Google Reader Folders Vs. Tags
Google Reader is a Web app enabling users to subscribe to Atom and RSS feeds. Articles can be liked, tagged as favorites and shared easily, and a special Recommended Items feed is available to suggest new content. Web feeds can be sorted into customized folders as well as tagged with individual labels, and the options for both are within easy reach. More information is available via the official Google Reader Help Center at google.com/support/reader.
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Folders and Tags
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Folders and tags work in a similar way and are both used to sort and categorize content within Google Reader. The key difference is that folders apply to entire feeds (for example, the BBC News RSS feed), while tags apply to individual articles (for example, an article on interest rates). When a feed is moved into a folder, all the articles in the feed are automatically tagged with the folder name, but can be untagged on an individual basis.
Using Folders
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New feeds are listed under the Subscriptions heading. To move a feed into a folder, open up the drop-down menu to the right of the feed title and select one of the folders listed. Use the "New folder" option if you need to create a new folder. Folders appear alongside feeds underneath the Subscription heading -- open up the drop-down menu to the right to rename, delete or change settings for a particular folder. One reason to use a folder is to group together feeds covering a similar topic, technology news, for example.
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Using Tags
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Tags appear underneath each article in the main Google Reader pane. Click "Edit tags" to remove existing tags or create new ones. Any created tags not automatically generated by folder names are listed underneath feeds and folders under the Subscription heading on the left -- click on a tag to see a list of matching items. Use the drop-down menu to the right of each tag to change the sort order or to delete or rename the tag. One use of a tag is to group together your favorite articles across a variety of feeds.
Google Reader Settings
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Further options are available under the Folders and Tags tab on the Google Reader Settings page -- click the "cog icon" in the top, right-hand corner and choose "Reader Settings" to access it. From this page, folders and tags can be deleted, renamed and made public or private. Use the check boxes on the left-hand side to select multiple folders and tags at the same time.
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