Created attachment 157199 [details] Nemo folder color switcher menu Just like the image and the Nemo file manager (https://github.com/linuxmint/folder-color-switcher/blob/master/usr/share/nemo-python/extensions/nemo-folder-color-switcher.py)
One can already change the folder icon in the properties window. Folders with various colours are available as icons there. A more direct way to switch the folder colour doesn't really seem necessary to me, but maybe there is a workflow I am missing.
It is absolutely necessary when you need to organize a very high volume of files or collections of data, in fact i can't even work anymore without some king of color folder switcher plugin on the file manager, which is by far the fastest way to make a visual clue and to follow a visual clue. Tags are fine but they aren't even close to just right click and change it to "blue", get the "blue" folders and them put them in the right place (that's my workflow with this). As a personal note, what makes this extremely frustrating for me is that Dolphin already supports this type of icon change (as you pointed out), Plasma default icon theme already supports color variation but there is no menu to change it immediately (as is the case with the plugin).
You are probably talking about this "Color Folder" Dolphin service menu: https://store.kde.org/p/998450 >Tags are fine but they aren't even close to just right click and change it to "blue", >get the "blue" folders and them put them in the right place (that's my workflow with this). That might be the ideal workflow though if this was to be implemented. The "Create New Tag" dialog could have colour tags as one way to create a new tag. Folders who get this tag could be switched to the fitting coloured folder icon. Might be really neat! Another way would be to have this as a standalone "official" service menu entry that could be dis/enabled in Dolphin's settings, but then we wouldn't get the advantage of tags, which is being usable from other applications.
I have tried to use this one but it just doesn't work, my problem with this design is that it gets too much screen space, the Nemo horizontal solution ideal, less menus and screen space means more effective work. I think tags may even have advantage with this ( X tag means X color), but tags as it is today are too slow and too much work for the kind of workflow i am talking about. Tags are very useful when things are already organized, not when you have to manually check 30.000 files. So: 1 - Nemo color switcher menu is a MUST, horizontal bar inside the context menu with nothing else, just "blue this" and "red that" is by far the best option. 2 - When it comes to tags to organize files, the MacOS tag manager is by far the best option (create a tag, associate a color to the tag, associate the file to the tag and the file gets the color accent), working organizing files for a long time i insist that tags are most useful when you have all files organized in the same folder ALREADY and basically useless when having different folders (and that's when color folder switcher shines). They are close, but not the same, let me give you a very simple example: I want to organize my files in folders like this: Audio, Video, Images. And i have folder inside folder inside folder... So i just go to a folder, switch to a color, move everything to that, then i just get every "blue" and move it to Audio, every "green" and move it to "Video" and every "red" and move it to "Images". Fast and simple. Now let's suppose i have a very specific tag called "fun/comedy", i can find content with this tag in all kinds of folders BUT it is faster when i am accessing the /Videos/Movies/ and i can see the tag for "fun/comedy" in a file and i can immediately find the "Adam Sandler" movie i was searching for. Get it? So tags are useful for specific files in the folder you are seeing and folder color switches are useful for large groups of files inside folders outside the folder you see atm. IF you want ME to make a case for the situation WITH TAGS, i can see a better solution BUT unless you have "color tags" by default (no color / no change, sand, yellow, orange, brown, red, purple, pink, blue, aqua, teal, grey) in a horizontal bar inside the context menu (just like Nemo or MacOS and nothing more, please), that 1 - changes folders colors AND 2 - shows the "🔴" at the start of the name of the files and folders then they can't work together. But i have an idea for this... 1 - Put the "Tag" menu visible on the sidebar by default (or with an option to always turn on just like MacOS), for easy visualization (take a look at screenshot1) with the default colors (no color / no change, sand, yellow, orange, brown, red, purple, pink, blue, aqua, teal, grey) FROM THE START. The tag menu SHOULD have the "only show tag results inside the actual folder" option (so when i click red i don't see anything outside the folder atm). Explanation: If i am inside the /Videos/Movies/ folder and hit "🔴 Red" i can immediately find what i am searching for with 1 click. 2 - Change the "create a tag menu" to a "manage tags menu" that can associate tags with colors (and even no color/no change), rename, add or remove, enable and disable tags (just like MacOS, take a look at screenshot2). Explanation: For this to work the tags MUST be managed on their own and BEFORE attach to a file and not ON THE ACT to attach to a file, so outside the "create tag/attach tag" menu. 3 - Tags change the folder icon to the color associated with the tag which by default is (no color / no change , sand, yellow, orange, brown, red, purple, pink, blue, aqua, teal, grey), and always change the names of the files and folders to include the "🔴" at the start of the name. If the folders have more than 1 tag then they use the default icon and just get the "🔴" at the start of the name just like files. Explanation: This makes the "change folder color" work in the same context of the tags without the need to be a completely different thing and having the exact functionality as Nemo color switcher. Remember: - Files and folders MAY have more than 1 tag; - The tag should ALWAYS be visible at the start of the name of the file/folder (just like MacOS, take a look at screenshot3); - The files/folders should not lose the tag/color association if that tag is changed in any way (unless the tag is deleted of course); This way i can see they working together magically, but please throw away the "Create a tag" menu and let's have a "proper Tag Management Window" with the following functions: Associate tags with colors (and even no color/no change), rename, add or remove, enable and disable tags (cause sometimes you don't want to delete a tag but don't want that enabled either). This way i can just tag a color for something and then manage what the color means, with this workflow actions like "move all reds to green folder" would work amazingly. Imho this would be a killer feature
Created attachment 157217 [details] Tag colors sidebar (screenshot1)
Created attachment 157218 [details] Tag Management Window (screenshot 2)
Created attachment 157219 [details] Tag on the file/folder name (screenshot 3)
>2 - Change the "create a tag menu" to a "manage tags menu" >that can associate tags with colors (and even no color/no change), >rename, add or remove, enable and disable tags >(just like MacOS, take a look at screenshot2). I agree. That would be a lot better. This could be as easy as having a colour symbol like "🔵", "🟡" as the first character of every such tag, and then colour every folder with the corresponding colour if it has any tag associated that contains such a colour symbol. >The tag should ALWAYS be visible at the start of the name of >the file/folder (just like MacOS, take a look at screenshot3); Having it at the beginning of a file makes some sense. What we have right now already is that one can "Show additional information>Tags" and then the tags will be listed right below the file name. This is not as pretty, but it allows hiding the tags information when one doesn't need it, which is a slight upside. If the tag's name is a symbol like "🔴", it somewhat serves the purpose you are describing. >1 - Put the "Tag" menu visible on the sidebar by default Tags already show up in the sidebar by default (after a Dolphin restart) if a tag was created. >Now let's suppose i have a very specific tag called "fun/comedy", >i can find content with this tag in all kinds of folders BUT it >is faster when i am accessing the /Videos/Movies/ and i can see >the tag for "fun/comedy" in a file and i can immediately find the >"Adam Sandler" movie i was searching for. Get it? Right. We don't have an easy way to jump to see the files with a certain tag within a specific folder currently. >Imho this would be a killer feature It does sound useful for a certain type of user. It wouldn't really make a difference for my personal way of organising files, but I bet it would make a big difference for others. >1 - Nemo color switcher menu is a MUST, horizontal bar inside the >context menu with nothing else, just "blue this" and "red that" >is by far the best option. I don't think every user would want this in their context menu, but it could be something that is enabled by default but could be disabled.
>Tags already show up in the sidebar by default (after a Dolphin restart) if a tag was created. So Dolphin should have the color tags by default that matches the available folder colors for this to work 100%. They don't need to be enabled, if the tags already exist matching the folder colors but they aren't enabled by default this won't hurt the person who don't want to use that. >It does sound useful for a certain type of user. It wouldn't really make a difference for my personal way of organizing files, but I bet it would make a big difference for others. For users who don't constantly search and tag files it's not interesting, but for those who need to do it quickly, this kind of thing is essential. >I don't think every user would want this in their context menu, but it could be something that is enabled by default but could be disabled. I don't think it will hurt, the implementation just like Nemo is minimal and you could totally ignore. But i will agree that something like that must have the option to be disabled. My solution is the same as the beginning of this: Having ALL the possible color tags but disabled, no enabled color tags = no color context menu. It's a win in every case :)