PART 2:
Tag PDFs with iTunes
But while annotations and mark-ups help us find important items inside a file, they don’t really help us find the file itself in our giant shoebox. That requires a different approach—tagging. Tags are nonhierarchical and flexible, and a file can have multiple tags, allowing us to find what we need in more ways than one.
Here’s the good news: You already have the software necessary to start tagging PDF files: iTunes. Surprised? Well, think of PDF files as another media format. As the folks at Lifehacker.com reported, the playlists at the core of iTunes are a really a tagging system. Here’s how you turn iTunes into a PDF manager.
First, create a new iTunes library (start iTunes while holding the Option key, then click Create Library) and get rid of all the music-related things. That includes deleting the default playlists iTunes creates and customizing the library display by removing the columns that are no longer pertinent. Just right-click in the column header and uncheck the label. Go to iTunes > Preferences and uncheck “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library” under the Advanced tab. That will leave the files where they are now rather than creating another copy of them in the ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music folder. While you’re at it, uncheck the display options under the General tab, and check the Disable options under the Parental Control tab. That will eliminate the unnecessary options on the screen.
Hold down Option when you launch iTunes for this dialog, which lets you create a new library for your PDFs. (You could keep your music and PDFs all together, but trust us, that would be a big old mess.)
You don't need to see Movies, TV Shows, or the rest in your iTunes Library sidebar, so uncheck their boxes here.
Now we’re ready to add PDF files to the library. Choose File > Add To Library option select your PDF files. Just like music tracks, they’ll show up in the iTunes library sorted alphabetically by name. It’s best to tag a file right when you add it—procrastination is your enemy. One obvious way to tag a file is using the Genre column. Press Command-I (or right-click a file and select Get Info) and add your own description in the Genre field. We used the Genre field for a meta tag (“Checks” or “Statements,” for example) and put further description in the Comment field, such as the name of the account. There are no limits on how to reassign the fields in the Get Info window—the trick is to find the right balance.
Now we have to choose between Smart Playlists and user-defined playlists. If you add good metadata to each file, the Smart Playlist is the logical choice. If you don’t feel like adding a lot of tags to your files, then create your own playlists and manually add files.
Comments and Genre are two obvious places to start tagging.
The Music list will show all the PDFs in your new library, but you can create manual and smart playlists too.
Our Ebooks smart playlists collects all the PDFs tagged with Ebook as the genre.
Once your PDFs are organized, double-clicking one will launch Preview and you are ready to read your PDF file. iTunes functions surprisingly well as a PDF manager, but it does require some diligence, and tagging files takes more steps than it should.
NEXT PAGE: If using iTunes sounds like too much work, try Yep instead.
radarbob
February 17, 2010 at 12:42pm
I've been using YEP for over a year now. Hands down the best use I've made of a computer since I bought my first Macintosh.
THE PROBLEM
The time and drudgery of filing paper documents in a filing cabinet. The time and frustration of trying to find a document in a filing cabinet. The regret of having thrown away some doc a year ago. The angst of dealing w/ that pile of paper I've been avoiding because of the drudgery of filing...THE SOLUTION
YEP + Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner. Note: Fast & efficient scanning is an absolute must. Using a flatbed is too slow and clumsy. The goal is to get rid of paper. Document-centric scanning = Fast = efficient = painless.WHAT I DO
* Scan all my documents into Yep *AS PDF*, *quickly* tag, then shred. I keep certain originals of course: wills, birth certificates, etc.
* OCR some of the scanned docs. May do more of this; but my idea is an electronic filing cabinet, not an electronic reference and research system.BENEFITS
* I do not file anything. Using Yep interface: Between tags, file names, and OCR'ed text I can find what I'm looking for. OS X spotlight and finder searching complements.* All docs are PDF. If you've ever tried to open a decade old doc, you understand the significance of using PDF as the universal file type.
*Faster and funner for finding docs.
