Just as a followup - some details about how Tagspaces puts metadata into sidecar files and where the sidecars are located -
Tagspaces has an interesting way of storing tags in sidecar files, as shown by this diagram from the tagspaces website:
As shown, each folder contains a ".ts" folder. For every file in a folder, there is a corresponding file in the .ts subfolder. In the above example, the folder "subfolder1" contains files including "file1.jpg". The folder "\subfolder1\.ts"contains the file "file1.jpg.json", which contains the tags for file1.jpg.
Advantages:
(1) the tags/metadata files are hidden away in the .ts folder, and do not clutter the "subfolder1" folder.
(2) the location of the metadata for any file can always be found in the same location relative to that file, at .\.ts\filename.ext.json.
(3) if a file is moved or copied, the metadata for that file can be preserved, by moving or copying the corresponding metadata file to the .ts subfolder in the new location for the main file.
(4) unlike metadata contained in alternate data streams, the metadata would not be easily lost. Unlike ADS, the metadata files can be backed up to a NAS or a non-NTFS filesystem.
Disadvantages:
(1) the number of files is doubled, if there is a metadata file for every file.
(2) there is no existent mechanism for automatic move or copy of a metadata file when the main file is moved or copied; that would have to be done manually or done by an app that is aware of the metadata files.
(3) an app would be needed to provide the mechanism for filling and editing the metadata fields for each file - metadata fields could be filled in bulk by selecting multiple files and then supplying a property:value for all selected files.
Ideally, the metadata contained in these files would include user-defined properties and their corresponding values, for the main file. These properties and values could be indexed and displayed (and perhaps even filled and edited) in columns. Unfortunately, as far as I know the Tagspaces tags stored in these sidecar files are not property:value type tags and may not lend themselves to being displayed in columns. So I don't specifically suggest a linkage with Tagspaces, but rather only the use of a similar file organization scheme.
Tagspaces has an interesting way of storing tags in sidecar files, as shown by this diagram from the tagspaces website:
Code:
~ location (with your files)├── subfolder1│ ├── .ts│ │ ├── file1.jpg.json <-- contains the tags and the description for file1.jpg│ │ └── file2.pdf.json│ ├── file1.jpg│ └── file2.pdf├── .ts│ ├── file3.png.json│ └── file4.docx.json├── file3.png└── file4.docxAdvantages:
(1) the tags/metadata files are hidden away in the .ts folder, and do not clutter the "subfolder1" folder.
(2) the location of the metadata for any file can always be found in the same location relative to that file, at .\.ts\filename.ext.json.
(3) if a file is moved or copied, the metadata for that file can be preserved, by moving or copying the corresponding metadata file to the .ts subfolder in the new location for the main file.
(4) unlike metadata contained in alternate data streams, the metadata would not be easily lost. Unlike ADS, the metadata files can be backed up to a NAS or a non-NTFS filesystem.
Disadvantages:
(1) the number of files is doubled, if there is a metadata file for every file.
(2) there is no existent mechanism for automatic move or copy of a metadata file when the main file is moved or copied; that would have to be done manually or done by an app that is aware of the metadata files.
(3) an app would be needed to provide the mechanism for filling and editing the metadata fields for each file - metadata fields could be filled in bulk by selecting multiple files and then supplying a property:value for all selected files.
Ideally, the metadata contained in these files would include user-defined properties and their corresponding values, for the main file. These properties and values could be indexed and displayed (and perhaps even filled and edited) in columns. Unfortunately, as far as I know the Tagspaces tags stored in these sidecar files are not property:value type tags and may not lend themselves to being displayed in columns. So I don't specifically suggest a linkage with Tagspaces, but rather only the use of a similar file organization scheme.
Statistics: Posted by jimspoon — Mon Jan 06, 2025 2:37 pm