Accordance Isolation

[Mick Matousek]

Accordance is THE TOOL to research biblical and language information, yet its files stand isolated from retrieval and location by other applications and tools on the Mac.

 

An Accordance workspace file is binary and not practically searchable by other programs. Couldn't some of the data from Accordance be written out to the Spotlight comments or as tagging keywords? Perhaps each tab title concatenated as single words into the Spotlight Comments or tagging keywords.

 

My problem, and I imagine many others, is that I have lots of Accordance research files, but I am not always able to locate by the file title alone. Am I destined to open each Accordance workspace until I locate the item ?

 

Additionally, a file is a single instance, but might be applicable to dozens of studies, hence folder organization is not the perfect answer. As I exegete a particular book, I develop subtopics, doctrines, grammatical comments, historical exhibits from Accordance, that I could use in other studies.

 

It would be really great, **if** tabs (and you knew someone would ask , if tabs could also be Unicode capable like the greatly appreciated Search History Popup. And the Spotlight comments box is Unicode capable. Automagically writing out the Accordance global tab variables already loaded with information on a FILE SAVE action could work. Why loose information simply for lack of recording the data in a publicly accessible manner. Manual tagging puts the burden on a mechanical and fallible user process. I'd prefer this automation to be built into Accordance as a intelligent preference. Spotlight comments have space limitations while tagging possibilities are more robust. Or will we end up printing out all our Accordance information in PDFs so that it is more usable workflow ?

 

I'm hopeful that there may be other better solutions than I've described.

 

Excellent discussions on tagging:

Why OpenMeta has a Future

Tags & Comments Compared

OpenMeta

 

"Mac OS X delivers amazing search capabilities with Spotlight, but adding your own search keywords requires a trip to the Finder's Get Info window or to an application like Tags, Fresh, or Tag Folders. No more! Default Folder X lets you add Spotlight keywords, OpenMeta tags, and Finder labels on the spot, while you're still in the Save dialog. It even remembers keywords you've used before and automatically completes them as you type." quote from Default Folder developer

 

*Obligatory Quicksilver hint for Joe: Quicksilver File Tagging

 

[Timothy Jenney]

While others are considering your new feature request, let me just point out there is currently a way to search everything in Accordance all at once. Use "Search All" to find that item.

[Mick Matousek]

While others are considering your new feature request, let me just point out there is currently a way to search everything in Accordance all at once. Use "Search All" to find that item.

 

True, if the workspace is open, a module, user tool, or user note. However, I have many, many saved workspaces which will not be searched unless open. And still, I'd like more integration with workflow since I use multiple best tools for whatever the need. I never expect, nor want, Accordance to be "Accordance Office" on the Mac.