Understanding Tag's and Collections - New User

Matt Leonard

Hey,

I want to catalogue all my Logos library books to match that of my physical library,

i.e.

Atonement
Christian Living
Marriage, etc

I'm trying to work out if I should use Tags or Collections.

I'm thinking Tags would be better as I can define each library book individually based on my critical.

However from reading through the forums many people suggest Collections are more versatile for searching, etc

What would peoples advice be?

I just want a way to be able to look at my library and see all the books in a specific category I've defined.

Which every way I end up going I wondered if there is a way of showing which library books are NOT Tagged or appear in a Custom Collections. So I know what I've got left a Tag or add to a Collection.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Matt

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Comments

MJ. Smith

Tags create implied collections are are often needed to refine the collections defined by rules. The two work hand-in-hand not as alternatives.

John Fidel

Hi Matt,

I have all my resources tagged and can view my library by mytags. Any new resources are shown in a group without a tag. I found sorting my library, such as type:commentary, allowed me to see all my commentaries. I then could tag them into sub categories by selecting them and tagging them all at one time. Tagging them one at a time can be time consuming and Logos prepares your library after each tag, so being able to sort and select a group of resources to tag at once was helpful.

Once my library was tagged, I created select collections to allow parallel resources to populate, but I created the collection definition using the mytag.

I learned a lot about my library in the process and my library now opens displayed by mytags.

Note the screenshot below shows 1 resource not tagged.

Using the filter in the library on the left I can display all my commentaries that contains comments on Romans and then show in the filter section how I have tagged them and what collections those books are in.

All my resources are tagged, but not all are in collections. Commentaries in collections allow for me to use the parallel resource icon to change commentaries as shown below:

I hope this helps. If you have questions, please post back.

Doc B

What would peoples advice be?

I agree with both previous replies.

My simple advice would be to use both.

First, you need the tags because they don't go away...once you make them, they are persistent until you change or delete them.

Making hundreds of collections can slow down your machine (according to some, others disagree). Tagging all your resources won't affect the function of the software. At one point a few years back, I was instructed to remove a bunch of my hundreds of collections to improve software performance.

Having the tags in place has no bearing on collections as you can use collections whether you have tagged your resources or not (but you may be able to make more precise collections if you tag). On the other hand, you can't use tags if you don't make them first.

So, tag away, and then use the collections tool as needed, either with or without your tags.

Kevin A

Collections can be dynamic - eg type:"Study Bible" or subject:atonement etc. This will mean any new resources that match that filter will be automatically added to the collection.

Kevin A

With regards to your final question, if you create a collection (eg NOT_TAGGED) and set the 'Start with resources matching:' parameter to * ANDNOT mytag:* this will contain all resources that you have not tagged.

You can also use this in the library search box. https://wiki.logos.com/library__#Search_Fields_that_you_can_use_in_the_Find_box has some more useful search operators.

You can also, in the Collections Tool, drag other collections from the Open dropdown to the 'Minus these resources:', which if you start with just a * wildcard, will show everything not in those collections. https://wiki.logos.com/Collections#Adding_a_Collection_of_books_as_an_exception

xnman

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1185676#Comment_1185676

For you tagging guys..... do you tag every book in your library?

Matt Leonard

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1185698#Comment_1185698

Thanks for everyones help and advice.

Matt

John Fidel

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1185698#Comment_1185698

I do. It was easy working with the various "types" that are available to select large groups to tag at one time. Getting through the monographs was a bit more time consuming.

Start with a comprehensive list of tags that you are going to use. Have a category for some books that are just difficult to tie town and then tweak it later.

There is nothing wrong with leaving some books untagged as they will be grouped together as untagged.

SineNomine

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1185698#Comment_1185698

For you tagging guys..... do you tag every book in your library?

No. I tag resources for specific purposes. Not all of my resources fall into any of those specific purposes.

Bruce Dunning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1185698#Comment_1185698

For you tagging guys..... do you tag every book in your library?

Yes, I have done this for many years and to me it is well worth the effort. Below is a link to the tagging system I use. I've shared this often over the years but perhaps you or someone else might find this helpful.

1300.My Tagging System for Logos.docx

Dave Hooton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1185757#Comment_1185757

No. I tag resources for specific purposes. Not all of my resources fall into any of those specific purposes.

This is also my method. There are 1500 resources I have not tagged (about 59%), but their Type is an effective tag in most cases, especially as I have a Rating for every resource e.g. I tag some Bible Commentaries (especially those that aren't!), but otherwise use Rating to determine my collections for Passage Guide. All this means that I have about 1000 resources (out of the 1500) that are effectively tagged and about 500 that I won't tag.

Doc B

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1185698#Comment_1185698

For you tagging guys..... do you tag every book in your library?

Yes and no. :-)

Yes, as I tag all new resources with the date I acquired them and whether they were bought standalone or as part of a package. (I learned the hard way the FL folks don't like to help with this task, and you have to know should you ever want to sell something.)

No, in the sense I suspect you mean. I tag for specific purposes, but not all resources get those tags. I suspect about half have meaningful tags that I use for searches or finding stuff.

xnman

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1185981#Comment_1185981

I appreciate you guys answers.

Thanks