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14 May 2003 by
Why can’t I see a meta history of all the files I’ve worked on? I’m trying to find a file I worked on last week. I don’t remember the name, I can’t remember where it might be, but I know I worked on it last Friday. I know some apps have a menu of recently opened files, but files opened last week are quickly pushed off the list. Someone, somewhere, somehow needs to come up with a tool (for OS X, please) that shows me a history (much like web browsers do) of the files I’ve opened, moved, saved, deleted, etc. over a specified time frame. In fact, this should be built into the OS.
I’d really love it if I could filter by date (show me all the files I worked on on April 25-28), by application (show me the files I opened with Photoshop in the past 2 weeks), by time of day (show me the files I worked on in the afternoon in the past 5 days), by action (show me everything I printed or saved or deleted or duplicated, etc. last week)… I realize OS X’s “Find” feature can do some of this (searching for modified files in a certain date range, etc.), but it’s not quite enough.
More thoughts… I’d really appreciate iTunes Smart Playlist type functionality, but system wide. So, I could create a folder that would automatically be populated with aliases to every file I worked on last Friday. Or, a folder that would point to every file I’ve opened in Photoshop over the past 90 days. Basically I’m looking for dynamic folders that populate themselves based on a set of predefined criteria. Now that would be useful.
20 comments so far (Post a Comment)
14 May 2003 | Mike said...
Hopefully, the newest version of OS X (Panther, 10.3) will have this feature enabled through a database-oriented file system. You'd have the ability to query the entire file system based on any characteristics the given file may have. I've read a few articles about Apple borrowing this capability from the now defunct BeOS, so hopefully they'll bring it on board.
'Till then, I guess you're stuck moving files around into folders with names like "Tuesday", "Last Wednesday", "The Other Day", and "Sometime Around My Birthday" haha ;)
14 May 2003 | Iolaire McFadden said...
On the PC side MS Office has that functionality via the Outlook Journal, it can track which Word or Excel documents you work on and the like. It seems like Apple could do the same thing system wide and have a hit. -- Good idea. iolaire
14 May 2003 | Iolaire McFadden said...
On the PC side MS Office has that functionality via the Outlook Journal, it can track which Word or Excel documents you work on and the like. It seems like Apple could do the same thing system wide and have a hit. -- Good idea. iolaire
14 May 2003 | SU said...
This type of functionality has been rumored as part of Panther... But we won't know until the WWDC. And even then, who knows what Jobs will decide.
14 May 2003 | Darrel said...
Wasn't this a basic benefit of BeOS? I'm no expert on it, but my understanding was that BeOS was a full databased 'finder' that allowed for the tracking of all sorts of meta information on files.
Of course, BeOS is dead.
Sigh.
14 May 2003 | Ben Langhinrichs said...
I think it is a great idea. I also agree that it would either have to be part of the OS or a very, very tightly integrated ad-in to work successfully. A key part is the idea that you have accessed the document, not modified it. It isn't that hard to find documents modified during a certain date range, but it is a lot harder to find documents I may have read during that date range.
14 May 2003 | 8500 said...
I dont remember the name, I cant remember where it might be, but I know I worked on it last Friday.
Why don't you just do a find for documents created or modified on Friday. This will provide you with a list of items you can browse. Or am I missing the point...
14 May 2003 | 8500 said...
Damn. I should read the "continued" before opening my yapper.
14 May 2003 | SU said...
Wasn't this a basic benefit of BeOS? I'm no expert on it, but my understanding was that BeOS was a full databased 'finder' that allowed for the tracking of all sorts of meta information on files.
The BeOS folks who are responsible for this now work at Apple, FWIW. That's why we now have a journaled file system in Jaguar and more changes to come in Panther.
14 May 2003 | Darrel said...
SU:
Oh. Cool!
Now, what, exactly is the journaled system? My understanding was that was more of an OS rollback tool allowing one to rollback the system state to a certain date. Do I have that correct?
14 May 2003 | hurley#1 said...
Here is a pretty good explanation of journaling in OSX.
14 May 2003 | ek said...
Re: dynamic folders, I was under the impression that piles were the file system equivalent of smart playlists (i.e. ability to create dynamically updated file groupings based on user-determined criteria) -- is that incorrect?
14 May 2003 | Cliff Gerrish said...
Well, it's not exactly what you're looking for, but if you open the terminal in OSX and "cd" to the directory with your datafiles, then type "find -ctime 2" -- that will give you a list of all files changes in the last two days. Unix keeps track of access time, modification time and change time of all files. You can use the "find" command to access this info throughout the file system.
19 May 2003 | Steve said...
Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe I'm just not real familiar with OSX (OK, no maybe on that point), but can't you just sort by last-modified date? If you worked on a file, I would assume you saved it. And, assuming you haven't worked on it and saved it since then (which I'm assuming you haven't), then it should have a time/date stamp of sometime last week.
I know Windows has this capability, and has for eons.
20 May 2003 | JF said...
Yeah, I could sort by date modified if I knew where the file was, but the point is I don't remember where I saved it.
20 May 2003 | hurley#1 said...
Yeah, I could sort by date modified if I knew where the file was, but the point is I don't remember where I saved it.
But in OSX, it doesn't matter where you saved it. If you just open the Find command from the Finder, it will automatically search your entire Home folder (or you select other options for where to search, even "Everywhere," which presumably would expand the search to other places on your network, Zip disks, etc.).
So if you do a search for files created on a certain date (or within a date range, or containing any text you remember), it will pull up all those files, no matter where you put them.
20 May 2003 | hurley#1 said...
Clarification: by "Home folder" I meant your Home directory, which is where everything you work on is saved unless you're saving stuff on another computer or removable disk.
31 Jan 2005 | compatelius said...
bocigalingus must be something funny.
