Filtering files using the Tags Filter

Previously we covered how to manage tags in Benubird Pro, and continuing on with that theme, in this post we’re going to show you how to use the Tags Filter to quickly pinpoint the file you’re looking for.

Adding tags to files

To add a tag to a file simply right-click on that file and select Info from the context-menu. Look for the Tags field and click on the Edit button next to it. The Tags Selection dialog (shown below) will then pop-up.

Screenshot of Tags Selection Dialog

Choose the tags you want to add to the selected file by double-clicking on them or using the arrows to move the tags, then click OK to have the selected tags assigned to your file.

Turning on the Tags Filter

Once you have added some tags to files you can begin using the Tags Filter. To show the tags filter select the checkbox next to Tags in the Show/Hide group on the Home ribbon.

Show Tags Filter

Filtering using tags

On the right hand-side of Benubird Pro you should now see the Tags Filter, which lists only the tags that have been assigned to files.

You can immediately begin filtering the list of available tags by selecting one or more tags in the Tags Filter (multiple tags can be selected by holding down Ctrl and left-clicking). The file list will then be filtered based on the tags you have selected — only files that are associated with the selected tags will be shown.

Tags Filter Panel

The tags can be displayed in an Alphabetical or Popular order and you can switch the order by clicking on the column header.

Match all or Match any

At the bottom of the Tags Filter you should see two options — Match all of these tags and Match any of these tags. These options give you extra flexibility in deciding which files are displayed. If you select Match all of these tags then only files that contain all of the tags that the user has selected are shown in the file list, but if you select Match any of these tags then any files that contain at least one of the tags selected in the Tags Filter are shown in the file list.

Filtering using tags

As you can see, by using the Tags Filter you can easily shorten the list of available files, and thus quickly pinpoint the file you’re looking for.

Posted by Rowan Hanna on August 15, 2008 – 3:35 pm | Comments (0)
Categories: Benubird, Tutorials | Tags: , ,

Speed up your tagging with Benubird Pro

Over at Digital Documents I mentioned the importance of tagging and how it can really improve your workflow. I illustrated the method of doing this manually using Windows Explorer. You’ll be delighted to know that Benubird Pro has been designed specifically with the idea of accelerating tagging and adding of other properties over batches of files.

Posted by Karl De Abrew on August 14, 2008 – 10:30 am | Comments (0)
Categories: Benubird, Metadata | Tags: , , , ,

Managing tags in Benubird

Let’s start with the basics. What is a tag? According to Wikipedia:

A tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information (such as an internet bookmark, digital image, or computer file).

Tags have really taken off on the Web over the past few years, but they are still an underutilized tool on the desktop — which is odd — since they are such an effective and simple way of locating documents with just a couple of clicks. We’re trying to change this anomaly with Benubird and its powerful tagging features.

Getting Started

Tip: Open the Manage Tags window by clicking on Library Tags on the Home tab.

To help you get started we’ve added some example tags to Benubird so that you can begin tagging your files as quickly as possible. These example tags can be assigned to files, edited or deleted just like any other tag.

Manage Tags dialog

Add New Tags

To create new tags click on the Add button in the Manage Tags window, enter in the name of your tag (if you’re adding multiple tags then click on the Add Multiple button), and click OK. The new tag(s) should now be shown in the tags list.

Edit Tags

To edit a tag select it in the tags list and click on the Edit button or double-click on the tag. Editing a tag in the Manage Tags window will mean that all references to that tag in Benubird will also be updated.

Delete Tags

To delete a tag select it in the tags list and click on the Delete button. Deleting a tag in the Manage Tags window removes it from all files in Benubird.

Import and Export Tags

We want to make using Benubird an easy and ‘headache-free’ experience, that’s why we have included a handy feature that allows you to Import and Export a list of tags from and to a CSV file.

Importing tags is just a matter of creating a CSV file, adding each of your tags to a new line, clicking on the Import button, selecting the file and clicking OK.

Exporting tags is even easier, just click on Export, give your CSV file a name and click OK.

That’s it, pretty simple eh? In our next post we’ll show you how to assign the tags you’ve just created to files.

Posted by Rowan Hanna on July 18, 2008 – 4:59 am | Comments (1)
Categories: Benubird, Tutorials | Tags: , , ,

Send and receive faxes via email

I don’t own a fax machine, never have, and never will. But that doesn’t mean I can’t send and receive faxes.

For the past few years we’ve been using a service called jConnect Premier to send and receive faxes via email. It’s pretty simple – you just have to type in a From and To address (provided to you by J2) and attach the PDF or Tiff document that you want to fax, then click send. Within 15 minutes you’ll receive an email message confirming if your fax has been successfully sent or not.

Sending and receiving faxes doesn’t get any easier than this.

Posted by Rowan Hanna on July 16, 2008 – 3:18 am | Comments (0)
Categories: Document Management | Tags: , ,

Receive bank statements via email

For the past few years I have been asking my bank why I couldn’t receive bank statements electronically via email, instead of receiving paper statements through the post. The advantage of doing things the electronic way, were obvious to me, but apparently not to my bank.

