How do you use UR?

[lena]

I am interested to learn how you use UR. Do you make a new database for everything, or do you have one big file with everything in it? How do you decide to where to put stuff?

I am used to use one big file for this kind of program, but I notice that I put so much in UR, that that becomes huge very quickly. But if I make a new file for everything, I cannot interlink everything as nicely, and there would be a possibility that I wonder where I stored something, if I have lots of UR files around.

And of course, if you do any neat things with UR, could you post it to the User Tricks, Tips and Samples forum? I think that is very useful for the less creative users of the software, like myself :)

[ExtraLean]

Originally posted by lena
I am used to use one big file for this kind of program, but I notice that I put so much in UR, that that becomes huge very quickly. But if I make a new file for everything, I cannot interlink everything as nicely, and there would be a possibility that I wonder where I stored something, if I have lots of UR files around. Still new to the whole KB scene myself, so I don't have a direct answer to your question. However, I noticed that my database grew to be quite large too, and only after some time did I notice the "Compact and Repair" option on the Tools menu. This made a considerable difference in the file size. Perhaps you've already used this but thought I'd mention it just in case you hadn't run into it yet...

Regarding the Compact and Repair feature, are there any plans to offer the ability to automatically compact? Perhaps on exit, or scheduled, or...

[SteveZ]

Lena,

This is my question, as well. The challenge, in my opinion, with any info manager that uses a tree hierarchy is that the tree grows quickly, and is soon rather overwhelming to scan. My plan is to use separate Files for some broad categories of information--for instance, one for my work, one for an organization I do volunteer work for, one for my personal life, one for a book I am working on, and perhaps one or two others.

Also, because of the quick keyword indexed searches, I think some information in these databases can be "dumped" into one folder without the need to link it to other Info Items, so that can save "tree space." I'll only use multiple parents when it makes absolute sense to do so... for instance, I'm Red Flagging important items and linking them to a special "Red Flag" folder for quick scanning.

But I would love to hear how others approach this. Thanks for asking the question.

[PureMoxie]

I always put everything into one file. I just like the integration, and I tend to think of my life as one big thing without too much distinction between work and home, etc.

The tree can grow very quickly, but I think the beauty of the logical links is that you can have alternate pathways into your data constructed in the most accessible places. I tend to put action-oriented material at the top of the tree, and reference material at the bottom. That way I can always jump to the top of the tree and be near things that require work.

I also use a combination of tree hierarchy for organization and saved searches for quick access. For example, I have an "All Projects" search that will list all project items. I can then quickly jump to these projects no matter where they are nested in the tree and I add task items below the project item. I use several saved searches to pull together task lists based on different criteria (Overdue, Due Today, Due Within 1 Week, Calls, Off-hours, Errands, Waiting, All Open Tasks, etc.).

To me, the combination of searches and linking makes me not worry about the overall size of the tree too much. I do find that I need to conduct more specific searches as my database grows larger in order to get a workable set of results to deal with.

It may be obvious, but I find that learning all the keyboard shortcuts really helps with this kind of software, especially when you need to jump around among the various panes.

It's always fascinating to me to learn how others organize, so I hope we'll get some more input.

[xja]

Originally posted by SteveZ
The challenge, in my opinion, with any info manager that uses a tree hierarchy is that the tree grows quickly, and is soon rather overwhelming to scan.

In another thread, we were discussing/suggesting the ability to filter the Data Explorer tree... ie, for all items that meet the search criteria, show the item and all of its "ancestors"... parent, grandparent, all the way up. The Search item definition could have an option to show results in Data Explorer instead of the Search Results pane.

This would also allow you to view the Child Items pane for any of the found items while maintaining a view of the search results in Data Explorer (so no need to have to click "Back" to get back to the results)... that issue was discussed on another thread.

[kristie]

I am a busy stay at home mom and housewife and I use UR to keep a data base of my recipes. When I find a recipe on the web, I just bring it into UR and this makes it easy to search any ingredient and find a meal idea quickly. I also enter in my favorite recipes from cookbooks.

I also homeschool my three kids and I am able to organize my teaching plans and each childs progress in here. I recently entered all our books in UR to establish a home library and I can keep track of what books the kids are reading. Books I want to purchase I highlight to indicate that they are books I need to find.

These are very simple ideas for using UR and I just love it. I love having all my information in one place and with my notebook computer, I can go all around my house and keep organized. I know there is so much more UR can do to help me and I am always trying to think of new ways to use it.