[Question] Is it possible to add an entire directory and subdirectories?

[jeffward01]

Hello!

I tried to add a .sln file manually, and it errored and crashed.

My goal is this:

• I have a directory with 200+ solutions for class libraries and tools that I have developed.

I want to be able to tag these solutions and browse them. Such as if a tool is depreciated, i will add the depr tag.

I don't see this feature (the feature to add all sub-directories and directory. Is it possible?

Thanks for the AWESOME app!

[chaojian-zhang]

Hi Jeff, thank you again for your comment and support!🙏

Unfortunately, this version of Somewhere is only an experiment on tag-based file management - it's specially designed to enforce a document-based personal-data management scheme, in which case "non-personal data" excludes those generated binary files. This version is heavily opinionated and based on the idea that all files should be managed inside a single folder (mostly due to the fact that I would like to support unlimited filename length). What's more, later development has put too much effort into making it a complete editing environment for note files, which makes the final executable super big, which I think is a bad strategy.

In short, it's not suitable for managing tags in your scenario.😥

I do realize there is actual need to maintain whatever existing file structure a user may have, and I have long wanted to develop a new iteration of Somewhere.

I am very happy you can find this software useful! I will develop a new app in the upcoming two weeks 📆 with much simpler design and use a YAML file based database to replace this current iteration. At that time, you will be able to tag folders as you like🚀.

With that being said, the following will be the main features of the new app:

1. It uses a single YAML file as database for all tags. It will no longer enforce a "Home" directory - users can create different YAML files for managing different subset of their files, and those files can be from anywhere.
2. It will allow adding tags to arbitrary files and folders. And it will only tag things that you want to - you can tag either a folder or a file, without tagging everything else inside that folder.
3. It will not provide file management. At least for the early implementation, Somewhere 2 will not be tracking tagged files, and it's implemented only as an interface to the underlying tag database.
4. It will not provide file content editing features. However, it will still allow one to add comments to tagged file system entries (files or folders).
5. The final application will have a single .exe file. And the application size will be around 50Mb, without requiring user to install any other dependency. It will of course be open-source, and it uses .Net Core's Single-Executable feature to achieve this. Advanced file preview capabilities will be provided as optional plugins. There is no plan to support file editing beyond basic text files.
6. The new app will not be backward compatible with the existing Somewhere, so I don't recommend you use current Somewhere.

It would be very helpful if you can share what's your usage scenario so I can better understand people's expectation in terms of tag-based file management. Specifically:

1. Do you wish to manage "virtual note files" - create notes on the fly that's not file based and stored entirely in the database? Or do you use Somewhere to exclusively manage existing files and folders?
2. How important do you think it is for Somewhere to automatically detect renamed/moved items after it's tagged? For instance, if a file is moved with File Explorer, it's generally impossible for Somewhere to know where it has been to unless Somewhere is running in the background (technically there is a way to know by looking into NTFS journal, but I am thinking not getting that complicated at first) - is it acceptable to simply prompt for "Relocate File/Folder" when it's selected next time in the application?
3. Are you OK with mostly keyboard shortcuts or do you prefer a mouse-clicking button-based GUI?