Then today, to my great surprise, I logged into my online bank account, and discovered that I was able to register to receive all of my bank statements via email. But there’s more, I could also download statements – from as far back as 7 years ago – as PDFs to my Desktop.

This is hugely helpful to me as I am a frequent traveler, and have been, up to this point, scanning all of my paper bank statements to PDF, so that I could take them with me on my laptop. As you can imagine, it’s a time consuming process.

The good news doesn’t stop there though:

  • The bank statements that I receive through the mail are classified as legal documents as they are exact replicas of paper statements.
  • It costs me nothing – I can access my current and historical statements 24 hours a day 7 days a week, for free.
  • It takes under 2 minutes to register.

If your bank doesn’t already let you to receive bank statements via email, you should be asking them why not, because it’ll make your life a whole lot easier.

Posted by Rowan Hanna on July 10, 2008 – 4:59 pm | Comments (0)
Categories: Document Management | Tags: , , , ,

How to keep documents digital from day one…

Keeping on the “less-paper” theme — we’re constantly on the lookout for ways to keep paper as trees, and not churning out of printers.

Which is why we were pleased to see that long-time PDF expert, Shlomo Perets of MicroType, has just posted a “How-To” article showing how to allow comments to be posted in PDFs, electronically. Using Adobe Acrobat 7 or later — he covers, comment-enabling PDFs, using the Typewriter Tool, Page Marks, and Page Notes.

Keeping documents digital from day one offers many a benefit — including highly accurate full-content searching and the ability to provide a full comment and review cycle. As well as security focused features such as document encryption and/or digital signatures for authentication purposes. And of course, many more…

Posted by Karl De Abrew on July 9, 2008 – 7:08 am | Comments (0)
Categories: Acrobat, Document Management, PDF, Tutorials | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

“Paperless offices” an elusive dream?

A recent report by market intelligence company IDC revealed that 60% of responding Australian businesses produced more paper print-outs today than they had five years ago. This figure makes the eager projections of the early noughties look rather optimistic. The problem? According to the report, poor planning and implementation of electronic document management systems underpin this eco-unfriendly trend.

At a basic level, the report notes that the majority of end-users aren’t particularly confident with using document management, and tend to become frustrated when there are no clear short-term improvements.

Of course, document management systems are still sought after to provide systematic document archival and retrieval, simplify the management of high paperwork volumes and to increase efficiency.

And this is the “news’” that underpins our design goals in building Benubird. We’ve aimed to create a system that is simple to use, but can handle the complex task of managing lots of documents - organize, track and, perhaps most importantly, find documents.

So whilst it still may be a few years, if not decades before the literal “paperless office” is with us, in the meantime, with a little effort, and careful planning, and a copy of Benubird, you can — at least — create a “less-paper” office.

Posted by Karl De Abrew on July 8, 2008 – 6:37 am | Comments (0)
Categories: Document Archiving, Document Management | Tags: , , , , ,

PDF format becomes ISO standard

The Portable Document Format (PDF), created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange, officially become an ISO standard last Wednesday morning.

The ISO standard (now known as ISO 32000-1:2008) is version 1.7 of the PDF specification and is available for download from ISO.ORG, for a small fee.

In our opinion, this is great news — we have a strong background in PDF — and the standardizing of the PDF format is a good thing for everyone.

Posted by Rowan Hanna on July 3, 2008 – 3:30 pm | Comments (0)
Categories: PDF | Tags: , ,

Introducing Benubird

We’re happy to announce that we now have a Technical Preview of Benubird available for download.

Our goal is for Benubird to redefine a way of storing, managing and retrieving documents (and other types of files too) — regardless of wherever they’re stored within your system or network. Well, that’s our goal anyway.

Give Benubird a try:

We hope you like it and please don’t hesitate to provide us with any feedback on how the product can be improved (after all this is a Technical Preview and we’re open to adding new features and improving current ones!). We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,
The Debenu Team

Posted by Karl De Abrew on June 23, 2008 – 3:14 am | Comments (0)
Categories: Benubird, Benubird Releases, Document Management, Metadata | Tags: , , , ,

What is PDF/A?

PDF/A is a subset of PDF designed for long-term archiving. In order to make it suitable for long-term archiving certain PDF features, such as JavaScript support, embedding of audio/video content and encryption, were removed. In addition, use of standards-based metadata is mandated and all fonts must be embedded in the document.

The goal behind PDF/A is simple: to help you create a document that will not only be viewable 50 years from now, but also look the same as it does today. With this goal in mind it’s easy to understand why certain elements, that rely on third party technologies, such as video content have been removed.

PDF/A is still in its early days, but with no real alternative on the horizon, it is gaining attention, and adoption, in the right places.

Getting Started with PDF/A

If you’d like to investigate PDF/A further, I recommend reading through these pages: