Boolean expression, tagging and filtering
 

Hello,

I'd like to make here a proposition about tagging (I know, it's not an important focus right now, but I'd like to see what other people think of it). I'd like to propose boolean tagging, just as already mentioned in [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showpost.php?p=11002&postcount=23"]this[/URL] post (it's the fourth proposition).

Basically, I'm talking about the possibility to tag a task that way:

(tag1 OR tag2) AND tag3

and to do the same for filtering (probably with a smart folder).

Some Examples:

-- For Filtering: --
I got two important tags: "personal" and "work", because I try to keep my private and work life separated. Then I got "phone" and "office" for example. So I would like the ability to filter using this expression :
work AND ( phone OR office )

-- For tagging: --
I want to buy a shelve, but my girlfriend has to be with me or I need my phone to make a picture of it. So, I'd like to tag it:
(errands OR online) AND (girlfriend OR phone)


A very important aspect of this tagging system is that it doesn't complicate the tagging system. If you don't need the OR and AND operands, you don't see them.

And I think, even if it *looks* complicated, that it is the most simple tagging I know, because it just works. All other systems cause eternal discussion about hierarchies, flat structures, duplicates, etc.

What do you think of this system?

[QUOTE=Kaz219;29480]-- For Filtering: --
I got two important tags: "personal" and "work", because I try to keep my private and work life separated. Then I got "phone" and "office" for example. So I would like the ability to filter using this expression :
work AND ( phone OR office )[/QUOTE]

I do this by having separate folders for personal and work projects, and using Focus. When you Focus on your home folder, you won't see work items in your Phone context. You can command-click to select multiple contexts; when I'm at work I usually have half a dozen contexts selected.

More generally, your proposal makes logical sense, but my first impression would be that it's inviting a lot of fiddling with tags instead of getting things done.

I had a similar impression as brian: it's cool (and definitely would be useful in many cases) but feels like it's getting too much into the "organizing" instead of the "doing".

That's the point I tried to underline:

This not too much in the organizing because it — at least for me — allows me to tag faster. I don't have to think about which context to give when many are possible, for example. I just type "@home || errands".

And I completely agree that not everybody think the way I do, I'm surely a perfectionist, but again, I wouldn't have any influence on other users. If you don't want to use this feature, you don't see it. That's all. So everybody thinking it's too much organizing and not enough doing just don't use it.

I've been after tagging for some time, and I like your boolean filtering idea a lot. It is the sort of thing an electronic task manager should be good for.

However, the opposing view is that multiple tags per task = chaos. You will spend too much time trying to come up with every conceivable tag for a task, and then STILL have to worry about remembering the right tag(s) to correctly filter (focus) your list of NAs.

I think most of us are disciplined enough to limit our tagging, and I'm sure at least some of us are clever enough to not have tag recollection problems. We'll have to wait and see what v1.5 or v2 hold I guess . . .