How to Create a Database With Tags on a Mac
Tagging is a process of adding keywords to a database of information, which aids in retrieval of records from that database. Tags are typically reusable terms that are applied to multiple records; for example, a collection of articles from the Internet may be tagged "news," "sports" or "entertainment" to indicate which broad categories they fall into. Tags are less structured than hierarchical classification, and they allow for creation of new tags on the fly as database needs develop.
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Instructions
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Select a database environment in which to build your database. The most popular database for the Macintosh is FileMaker Pro, but a tagging database can also be created in the simpler (and cheaper) Bento software, also published by FileMaker. You can also create simple databases in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel, Apple's Numbers or the freeware software NeoOffice.
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Create database fields for the other information you wish to store in your database. In database software such as FileMaker or Bento, you can define field types such as "text," "numeric" or "date" fields. Using a spreadsheet, simply add a list of field names in the top row of your spreadsheet; each row of the spreadsheet is a database record, and the cells of each column are that field's entry for each record.
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Add an additional field named "Tags" to store the tags for each record. In database software, designate this as a text field; in a spreadsheet, this step is not necessary.
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Populate the Tags field with keywords for each record. In most spreadsheet software, type the first few letters of a keyword, and a list of previously entered keywords that match these letters will appear in a selection box. This behavior can be replicated in database software; see the built-in Help function for your database software to determine how to do this. To create a new tag, simply enter a new keyword for a record.
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Work with the Tags field by using your database or spreadsheet search function to search for keywords in the Tags field. By using separate words, you will use the automatic indexing function in spreadsheets and most databases to make searching very fast; it is faster to retrieve a record from a Tag search than it is to search through full text stored in other database fields.
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Tips & Warnings
Third-party software can be used if there is a particular type of data that you wish to index and tag. For example, Bare Bones' Yojimbo software or Devon Technologies' DEVONthink can be used to tag arbitrary files and snippets of data stored on your hard drive, while Indev's MailTags works with messages stored in Apple's Mail application.
