Create a Folder Rule and Action

A folder rule tells a folder to watch out for items with certain characteristics. Folder rules can be quite sophisticated, but we'll start out with a fairly simple one for now.

Let's create a folder rule in the Web database to watch for items with three exclamation marks in the <Subject> field, then we'll create a folder action to change the color of these items to green.

The basic steps we need to follow all are:

·

Create a folder in the Web database

·

Attach a rule to the folder

·

Attach an action to the folder

First we'll create a folder in the Web database:

1. On the Desktop Database Bar, click Web to open the Web database.

2. Right-click a folder (up towards the top of the Folder Tree) and choose New from the pop-up menu. Zoot creates a new folder and enters in-place editing mode. Type in "Keepers" as the name for the new folder, then press the Enter key.

3. Right-click on the new folder and choose Color from the pop-up menu. Zoot displays a color palette. Select a green from the palette and Zoot will change the color of the new folder to green.

Now we're ready to attach a rule to the folder:

1. On the toolbar, click the Smart button and choose Rules from the pop-up menu. Zoot opens the Rules Dialog.

2. Locate the Field edit box and click the small menu button [] to the right. Zoot displays a pop-up menu which lists all the possible fields available. From the pop-up menu, choose Frequently Used | Subject.

3. Moving to your right, locate the Value edit box and type in 3 exclamation points (!!!). Click the Add button to add your new rule to the Rules List below, then click OK to close the Rules Dialog.

Zoot immediately updates the folder, adding any items in your Web database that have three exclamation points in the <Subject> field.


Finally, we'll attach an action to the folder:

1. On the toolbar, click the Smart button and choose Actions from the pop-up menu. Zoot opens the Actions Dialog.

2. From the Actions drop-down list, choose Modify <Color>.

3. In the Detail section, click on the Color selector and choose green from the pop-up color palette. Click the Add button to add the action to the Actions List below, then click the OK button to close the Actions Dialog.

Zoot immediately updates the folder, changing the color of any items assigned to the folder to green.


Now let's try out the new Smart Folder. Open up your favorite Web browser and navigate to a web site, then follow these steps:

1. Click the little Zooter icon and choose New | Web Page from the pop-up menu. Zoot creates a new Web page item and opens it in a detached Item Editor window.

2. Enter a description for the new Web Page item and include !!! at the end.

As soon as you press the Enter key, notice that the color of the item is changed to green, indicating that the item was automatically assigned to the Keepers folder (because of the rule attached), and that the action to change the color of the item was subsequently triggered.

This particular Smart Folder might not be the most useful imaginable, but it should give you an idea of some of the things you can do with rules and actions.