Smart Folders in Action

Let's take a look at a Smart Folder called Hot List, which resides in each of your Zoot databases. When an item is assigned to the Hot List folder, the color of the item immediately changes to red. This event occurs because the folder has an action which essentially says this:

Action: [Whenever an item is assigned to this folder change its color to red]

The Hot List folder also has a rule which describes the type of information to be processed. In this case the rule looks something like this:

Rule: [Any item that has been given a high priority level should be assigned to this folder]

What does this mean in practice? If you create an item and either assign it directly to the Hot List folder or give the item a high priority level, the item color will change to red.

You can try it out yourself. Find an item in a Zoot database, then press Ctrl+M and choose High Priority from the pop-up menu. If the database has a Hot List folder (and most do), the item's color will change to red. To reverse the process, press Ctrl+M again and choose Normal Priority from the pop-up menu. The item will be removed from the Hot List folder and its color will change back to normal.

In addition to the high priority method of assigning an item to the Hot List folder, you can also assign an item directly to the Hot List folder using the Assign button on the toolbar or some other manual assignment method (e.g., drag and drop).

The Hot List folder is just one example of what a Smart Folder can do, but these little worker-bees can perform a wide variety of information processing tasks.

Here are some of the tasks a Smart Folder can perform:

·

Assign items to one or more folders in a database

·

Copy or move items from one database to another database

·

Change the subject line of an item

·

Change an item's start date, due date or date completed property

·

Change date fields based on text found in the body of an item

·

Change the type, status, priority or color property of an item

·

Remove unwanted text from the body of an item

·

Assign categories to an item or remove categories from an item

When you add customized Smart Folders to a database, the database becomes more than just a place to store information. As you continue to customize the database, it starts to think like you do.