Documentation

allTags can be used for personal file management by using allTags Client. Or for central file management in organizations by connecting clients to allTags Server.

For detailed documentation for both allTags Server and Client, please read on below.

allTags Client allTags Server

allTags Client

  1. Introduction
  2. System requirements
  3. Installation
  4. Portable version
  5. File management
  6. Container
  7. Backup and recovery
  8. Upgrading

Introduction

allTags is a modern file management system that aims to remove unnecessary, but time-consuming, actions when dealing with files. Without needing a folder hierarchy and even file names, allTags relies on tags for describing and retrieving files.

Tags offer a flexible and scalable way to manage files in large file sets. When adding files to the system, allTags provides functions for quick and consistent file description. File retrieval is fast as allTags scans through cached meta data, only accessing files when necessary.

This documentation describes allTags Client, a standalone application to manage your files. To get information about connecting allTags Client to a central server for collaboration with others, please visit the allTags Server documentation.

System requirements

  • A Windows OS (8, 10)
    • A Linux release is possible, but currently has very few requests. To let us know that you are interested in a Linux release, please contact info@alltags.net. Please also include which distribution you are running.
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 250 MB hard disk space

Installation

allTags provides a graphical installer. To install, download the latest release and follow the instructions.

Portable version

A portable version is available for Windows. To use it, download the latest release zip file in either 32 or 64 bit, extract it to the desired folder and run allTagsShell.exe. It can be run from an USB stick or from within a Dropbox, Google Drive or Nextcloud connected folder.

File management

In allTags, file management works by assigning tags to files in the system. No need for maintaining usable folder hierarchies - you might not even need file names. If tagged sufficiently, specific files can be identified via their associated tags. Using this application, you can focus on describing your files.

Adding files

To add files to the system, drag & drop them into the application window. You can also drop entire folders; allTags then attempts to create tags from the existing folder structure to help with initial tagging. You can easily add thousands of files this way.

There is a second option for very large or numerous files. By using the import directory, allTags can directly move files into the system. You can access your import directory via the allTags tray icon by selecting Open import directory. Files and folders added here are removed once the import is done.

Accessing and exporting files

When opening a file, the default application for the specific file extension is used. An 'open with' action is available with a single click in case the default application is not appropriate. Instead of accessing single files, you can also access a selection of files together as a folder.

Accessed files are copied to an export directory in order to compare changes and enable file versioning. While active, allTags tracks changes and creates file versions in the background.

Versioning

By default, up to 5 versions for any file are kept. This requires storage space but provides a way to recover from undesired file changes. The number of kept versions can be changed in settings.

Container

Containers are used to separate things in your allTags client. One container is used at the beginning to store all files. Creating additional containers you can:

  1. Separate files between multiple storage locations. When you add many or very large files, you might need to use multiple storage mediums. Network locations can also be used but beware that this does not enable collaborative file management. For this, please look at setting up an allTags Server.
  2. Separate concerns. You can assign files to a project for example. Or separate work from private files, if you may keep both on the same system. As containers can be toggled off, files and associated tags can be made invisible.

Some additional attributes of containers:

  • A file can only be stored in one container at a time. When switching to a container on a different storage medium, a file must be moved; this takes time depending on the medium and file size.
  • Multiple containers can share a storage location. Containers then can be used to separate types of files and tags.
  • When a container is toggled off, you won´t see any files or tags, which are exclusively used in that container.

Backup and recovery

By default, all files, configuration and meta data is stored in the user´s home directory (in c:\users\[USERNAME]\allTags). If there are any files not synchronized to an allTags Server, you should backup this directory regularly. Any reliable backup software will do. On Windows, you can use integrated software like Robocopy.

Recommandations

If you need to backup your local files (in the absence of a central server), you should consider these points:

  • Always backup to a different device, like external hard drive, USB stick or network share. If your computer breaks you might otherwise loose your data.
  • If possible, try to execute backups with allTags not running. Usually nothing bad happens, but it is safer this way.
  • Try to run backups regularly. Many tools exist to automate these. You can setup a Robocopy job with a scheduled execution via Windows Task Scheduler for example.

Recovery

To recover your data, install the latest version of allTags. Before initial start, place all recovered files into the original data directory, located in c:\users\[USERNAME]\allTags. If the latest allTags version is newer than the recovered one, it will automatically be updated.

Multiple containers

If you are using containers to physically separate file sets, you need to include all defined storage paths in your backup. For recovery, you need to recreate the original storage paths so that you can place all files where they originally were placed. If you cannot recreate the storage paths, you can edit the meta data database (store.db) with any SQLite manipulation tool and change the paths manually. This is only recommended for experts.

Portable version

For users of the portable version, allTags keeps all data within the application directory inside a sub directory called data. It is easiest to backup the entire application directory. To recover, use your backed up application directory and start allTags normally.

Upgrading

To upgrade allTags, close the application then download and run the latest installer. To upgrade the portable version, download the latest release zip file and extract its contents into the existing application directory, overwriting existing files.