Taglocity Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What can I do with my Tags?
A. Tags can be used in many different ways. Here are some examples:
- Filter. The ability to quickly filter your Outlook items (emails, tasks, appointments and contacts) by your Tags can quickly clarify what you need to see from a large amount of information. By using a few simple combinations of 'both' or 'either', plus the immediate feedback of your query, then filtering can be indispensable. It’s like having a set of dynamic inboxes that map to what you need to see at that time.
- Search. Desktop Search technology has radically improved, in that it is better integrated and performs well on peoples modern desktop computers. Tags represents a way to make your searches more 'context sensitive', in that you are not relying on key words, that can be hard to remember with so much to search.
- Organize. When you tag something in Taglocity you can choose to have an associated 'Action'. These actions include things like placing a reminder, or changing an email into a Task. The natural way of tagging your Outlook items then also allows you to quickly perform common tasks that normally take more steps.
- Communicate. Tags that travel to you from someone else can help give important context around your messages and tasks. This provides a very natural way to reduce ambiguity and provide a powerful workflow in teams that use tags.
Q. But I like using lots of Outlook Folders…?
A. Folders work well for some people, but have some disadvantages. Often your content needs to be 'tagged' to more than one single subject and a single folder just isn't good enough. Also, folders are hard to change over time and quickly become unmanageable in that your archives must always reflect your original folder set up. Often you just end up not bothering and are left with a complex tree of folders you never use.
Q. Do I have to tag everything? Won't that get annoying…?
A. You tag what you need to tag, it's not compulsory, just do it as you want to. Even a small amount of manual tagging on very significant things in Outlook can organize your inbox and help you finds things more easily. Along with the AutoTag feature, and the ability for other people to tag their messages before they send them to you, you will find that tagging it is hardly noticeable at all.
Q. My 'XYZ' Desktop Search toolbar in Outlook is great, why would I bother with Taglocity?
A. Desktop Search tools are very good, in that they harness the power of the desktop computer to let you quickly find all sorts of files and content on your computer. Taglocity can be thought of as using the underlying power of this search, but for queries tailored to be specific to your tags and Outlook. As Desktop Search indexes so many more types of stores and data, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find things just with a couple of remembered key words. Often you get back far too many results in a long list and, although the search performed quickly, you are still left with a lot of work to do. Taglocity uses the tags as a 'context' for you to start with - you will find that you can get to what you need many times quicker using this approach.
Q. But I use the Get Things Done methodology…?
A. GTD is a great self improvement process – we are fans too. Taglocity with its TagActions provides an excellent framework for working using that kind of workflows. Tags like ‘DoIT’, ‘Defer’, ‘Delegate’ can all be associated with TagActions, helping you in your process. Also, the ability for other who use GTD’ers to share their tags on their outbound messages provides many interesting opportunities to fine-tune your work in teams.
Q. But I always use Categories in Outlook…?
A. Categories in Outlook are a good idea, but it was not something that looks like it was designed to handle many types of categorization. A simple tagging interface, either using simple Toolbar or viewed with a TagCloud, plus the concepts of AutoTags, TravelingTags all combined with TagActions, represent a step far beyond in-built Outlook categories.
Q. I love Outlook rules, I have lots of them to set up my Categories and move things around to lots of Folders. Why should I look at Taglocity?
A. First off you can combine your Outlook rules and what Taglocity puts tags on. The Taglocity tags are available to use by your default Outlook rules engine, and you can use them like any other criteria. Secondly, AutoTags are often better than simple keyword rules as they look at more than just a couple of words in deciding what to do. Outlook rules don't learn to become more accurate over time as Autotags do. Just like heuristic spam filters aren't based on a few simple text words, AutoTags take your Outlook rules 'up a level', but without the maintence or limits.
Q. I already use Outlook Add-in 'XYZ', why should I look at Taglocity?
A. We also run quite a few Outlook Add-in's and we too have our favorites. With Taglocity we have tried to do something different, in that you can have a lot of flexibility in how much you use it. Taglocity provides a simple framework for you to run all sorts of workflows with your email, whether it is complicated or just simple enough to get by. As you have the choice of what tags you have, and what TagActions they run, you can use as much or as little as you need. We think this flexible approach has an advantage over the number of Outlook productivity add-ins in the market today.
Q. Will Taglocity be available for any other email clients other than Microsoft’s Outlook?
A. We are currently looking at this, as it’s something we’d like to do. Our current work is in taking the AI and moving it to a Server product for much more than email. If you feel strongly that you would like to see Taglocity for your email client then contact us – we’d like to hear from you.
Q. What Desktop Search software does Taglocity use?
A. Currently we support Microsoft’s Windows Desktop Search as included with the MSN Toolbar, available from here. We are currently looking at adding support for other Desktop Search software. If you’d like to see other Desktop Search engines used then we’d like to hear from you on what you think.
Q. How do AutoTags work?
A. 'AutoTags' is the word we use to describe the way a Tag is assigned to an Outlook item (an email, a task, a meeting) automatically. It does this by using a 'Classifier' and is usually configured by default to monitor your email Inbox folder. A Classifier is something that has learnt from previous examples of an item to statistically analyze if the new Item is similar enough to cross a threshold. Various algorithms are used within Taglocity, including Bayesian algorithm used by popular Spam filters and K-Means as used by such software as Google News.
Q. What Classifier algorithms does Taglocity use?
A. Taglocity uses a 'pipeline' of classifiers that can also include 3rd party software. One such piece of external pipeline classifier is the excellent CRM114. More information about CRM114 can be found here, as can the windows source/bin packages as used by Taglocity here.
Q. How do tags 'Travel'?
A. Taglocity has a number of ways of transferring the tags you have assigned to an outgoing message to the recipient. These include using the SMTP Keyword header and something called a 'Tagline'. A Tagline is a footer that includes the text 'Tags:'. The Tagline is very simple but will work on any device and mail relay, as it is placed within the message content. Here's an example of Tagline that could be on the end of an email you send:
Tags: FAQ, Taglocity, Website
Q. Why would I want my Tags to 'Travel'?
A. TravelingTags represent a way to simply describe in one ‘word’ some context of what you mean by your message. In team environments that share a lot of email, these ‘shared tags’ represent a way to clear up any confusion about the intent of the communication. For example, tags such as 'Customer' and 'Open Question', or 'Action Required' can be used with other tags to help get across vital information about the message. Sometimes it is remarkably easy for people to miss the point of an email and tags help clear that up. It is also important to realize that you can make some of your tags ‘Private’, in that they never travel.
Q. But my Tags aren’t the same as everyone else’s. What then?
A. Taglocity allows you to configure Tag ‘Aliases’ so that you can match up your set of tags with other peoples. In a team environment it can often help to use a few common key tags. Taglocity allows you to consolidate your tags from either a simple text web/networked file, an email message or even 3rd party social book marking sites such as http://del.icio.us.
Q. What next for Taglocity?
A. There are so many things that we can do with collaborative tagging, email and the information office systems that people use today. Please stay tuned, we’re just getting started…