"Unfiled" category in 4.05 beta1?

[nelsonpj]

Is there a way to list all the 'unfiled' files in the new 4.05 beta? (i.e. those files with no categories assigned).

I'm running a Clie N760C with my eBooks stored on a memory stick. I lost most of my categories when moving from iSilo 4.01 to 4.05 beta1. The files still exist on my Memory Stick, and I can find them easily using the 'favorites' view (since they're all stored in the recommended /Palm/Programs/iSilo' folder, which is set up by default as a favorites folder)

However, it seems that I have to categorize each file one at a time. This is a tedious process, requiring me to tap on the file icon, select category, then select the proper checkbox, then click OK. I've got over 100 eBooks that I want to categorize into a few categories (i.e. SciFi, Classics, Business, etc). Because this process is tedious, I'm liable to skip files. I can't find a way to see files that I've accidentally skipped assigning a category to. Shouldn't there be an 'unfiled' view in the category list?

[iSilo]

There is currently no longer the notion of unfiled, since every file everywhere and anywhere that is not categorized is unfiled.

The latest update interim update to the beta (4.05b1b) should have addressed the issue of categories not completely carrying over. Assuming you did not delete your old settings database "_iSiloSettingsDB_", you can restart with the updated beta. Before starting the updated beta, use a file manager to delete the new settings database "_iSiloDocSettingsDB_". Note that the old and new settings databases have similar names, so be sure you only delete the one that has 'Doc' in it (e.g., "_iSiloDocSettingsDB_").

Perhaps in a future update, a filter feature could be added for files not yet categorized.

[nelsonpj]

I'm sorry, but this new method of categorizing documents seems like a large step backwards. In every other Palm application I've used, there's always an 'unfiled' category (i.e. Application launcher, Memo Pad, etc). How else are you supposed to find new files that you just added to your system, and haven't yet organized?

I have a lot of eBooks (mostly bought from Fictionwise.com). What I liked about iSilo v4.01 (and convinced me to buy it) was being able to go through all my eBooks and quickly categorize them (i.e. SciFi, Magazines, Classics, etc). Then after I'd read an eBook, I could change it's category to 'read', so that I'd know I'd already read it. Any new books that I bought and transferred to Memory Stick would automatically show up as 'unfiled'. Categorizing files was quick and painless.

Now, every time I click on the 'categories' tab in iSilo 4.05 beta1b (the latest beta at the time of my posting), it appears to constantly 'refresh' the view for 10-15 seconds, apparently trying to find all the files that are tagged with the particular category I've asked for. iSilo doesn't appear to 'save' or 'cache' the list of files assigned to that category, because if I switch from category "A" to category "B", and then back to category "A", it takes the same 10-15 seconds to find all the files again (?) If iSilo isn't caching a list of files assigned to each category, why can't it do a similar search for files with no categories assigned?

[sfringer]

I have to concur here - I'm not finding the new filing feature as easy to use/intuitive.

I notice the same refresh delay/flicker on my NX73V.

I'm also seeing that the list view very frequently forgets which file I had previously selected. This leaves me needing to scroll through some long lists to get to the file I am wanting to open. (I prefer to use iSilo without needing to tap on the screen - I had one-hand use down to second-nature with 4.01).

I'm also finding it a hassle when deleting multiple files from within iSilo. Before I selected the action of Delete, and then just scrolled through my list of files depressing the scroll wheel on those I wanted to delete (and tapping the Yes button). Now I need to try and tap that little icon next to the filename - not very convenient for one-handed operation.

Could there be an option to switch between filing styles?

Scott

[melvynadam]

I love the new filing system and wouldn't want to switch back to the old one but there is a definite need for an 'unfiled' view.
The five view icons (Recent, Updated, Categorised, Favorites, & Device/Storage Card) have a lot of space next to them. Surely there's room to add one more icon for "Unfiled"? If not, then an unfiled 'category' within categorised is a must for me.

[Eurastus]

I also feel we need an unfiled, or new, category. I have many documents on my 256MB card (150+) and regularly add 10-15 per sync session. I had no problem keeping them organized with the old "unfiled" paradigm. Now, I find myself opening file after file only to find that it's not new and already has a category.

Most frustrating.

There's plenty of space, at least on my T3, to add another tab across the bottom of the file manager.

[iSilo]

There were many complaints about the limitations about the previous way things were done and undoubtedly there will be many complaints regardless of the way things are done, but the previous document list is not coming back. In all likelihood, as you use it more, you will get used to the way it works. This is the first public revision of the new document list and there are definitely quirks, bugs, and usability issues. You can surely expect that as we move forward, the new document list will see improvements that will make it easier to use and more powerful. Your feedback is of course very important in that improvement process.

Now back to a possible idea about uncategorized files. Currently, in the lower right of the icon for a file, a small card icon is present if the file is on a memory card. What are your (everybody's) thoughts about having a small icon, say in the lower left of the file icon, that indicates whether a file belongs to any categories or not? And how about another small icon in the upper right of the file icon that indicates whether or not a document is new (e.g., both never opened and never categorized)?

