Using Spotlight comments
I originally thought the ability to add arbitrary meta data to any file or folder was an interesting capability, albeit not particularly useful in day-to-day activities. But then I was just playing around and saw the Spotlight Comments field that's now included at the very top of a file or folder's Info box and I grokked it! Now that there's actually an easy way to both add and to search for meta-data on files and folders, then there's actually a reason to put it in! But not just any meta-data... What's the newest and coolest type of meta-data out there? Yep, tags! And the comments fields is perfect for this!Obviously nothing has changed in terms of the UI or search functionality, just the way I think about meta data. Before I may have ignored an arbitray field like "comments" even if I could search on it (haven't I been able to do something similar in Windows?). But now that I "get" tagging, I know that this isn't the place for long-winded description of the file or folder, just keywords that I can use to refer to it later. Or if those files are shared on the network, others can use these tags to find the files as well. Fantastic!
To this I responded with a comment that I thought I'd also post here because I think it might prove useful to folks:
Automator is your friend!! Use Apple's new Tiger utility Automator to create a simple workflow that you can save as a plugin. I did this very thing 2 days ago to add Spotlight comments. Now I select multiple files and control or right click... choose Automator>Spotlight comments and I get a dialog where I add my keywords.
Creating this action in Automator was easy. Look in the Finder actions and choose "Add Spotlight comments" and be sure to save it as a plugin.
Then, open up a find window in Finder (command-f). Now, in the first dropdown choose "Other" for the criteria. In the dialog box choose Spotlight comments (there are many cool options in this dialog box!!) next enter your tags and there it is! Save as a smart folder in your sidebar.
Technorati tags: OS X, Mac OS 10.4, Apple, Tiger, Automator, Spotlight