Database
A collection of records (called items in Zoot parlance) organized into folders. Every Zoot database is stored in its own file on your disk drive. Zoot database files have a .ZOT file extension. To view your database files on disk, click Databases on the toolbar or press Ctrl+F8 and Zoot will launch Windows Explorer.
Active Database
The database currently visible at any given time is called the active database. Only one database can be active at a time. The active database, as viewed in Zoot's main application window, is divided into three window panes. On the left is the Folder Tree, on the top right is the Item Grid, and directly below is the Item Editor. When you click on a folder in the Folder Tree, the items in that folder are displayed in the Item Grid. When you click on an item in the Item Grid, the document associated with that item is displayed in the Item Editor. The Item Editor works more or less like a simple word processor.
Some of the buttons on the toolbar are designed to work only with the active database. For instance, when you click the Favorites button you get a pop-up menu of all your favorite folders in the active database. If you activate a different database and click the Favorites button again, Zoot displays the favorite folders for that database. Other toolbar buttons designed to work with the active database are Select, Delete, Panes, New, Query, Assign and Smart.
Item
A database record featuring a variety of properties (<Subject>, <Date Created>, <Status>, <Priority>, etc.) which help to describe the item contextually. Every item in a Zoot database has a document associated with it. The document can be a short note or a much larger document (up to 32,000 characters). Items can also be linked (via shortcut) to Web pages, files stored on your disk drive, Microsoft Outlook items or other Zoot items.
Folder
Folders let you group items in a database. An item can be assigned to more than one folder without creating a copy of the item. Because you can assign an item to multiple folders, you can create multiple contexts in which to view the information in your databases.
Smart Folder
A folder to which rules and/or actions have been attached. Rules and actions tell a folder how to behave. Examples of Smart Folders are the New Entries, Recent Entries and Hot List folders that you find at the top of the Folder Tree in most of your Zoot databases. You can create your own Smart Folders to perform information management tasks related to your particular needs. To create a Smart Folder, click the Smart button on the toolbar and choose the appropriate command from the pop-up menu.
View
The column, sorting, display and filter properties of the Item Grid. When you click on a folder, the items in that folder are displayed in the Item Grid. The particular view currently activated for the folder determines the columns you will see, how the items will be sorted and other display characteristics. Typically a database will have a variety of custom views which can be shared among the folders in the database. To see the views available in a database or to create a new custom view, click the Smart button on the toolbar and choose View from the pop-up menu.
Default View
Every database has a Default View, which is the view automatically assigned to new folders. The Default View typically features the most common column, sorting, display and filter settings for a given database. For instance, the Default View in the Tasks database features <Priority>, <Subject>, <Start Date> and <Due Date> columns, items are sorted by <Due Date>, and items marked complete are filtered out of view in order to reduce clutter. The Default View can be modified to suit your needs, just like any other view in a database.
Filter
When a filter is applied to a view only those items matching the filter criteria will be displayed in the Item Grid. Filters do not add or remove items to/from a given folder, they merely filter items out of view in order to reduce clutter. In short, filters let you temporarily view a subset of the items in a particular folder. To see the filters available in a database, or to create a filter, click the Smart button on the toolbar and choose Filter from the pop-up menu.
Quick Query
The Quick Query box (located next to the [?] icon on the toolbar) lets you quickly search for items in the active database. Just start typing your search criteria and Zoot will immediately display matching items. You can use the Boolean operators AND, OR, NEAR and NOT in your searches. If you do not separate words with a Boolean operator, Zoot assumes the AND operator is to be used. To search for an exact phrase, enclose the phrase in quotes.
Desktop Databases
These are databases designed for quick access throughout the day. The Desktop Databases (Tasks, Calendar, Contacts, Mail, etc.) are conveniently located across the toolbar and can be opened with a single click. To open other databases, click the Open button (or press Ctrl+O) and select the database you want to open from the pop-up menu. The Desktop Databases can be synchronized with Outlook's default folders (Inbox, Tasks, Calendar, etc.).
Project
A project in Zoot is an informal group of related databases. Projects let you group related databases under a project name for quick access. New users can ignore projects, as they represent an advanced feature meant for those users who have created a large number of databases and need to organize them into smaller groups. When you first run Zoot, the program automatically creates a default project called Startup. For many users this is the only project they'll ever need.
Active Project
The active project refers to whichever project is currently open. The first time you run Zoot, a default project called Startup is created for you automatically. This will remain the active project unless you create a new project. The name of the active project is always displayed in the titlebar of Zoot's main application window along with the name of the currently active database. You should see Startup in the titlebar now because that is currently the active project. As a new user you don't need to think much about projects. Projects exist to help users who have created a large assortment of databases and want to work with these databases in smaller subsets.