[iSilo]

Now, every time I click on the 'categories' tab in iSilo 4.05 beta1b (the latest beta at the time of my posting), it appears to constantly 'refresh' the view for 10-15 seconds, apparently trying to find all the files that are tagged with the particular category I've asked for. iSilo doesn't appear to 'save' or 'cache' the list of files assigned to that category, because if I switch from category "A" to category "B", and then back to category "A", it takes the same 10-15 seconds to find all the files again (?) If iSilo isn't caching a list of files assigned to each category, why can't it do a similar search for files with no categories assigned?
iSilo keeps a list of all the files that have been read or categorized. When you switch to a given category, iSilo goes through that list looking for any files in the given category.

As iSilo goes through its list, it adds each file that belongs to the category to the displayed list. The list is sorted according to whatever the current sort order is, so each file added is inserted in the correct order in the displayed list, which results in the list being redrawn to reflect the new entries.

If iSilo were to go through all files in all directories everywhere and check each file against it's list, you can imagine how much longer it would take.

[iSilo]

I also feel we need an unfiled, or new, category. I have many documents on my 256MB card (150+) and regularly add 10-15 per sync session. I had no problem keeping them organized with the old "unfiled" paradigm. Now, I find myself opening file after file only to find that it's not new and already has a category.
One possible alternative way of accomplishing the same thing more or less is to copy the new documents to a specific folder you create on the card for new documents. You could then add a favorite folder alias for that folder and always goes there when you wanted to see the new documents you added.

[olop]

I completely agree with the folks requesting an Unfiled category.

I think I will grow to like the new category system, esp. the fact that they're hierarchical. However, having just spent the time to set up new categories, I now have hundreds of files to sort through and re-categorize.

Unfortunately, these files (which would have shown up in Unfiled previously) aren't currently in any category. This means that I'll have a very tedious process of selecting each one individually, categorizing it, and making sure I don't miss any.

It would be awesome to have the Unfiled category back.

[nelsonpj]

iSilo keeps a list of all the files that have been read or categorized. When you switch to a given category, iSilo goes through that list looking for any files in the given category.

As iSilo goes through its list, it adds each file that belongs to the category to the displayed list. The list is sorted according to whatever the current sort order is, so each file added is inserted in the correct order in the displayed list, which results in the list being redrawn to reflect the new entries.

If iSilo were to go through all files in all directories everywhere and check each file against it's list, you can imagine how much longer it would take.

Ahhh.... thanks for the explanation. So the 'master' list of iSilo files is cached - but not lists of individual categories. Now I understand the mess in implementing an 'unfiled' category. I assume the slow redraws of displaying category lists will improve as the program is developed/optimized.

Maybe you could make a menu action to search through the default 'iSilo' directory (or any directory), look for documents that iSilo hasn't categorized or read yet, and then assign a user-specified category (i.e. a category named 'unfiled' or 'new' or whatever). I understand this might take some time to process - but it wouldn't be something that would run everytime you went to the category list. And if you could limit it to a specific directory (and not the entire memory stick) it would be a lot quicker.

[nelsonpj]

Now back to a possible idea about uncategorized files. Currently, in the lower right of the icon for a file, a small card icon is present if the file is on a memory card. What are your (everybody's) thoughts about having a small icon, say in the lower left of the file icon, that indicates whether a file belongs to any categories or not? And how about another small icon in the upper right of the file icon that indicates whether or not a document is new (e.g., both never opened and never categorized)?

I think the idea of icons indicating whether the file has a category and/or is a new file could work. It might not be too cumbersome to scroll through a directory's file list, looking for 'unfiled' icons, and then categorizing the files. Of course, it would be even nicer if you could sort the file list by icons.

[oforie]

First off, I would like to chime in and agree that not having a way of seeing what’s new is tough. Very tough. I have over a 100 files, about 5 or six new files a day, and synch about 10 daily periodicals, blogs, and e-zines a day. Until they come up with a way of showing what you have not categorized yet, I have come up with a simple work-around that works for me. It may also work for you if you are not strapped for internal memory.

I first send everything to my internal memory. I then look in the tab with the picture of the handheld and choose “Internal memory”. I either read and delete or categorize (now I can finally use the “Unfiled” category!) the stuff I want to save, and copy to my card.


Oforie

[dsunde]

There were many complaints about the limitations about the previous way things were done and undoubtedly there will be many complaints regardless of the way things are done, but the previous document list is not coming back.
Well, then I am definitely not going to upgrade. It sounds like it would be a major pain! I don't want to totally change the way I use iSilo, especially if there is no real benefit to me with the new method.

[macumazahn]

:eek:
I love the new category setup, I have probably 300 books on my Palm Tungsten E, I seup categories on half and hot synched, all the work was gone, I have tried various tests and the settings aren't holding, right now the last 3 books I categorized held, all previous 25 are gone?????
Any ideas?
THANKS

[macumazahn]

I agree with the previous comments, is there anyway to set a category for all the books at one time such as unfiled and then go to that category and start categorizing them, it would be very hard to figure out what is categorized and what is not or possibly add a little symbol to the icon to indicate that the book is categorized this would be infinitely helpful as I want to add 1000 plus books and don't want to search thru them all to check categorizationas I add them.
THANKS in Advance

[macumazahn]

It looks like it is only saving the last 5 books I categorized, is this a limit of the beta issue, I am using the latest Beta version downloaded yesterday.

[iSilo]

The limit you are seeing may be related to the configurable limit on the size of the document settings database. By default, the limit is 100K, but you can change the limit. In the document list view, go to the Options menu and tap "Document List". In the "Document List Options" form, change the Settings field. You can set the limit up to a maximum of 1M. Try that and let us know whether it helps.

[macumazahn]

I changed the settings but may have already fixed it, I deleted everything and started from scratch, I've entered 20 books so far with no problems, When I had the original problem I suspected a corrupt database and deleted it with Delete Special, evidently that didn't get it, but after deleting everything and reinstalling everything is working again.
THANKS

[macumazahn]

I love the new categories, I am having a problem, I synch a few books to memory, then set categories and copy to card, with copy categories checked and delete from memory checked, when I go the card the books I copied keep using the same settings over and over again, not the ones I set?
THANKS
Keep up the good work!

[critteranne]

There is currently no longer the notion of unfiled, since every file everywhere and anywhere that is not categorized is unfiled..

Aaaaargh!

The easy method of categorizing files was one of the reasons I bought iSilo to begin with. I buy/download a lot of e-books from sites where the only choices I can use are iSilo or MobiPocket. I got very annoyed with MobiPocket because of speed (or lack of it) and problems with categories. I downloaded the trial version of iSilo 4.01 one day and paid for it the same day because I liked it so much better than Mobi.

One of the reasons I started to avoid using MobiPocket unless I had no other choice to use it was because they stopped having the option of an "unfiled" category. I e-mailed them about this and complained but all I got was a runaround by tech support. I haven't bought a single of their secure titles since then, and I certainly won't buy their Pro verison.

I hope I can avoid that runaround with iSilo. You had the best and fastest way of changing categories of any of the e-book readers I have tried so far. I have even posted about how much I liked the reader on various lists and boards.

Perhaps in a future update, a filter feature could be added for files not yet categorized.

I hope so.

I just "upgraded" to verison 4.05 while I was visiting my parents' house because I thought it would be an improvement. Argh! Big mistake. I should have read the forum first. I can't even find the document I was reading five minutes before I made the mistake of upgrading. Not only that, but secure PalmReader files are showing up when I try to find the files I have. I know that if I try to open one of those with iSilo, I'll probably end up with a corrupt file or fatal error or something.

Is there a way to go back to version 4.01? I hope so. Because if not, I'll have to find yet another bloody reader.

[Voltage Spike]

Is there a way to go back to version 4.01?

You should be able to install the old version over the new version without a problem.

The old version (4.01) is available here (http://www.isilo.com/download/dl/iSilo401PalmOSSetup.exe) (Windows setup file) and here (http://www.isilo.com/download/dl/iSilo401.zip) (zip file).

[critteranne]

You should be able to install the old version over the new version without a problem.

The old version (4.01) is available here (http://www.isilo.com/download/dl/iSilo401PalmOSSetup.exe) (Windows setup file) and here (http://www.isilo.com/download/dl/iSilo401.zip) (zip file).

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you (As you can tell, it worked! :) )

Let that be a lesson to me. I should never upgrade before reading the posts in the forum and making sure the upgrade does what I want. :D

[me_brown]

In general, I like the idea of being able to place documents in more than 1 category. (My favorite browser tool, Powermarks, eschews the idea of hierarchy for keywords, which I find much more flexible.) However, I wish the upgrade had preserved the categories I already had; I spent a tedious evening tapping my screen eleventy-million times to categorize my files. Definitely not an easy upgrade.

What annoys me about this change in behavior is that if I specify the Unfiled category in iSilox, the document does not go into the Unfiled category on my Palm; instead, it has no category ticks whatever, and I have to rummage in the master list to find it and categorize it.

My expectation is that "Unfiled" as a category selection in iSilox is equal to the Unfiled category on my Palm; evidently, that is not true. (To be specific, I see this problem when I select IE's Tools>Isilox Clipper command.)

I wound up creating a special category called "1Read" which serves the purpose of Unfiled as I used it pre-upgrade. So I *try* to remember to specify all scheduled and new items to go there, and then I can read/delete/file all new files from that inbox.

I also hate that everytime I return to my 1Read category view after deleting a document I have to wait 20 seconds or so for the list to redraw. Most tedious, compared to the pre-upgrade iSilo. (I typically delete a document with the document open.)

mike