Getting things done with Automator and Spotlight
By using Spotlight and Automator, and the new Smart folders in OS X 10.4, you can change all those messy files on the desktop to something useful. And very David Allen-ish!
First, read my previous entry about “Add spotlight tags”. Make the Automator action described and save it as a Finder plugin for ctrl-clicking.
Smart folders
Then, in Finder, make a smart folder called “@home”, one called “@work” etc. One for every category you use with David Allen’s brilliant book “Getting things done”.
Set up the folders like this: In Finder, choose File > Add smart folder. Or use the shortcut Alt-Apple-N. This brings up this window (mine is in Norwegian but you get the message).
Be sure to choose “Computer” (“Datamaskin” in my screenshot) in the header, to make the smart folder search your whole Mac, not just parts of it.
Remove the bottom search term by clicking the minus sign. And click the first menu for the first one, and choose “Other” (“Annen” in my screenshot).
This brings up a long list of things you can use in smart folders. To find the one we’re looking for, type “Spotlight” in the upper right corner. You don’t need to type the whole word, as the list will be shorter for every letter, leaving you with just “Spotlight comments” (“Spotlight kommentarer” in my screenshot).
Choose that one, and “OK”.
Now type “@home” or “@work” or whatever context you’re making a smart folder for, save it and put it somewhere visible. I put mine on the desktop.
Start tagging
Now, everytime you get a new file, just tag it by ctrl-clicking on it, and put in “@home”, “@work” etc. and the file will magically be listed immediately in your smart folder with that context. And it doesn’t matter where you put it on your drives. Put it anywhere!! It will still show up in your smart folder. This is just great!
Also tag files with other keywords while you’re at it. Example: If working with the “Redesign” project at work with your friend Mark, tag the Illustrator file both “Project:Redesign” and “@work” and “Projects” and “Mark”.
If you want to remove a tag from a file, just click it once in Finder, hit Apple-I and edit the Spotlight comments directly.
What do you think?
Do you have any experiences with this? Post them in the comments below! Also read my other posts about GTD and “Getting things done”.
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Doesn’t work for me on Tiger Server. Spotlight comments never show up in smart folder searches. In fact a lot of smart folder searches don’t find the corrrect results. Is this just a Server problem?
I use similar aproach, only I tag files with either @action, @waiting or @someday keywords and I use Quicksilver to help me with tagging.
I don’t really get how this is useful. Once you create and save a smart folder you get a really annoying file extension that you cannot hide. The extension is .savedsearch, and it is so long that many times I can’t even see the whole name of the folder name itself. I just think it’s so clunky.
Then when you open the smart folder, instead of showing you all the files in a nice clean atmosphere, it shows all the editable search criteria, which takes up room and doesn’t let me “Get things Done!”.
Anyways, THEN, I click on a file in the window and it doesn’t show me a preview screen like a normal window.
So, therefore it’s annoying and I don’t like it, and it doesn’t work well for me.
This is rendering me sooooo frustrated, as the Tag feature becomes so useless…
Hi Ketket,
I think there must be something wrong with your setup, as this doesn’t work at all like you described at my Mac.
Could you mail me some screenshots if I mail you my e-mail address?
I use an approach more similar to George Sudarkoff’s, and I don’t tend to spend a lot of time using Spotlight tags for things either. Instead, I have five smart folders on my desktop (see a screenshot):
Inbox
In Progress
Upcoming
Read/Review
On Hold
… all with similarly named color labels. I’m a kinkless user and often create shortcuts within any given project within OmniOutliner Pro itself to any project support materials (txt files, folders, etc.) that I have. Thus, I have no need whatsoever for managing contexts within Finder itself – that’s what I have kinkless for, and it’s a bit more reassuring to find everything in one list-like place than scattered about my operating system.
That said, enough experimentation has led me to find that the five smart folders works perfectly to complement my kinkless set up. The smart inbox allows me a reminder of all the files floating randomly around my computer until I get a chance to file them properly; “In Progress” and “Upcoming” remind me of current projects and give me a direct link to them, while “On Hold” is for projects that I’m not attached to, but also don’t want to drop off the face of the planet until the next lazy Saturday afternoon that I just spend randomly clicking about my computer. Lastly, “Read/Review” is pretty self-explanatory, and awfully useful, I’ve found, for the completely bored moments when I don’t want to use my computer in any more constructive way.
I’m sorry; I guess I’d forgotten to include a link to that screenshot. Here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisisdaniel/123889079/
Not that anybody’s interested, but it is kinda fun to talk about.
How exactly do you manage your GTD lists with this scheme. I went ahead and upgraded my OmniOutline to the PRO version and then I installed kGTD. It works quite well. I am trying to replace Microsoft Entourage with kGTD/OmniOutliner, Mail and iCal and this seemed like the best GTD utility to use. However, after getting my Projects moved over I have hundreds of lists that I just haven’t been able to figure out where they go? And for that matter where do tasks go that are single items (ie. Calls)? Any suggestions on how you currently work would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance, and good job with kGTD.
gtd is amazing concept . i getting things done habit . i is good to out here and using getting things done.