | untagging =foo=    | =Some file name -- bar.jpeg=     | Tag order stays same when removing         |

- =filetags= may be used
  1. interactively (via =--interactive= or missing "action" command
     line parameters) from command line or
  2. in a script using command line parameters.
- =filetags= offers a =--dryrun= option which does not modify any file
  or directory.
- Added tag(s) get appended as last tag(s).
- When removing tags, their relative order is preserved.
- When modifying any file that is a symbolic link or a Windows =.LNK=
  file to a file that has the same basename (file name without path),
  the linked/original file gets modified as well.
  - This comes very handy when working within TagTrees (see below).
  - However, when modifying links which do not share the same
    base-name with its link source, the link might become a broken one
    (depending on the link technology used).
- When un-tagging tags from files that do not have those tags, it is silently ignored.
- [ ] FIXXME: describe =find_unique_alternative_to_file(filename)= and implications

- FUTURE: [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/issues/13][support for tagging folders/directories · Issue #13 · novoid/filetags · GitHub]]
- FUTURE: [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/issues/14][Files within tagged directories do inherit the tags for all relevant features · Issue #14 · novoid/f…]]
  - Inheritance applies to many features such as "don't tag a file
    with a tag from any parent directory" and so forth.
  - Not that simple to decide each use-case. This is a hard nut to
    crack with many complex things to take care of.
- FUTURE: [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/issues/18][CV: add CLI option that prevents users from using tags that are not part of the used .filetags file …]]
  - Enforcing CVs is a good practice IMHO.

** Interactive Mode

- Print used tags of selected file(s).
  - For multiple files, show only the tags that are used within all
    selected files.
- =filetags= dialog shows up to nine topmost used tags (sorted by
  number of usage) used for files within the current directory.
  - E.g., =draft(1) projectX(2) customer(3) bill(4)=
  - You can use =0-9= as shortcuts to select those tags.
    - You can concatenate shortcut numbers without spaces in-between:
      =143 foo= tags with the shortcuts number 1, 3 and 4 and adds new
      tag =foo=.
      - With the example above, it is equivalent to tagging with:
        =draft bill customer foo= or =draft 4 3 foo=.
- You can un-tag tags that appear in file name using the minus prefix.
  - E.g., =-foo= un-tags the tag =foo=.
  - Auto-completion is provided to un-tag existing tags.
- Tags from the CV (within =.filetags= files) and from tags used in
  the current directory can be auto-completed via =TAB=.
  - Already used tags are not available for completion.
- Multiple Files
  - You can tag/un-tag multiple selected files at once.
    - Selected files containing the tag(s) to tag are not modified and no tags get duplicated.
    - Selected files not containing the tag(s) to un-tag are not modified.
  - Tag suggestions for un-tagging contain the common tags of selected files.
- Tagging dialog can be aborted any time via =Ctrl-c=.

** Controlled Vocabulary (CV)

Please read [[id:2018-07-08-cv][this]] first in order to understand CVs.

- CV is read from =.filetags= files.
  - One tag per line: simple tag
  - Multiple tags per line, separated via spaces: a group of [[id:2018-07-08-mutually-exclusive-tags][mutually exclusive tags]]
    - E.g., =draft final approved=
      - When tagging =My report -- draft.txt= with =final=, =draft=
        gets replaced by =final= without the user un-tagging it
        before.
      - =filetags= does not prevent user from manually tagging files
        with two or more mutually exclusive tags.
  - The order of priority to locate "matching" =.filetags= files is:
    1. Current directory of the first file to tag/un-tag.
    2. Any higher-level directory from the current directory of the first file to tag/un-tag.
    3. =.filetags= file from the HOME directory.
       - FUTURE: may be changed to: [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/issues/16][Use "$HOME/.config/filetags" for overriding default options · Issue #16 · novoid/filetags · GitHub]]
  - =.filetags= files may be links (hardlinks, symbolic links or even Windows =.LNK= files)
- Comments within =.filetags= files begin with one or more =#= characters that may be prepended by one or more spaces.
- You can omit (case insensitive) tags from being proposed (selectable
  via shortcuts =0-9=) by adding special comment lines like:
  : #donotsuggest omit-this-tag dontshow
  : #donotsuggest wontpropose
- PLANNED: =.filetags= files may include other =.filetags= files via =#include <relative or absolute path to another file>=
  - [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/issues/7][.filetags CV-file: include other files · Issue #7 · novoid/filetags · GitHub]]
- FUTURE: [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/issues/17][CV: .filetags may contain mandatory options · Issue #17 · novoid/filetags · GitHub]]
  - Probably a nice to have for different default-behavior in different sub-hierarchies of the file system.

** Filter

This function is very handy for filtering groups of photographs within
a large set of photographs as described [[id:2018-07-08-sel-photos][here]].

- The user defines one or more tags whose files are linked to a target
  directory.
  - When more than one tag is given, only files that got tagged by all
    given tags are linked.
  - FUTURE: [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/issues/10][CLI parameter to switch between: use symlink, hardlink, or copy · Issue #10 · novoid/filetags · GitH…]]
    - This would allow for copying files instead of linking them.
- Any "matching" =.filetags= file is linked to the target directory.
- A populated target directory is never overwritten.
- The default target directory is =.filetags_tagfilter= and might be
  changed by =--tagtrees-dir=.
- When started interactively, a file browser is opened showing the
  target directory.
  - The file browser tool might be overwritten with =--filebrowser=.
- The =--recursive= option is taken into account accordingly.

** Features Related to TagTrees

[[id:2018-07-08-tagtrees][The TagTrees concept]] was developed by me during my PhD thesis ([[http://Karl-Voit.at/tagstore/downloads/Voit2012b.pdf][PDF]])
when developing with the [[http://Karl-Voit.at/tagstore/][tagstore research platform]].

Please note that in future, all functions related to TagTrees will be
*moved into a separate tool* named =tagtrees=.

- TagTrees are generated according to the tags found in tagged files.
- The =--recursive= option is taken into account accordingly.
- FUTURE: [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/issues/21][Generate something like TagTrees but for ctime/mtime · Issue #21 · novoid/filetags · GitHub]]
- FUTURE: [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags/issues/9][--filter options also works when generating tagtrees · Issue #9 · novoid/filetags · GitHub]]

** Tag Gardening

Just invoke =filetags --tag-gardening= or =filetags --recursive
--tag-gardening= and read its output to learn about helpful analysis
results to curate your tags. My personal favorites are:

- I am able to find typos in tags (tag count is low and similar tags are found).
- I can determine tags I seldom use and therefore might be removed from CVs.
- Statistics on tag usage like, e.g.:
  - Distribution of mutually exclusive tag options.
  - Fraction of files that are not tagged.
- Tags I have used which are not in my CVs.
- Unused tags.

This feature is really powerful when it comes to maintenance of your
file tags or get some insight related to your tagging patterns.

* Local Variables                                                  :noexport:
# Local Variables:
# mode: auto-fill
# mode: flyspell
# eval: (ispell-change-dictionary "en_US")
# End:
