Update: Earlier in this thread I mentioned that I was using HoudahSpot’s ability to save a search as a separate file and that this can be embedded as a link in a TaskPaper document. I said that there was a slight problem in that HoudahSpot was not taking front window focus when launched this way if it was already open and on a hidden desktop. I wrote the HoudahSpot developer, he reviewed the problem and is going to fix it in a future release.
I am using HoudahSpot more and more for organizing files in my workflows in that I have been setting up saved searches for the different projects I am working on, each with a tag related to an item of that project. The default search also opens with a cheat sheet of sorts, a file in Pages that keeps a list of all my tags and what they stand for lest I forget.
I have also discovered that using my ScanSnap scanner I have been able to take my standard 8.5 x 11 yellow tablet notes and scan them in, give them a tag, and with the preview and quicklook in HoudahSpot I can now find and read my notes very easily.
I love writing notes long hand and I love organizing using my mac as my prosthetic brain so this is the best of both worlds.
As far as TaskPaper goes, it is a text based program and therefore it’s previews (in HoudahSpot) are most unattractive. Indenting that makes sense in a TaskPaper document now looks so large that the preview seems completely jumbled together with text lines.
Why this matters is because I have challenges when organization is not visual. My brain just works that way. It is too bad that there isn’t a way to keep my stylesheet setting for the taskpaper preview. Because of this I am using Pages to track my progress in the aforementioned HoudahSpot organizing scheme.
The Keyboard Maestro script I have will do a great job of taking all the tags that end in @focus, make a new list with just those lines and cut off the tags. I have already tried this using TaskPaper and pasting results of the script to my Notes app which then allows me to access it on my iPhone.
I appreciate all the code tips mentioned in this thread, but the idea of solving the problem by creating yet another TaskPaper file just to understand my focus items is not a good direction for me. I am looking for simple, reliable (sustainable) organization. In TaskPaper the idea of clicking on a tag and seeing a search result of just that tag and all other tags is brilliant. It is simple yet powerful. It is sustainable over time with any number of saved searches.
Unfortunately, until Jessie rethinks how he wants the results to show, a list of tagged items found without their parent hierarchy also showing, this really does throw a wrench into the machinery of an otherwise great idea.
I think this clutter focus approach will continue to keep me away from a deeper embracing of TaskPaper in the short term. My brain will not tolerate visual disruption like that. Wish it were not so, but, there we are.