Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

file type A file format is a Computer standard, standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary format, pr ...

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordstag'' and ''bubbles''.

Overview

Tabbles generates in real-time a tag-based relational file system, where tags can be accessed as folders or used as keywords for search. Unlike

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

tagging system, it supports any kind of files and documents on local and shared drives, as well as many cloud storage or file synchronization systems like Dropbox. Tabbles allows users to collaboratively tag files on network drives, through group and user policy management.

Data management model

Tabbles implements a relational approach to file and data management, as an extension to the traditional file management being hierarchically structured, similar to Microsoft's WinFS. Files, emails and bookmarks are categorized by labeling them with tags, instead of placing them in hierarchical folders or containers. The data is then browsed, sorted and retrieved by navigating and searching through tags, or combination of tags. Tags are visualised and browsed as virtual folders. A relational file system is generated dynamically, independently from the physical location of the data. This allows for files or emails physically stored in different folders or machines, to be grouped and browsed together at once.

Technology

Tabbles was among the first commercial software developed in F# and WPF, and was featured on F# creator's blog. It has a client-server architecture, requires a

Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of storing and retrieving data as requested by other software applications—which ma ...

to run and relies on stored procedures for the core logic and the security management. Tabbles is tightly integrated with Windows and

Windows Explorer File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file ...

using several APIs: FileSystemWatcher, IFileOperationProgressSync, Overlay Handlers, ContextMenu Handlers, Win32 API, Office interop, Outlook interop. It uses VSTO to integrate into

Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily an email client, Outlook also includes such functions as Calen ...

.

Features

* Tagging files in local folders,

network drive In computing, a file server (or fileserver) is a computer attached to a network that provides a location for shared disk access, i.e. storage of computer files (such as text, image, sound, video) that can be accessed by the workstations that are ab ...

s, removable drives,

optical disk In computing and optical disc recording technologies, an optical disc (OD) is a flat, usually circular disc that encodes binary data (bits) in the form of Compact disk#Physical details, pits and lands on a special material, often aluminum, ...

s * Auto-tagging files and folders, local and remote, based on user defined rules * Tagging files from the application's GUI,

Windows Explorer File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file ...

, from 3rd party file managers, from command line and via APIs * Tags on files and folders managed by file synchronization tools (such as Dropbox) are synchronized * User and groups privileges for tagging on shared folder and

network drive In computing, a file server (or fileserver) is a computer attached to a network that provides a location for shared disk access, i.e. storage of computer files (such as text, image, sound, video) that can be accessed by the workstations that are ab ...

s * Graphically browse through single tags or combinations, as if in virtual folders * Tag emails (in

Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily an email client, Outlook also includes such functions as Calen ...

) and bookmarks * Administrator management window for user and groups creation and management

In the media

Tabbles received multiple reviews, among others from the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

,

Lifehacker ''Lifehacker'' is a weblog about life hacks and software that launched on January 31, 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is currently owned by G/O Media. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including: Microsoft W ...

, Chip and several paper magazines. Reviews were typically mildly positive and focused on the innovative side of the application.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://tabbles.net File managers for Microsoft Windows Windows file-tagging software 2009 software