Why Elyse?

Elyse is a file management system which solves the major problem with traditional methods of managing large numbers files on computers: paths and folders. Storing files in Elyse eliminates the need to decide precisely where to store a file, or to subsequently find where it was stored. Any logical method of grouping and arranging files can be used. In short, you the user are given the power to impose your own logic, and change your mind as often you like with just a few clicks.

Files are stored within an Elyse database, which itself is a single file. Files can be added, extracted, deleted and arranged within the database. However, in a similar fashion to accessing files on the internet, they cannot be directly modified within the database.

The concept of folders and directories is replaced in Elyse by tag nodes. Each node is somewhat like a saved search only much faster. Nodes are arranged in trees and give a similar effect to that of folders and directories. The difference is that the trees can be rearranged without any impact on how the files are stored or what tags are associated with each file. The same copy of one file can simultaneously appear in multiple overlapping groups of files, each group represented by a node. For example, you might have a photo of the family at the beach while on holidays. The same one file in Elyse can appear in a list of last summer's holiday photos and also in a list of photos of family members.

Elyse also recognises that relationships exist between tags. For example: lions, ostriches and elephants are all animals. By creating a tag relationship structure to define these relationships it becomes possible to instantly create a list of all files that have an animal type tag associated with them. There is no need to attach the tag animal to every file about an animal.

Assigning tags to files in Elyse is easy and very powerful. Many files can be individually linked with multiple tags in a single drag and drop action. Similarly, multiple tag-file associations can be removed via a single dialog box.

Just as importantly, though, the tagging process can be automated by migrating whole folder structures into a database. Databases can then be populated with hundreds of thousands of files, and duplicate management is automatic.