Tagging multiple notes at once

I find it more convenient to add tags by typing them in: either through the inspect window or at the bottom of the main window. However, if I select more than one record, those options are not available and I have to use the checkboxes in the tag window. Is there a way to select multiple records and then type the tags at the bottom of the main window? Another option would be to just tag a single record with the desired tags and then have some way to apply those tags to other records.

No. The problem with that is what to display in the tags bar when the selected records have different tags. However, I’m working on some ideas for how to make bulk tagging easier.

By the way, please note that the Tags windows is fully controllable from the keyboard. You can start typing a tag’s name to select it in the list, and press Space to toggle the checkbox.

idea for multiple records
Here is an idea for for showing keywords with multiple records selected. Keyword manager for iPhoto shows tags in blue if they apply to all selected records. Keywords that apply to only some of the selected records show up in yellow. In addition, Keywords have an X at the end of them. If this is clicked, the keyword is deleted. By holding down the option key, the X changes to a checkmark and clicking the checkmark applies that tag to all selected records.

That makes a lot of sense, although I’m not sure whether it’s possible to do that within a token text field. Cocoa does not have any hooks for changing the color of a token or adding additional buttons. EagleFiler’s Tags window is roughly analogous to the Keyword Manager window, except that EagleFiler uses the standard mixed-state checkbox control.

If it were possible to filter the tags window so that only tags that are attached to a selected item were shown, you could probably achieve similar functionality (every assigned tag at a glance) without needing to mess with the interface. (Perhaps a toolbar button to show marked versus all?)

That sounds pretty good.

Or even if the tag window would sort those items to the top (or bottom) so they were all grouped together. This would save having to have a separate filter button.

At present, you can sort the Tag window by the check column, and it will at least group either the checked boxes or the mixed boxes at the top. Due to the way checkboxes work, the checked and mixed boxes can’t both be at the top, currently, but I will try to find a workaround for that so that it sorts checked, mixed, and then unchecked.

I retract the toolbar button idea. This would be much more elegant.

This is implemented in EagleFiler 1.1.4.

EagleFiler 1.3 added a Batch Change command, which lets you tag multiple records at once.