Better Management with Tags
Improving File Management, Confidentiality and Review Processes using Folders and Tags
Introduction
Tags (or properties in Google-speak) are built into the Google Drive eco-system. They are an incredibly useful way to store metadata about files, which can be easily accessed by all users of that file.
Tags
Within the Folders app, we have pre-defined some tags you might like to use to help manage your data (with particular attention to data protection legislation):
- Confidentiality - This is used to track how sensitive the information is within the file. We have opted for a simple traffic light model (Red / Amber / Green) which corresponds to three levels (High / Medium / Low).
- Importance - How critical the file is, uses the same traffic light values as above.
- Review - How often does the document need to be reviewed (if ever).
- Reviewed - When was the document last reviewed?
- Highlight - A useful tag to draw attention to a file (like stars, only brighter!)
You can also use your own tags, to help manage any information you need to store regarding a file (client, project, trainee, due date etc.). These sort of tags will quickly become an indispensible aid to the way that you work in Google Drive.
Editing Tags
Tags can be edited, added or removed using the Folders interface, using the create button link for individual items, or the Tag command (Results menu) to perform bulk tagging operations.
The tag dialog (shown above) has a series of shortcut buttons for our pre-defined tags, and the ability to set your tag names/values. Private tags can only be viewed and edited via the Folders app, so we would not recommend using these unless you have very particular requirements.
Searching for Tags
Using our search tools, you can easily search for tags that correspond to particular names/values. If you want to find all items (in your Drive) that have the same name/value tag, you can also click on the search icon within the tag as a search shortcut. If you click on the × icon (right-hand side of the tag), you will be prompted to remove the tag from the item.
If you are using the review and reviewed tags to get track of which documents need periodic review, items that are overdue reviews will be highlighted in a light red in Folders. You can also search for documents needing reviews using a shortcut button in the search dialog.
Viewing Tags
While you can always use the Folders app to view tags if you are using a Chromebook or a Chrome browser on Mac/Linux/PC device, you can install our Tag-a-Doc extension. This extension will show tags at the top of your Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings. This is a very useful way to remind users when they are dealing with confidential or important data - or absolutely anything else you want to use tags for!