*No "keep or discard" decisions to make. Excepting junk mail, just scan it all; who knows when or if you'll want it.
* Easy to maintain. It's so much easier to scan-n-tag; so I do it.
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December 21, 2009 at 8:38pm
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sgallant04
October 08, 2009 at 9:50pm
Yep tears it up for me to. I'm anxious for Yep V2. I have not tried Leap yet as Ironic software seems slow to update.
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meytav
May 06, 2009 at 6:52am
it works great but i can not get back to my original library.what can i do?
tassiecelt
February 10, 2009 at 6:35am
The business of finding, opening and closing i-tunes libraries make this idea clumsy.
There has to be a better way - this for me is not it.
ssj152
February 09, 2009 at 6:02pm
Not all PDF files are restricted to one topic, as a letter might be. How do you reference the contents of such files - with a spreadsheet you create as you read the file? Not likely.JDWURTZ misses the point - these products allow you to add and edit metadata to PDF files without using names like TAXES_COMPUTER_2004_SOFTWARE_MICROSOFT_OFFICE_UPGRADE.pdf to name a file containing a receipt. What Yep does is to give you an expanded way to search any PDF file multiple ways <strong>without moving the file (uses your own location, optionally organizes by year and month) and uses the original file name. It allows you to ADD metadata like TAXES, COMPUTER, YEAR, SOFTWARE, etc. - what EVER you want to use - and later be able to add / edit / delete the metadata if or when desired. Yep will search the contents of a PDF and suggest keywords, but you are free to use any desired. It remembers all keywords you have ever used and shows the most used in a popup when you begin to add or edit the metadata. It is very simple in operation.Yep complements any other filing system in use or can provide one if desired. I'd like to see someone locate which issue of a digital magazine contained an article on a topic not on the cover - by filename or extension, while utilities like Yep make it easy to add all article topics as metadata (keywords) and find them in a search! The metadata of multiple documents can be edited at one time and Yep learns as it goes. As you can see, I'm sold on the idea and this product specifically.
jdwurtz@aol.com
February 07, 2009 at 3:19pm
If I understand the presumption of Michael Niemann correctly, there's some benefit to organizing my files according to file type, specifically when the file type is PDF.To expand slightly on this presumption, I would also organize all my MS Word files separately.Then I'd organize all my TextEdit files separately.Oh, I almost forgot, then I'd have to organize my TexEdit+ files separately.If I have any Pages files, they'd have to have a separate organizational structure also.Am I missing something here, or does this sound as absurd to you as it does to me?!?!I've been organizing my computer files by _TOPIC_ for over 30 years now, and that basic structure enables me to find files most of the time without any need for Spotlight.Please, please, please tell me what, if any, benefit there might be to organizing my files by file type!!!If I've got a MS Word file about how to calculate the natural frequency of a beam, and a PDF file about a slightly different approach to performing this calculation, your organizational approach would require me to place these two files in separate folders! No thanks!
ssj152
February 06, 2009 at 3:23pm
I bought a small scanner and downloaded a trial of Yep to test it with. Yep is easy to use, both as a program to input data from a scanner and as a method of organizing the data. I immediately purchased Yep and have been very happy with it.I organize all sort of PDF files with it: scans of receipts, tax documents already in PDF format, other documents I'll use at tax time that I've scanned, my entire digital magazine collection, manuals, etc. I print all purchases made on the web as PDF documents and file them with Yep by year, type and description. Yep makes key-wording easy.Highly recommended ($34), and also available at a discount with its big brother program "Leap", which organizes ALL filetypes. The author, Ironic Software (www.ironicsoftware.com) sells a package where you purchase Leap for $59 and get Yep and another program Deep, for only $10 extra. Deep is for organizing images - pictures, etc. and does it by color palette and size or shape.I do not work for Ironic software and have no relationship with them other than using Yep and having tried Leap, which I plan to purchase soon.
