Tag!t

Seriously crafted for productivity. A private catalog of files you care about, found by tags, ratings, and saved searches.

Features

Multiple databases

Each database is its own catalog: its own tags, files, sections, and bookmarks. Work and home do not have to share one tag list. Eject removes a database from the app and leaves the file on disk. The last remaining database stays registered.

  1. Open the database menu in the toolbar, the cylinder to the left of the gear.
  2. Choose Create new database or Import database.
  3. When more than one database is registered, the names appear at the top of the sidebar. Click a name to make it active.
  4. Use Eject on a row to unregister that database.

Filter files out by tag

Click a tag to require it. Click it again, or hold Command, to exclude it. A file must have every included tag and lack every excluded one.

  1. Click Animals and Dogs. The list requires these tags.
  2. Click Dogs again, or hold Command and click Dogs. The list excludes that tag.
  3. The list shows files tagged Animals that are not tagged Dogs.

Composite tags

A composite tag is a saved combination, not a sticker on the file. OR keeps files that have any chosen tag, as in Dogs or Cats. AND keeps files that have every chosen tag. Tagging a file never attaches the combination itself.

  1. Click Composite Tag, to the left of Group by Section.
  2. Click two or more tags, such as Dogs and Cats. That selection does not change the file list.
  3. Click OR. The new label appears with the members’ names.
  4. Leave composite mode with Cancel.
  5. Click the new tag to require it, or click it again to exclude it.

Nested composite tags

A combination can contain other combinations, and two combinations can be used together: one required, one excluded. Include Asia or Europe, then exclude Dogs or Cats.

  1. Create the combinations Asia or Europe and Dogs or Cats.
  2. Click Asia or Europe so the list requires it.
  3. Click Dogs or Cats again, or hold Command and click it, so the list excludes it.
  4. To store one combination inside another, click Composite Tag, turn on Allow Mixing of Composite Tags next to Cancel, click the combinations, then click AND or OR.

Tag sections

Sections are an optional way to scan a long tag list, such as Places or Status. They do not change what a file is tagged with. Group by Section stays off until you turn it on. Empty sections stay hidden. Tags without a section appear under Others.

  1. Right-click a tag and choose New section, Assign to section, or Unassign section.
  2. Turn on Group by Section, under the tag panel, to draw the groups.

File rating

Each file can carry one to five stars, or none. Stars stay separate from tags, so a favorite does not have to be a tag. Min. rating works on top of the tags you have included and excluded.

  1. Right-click a file, or several files, and choose the stars. Clear Rating sets them back to none.
  2. Use Min. rating in the file list bar to keep only files at or above that mark.

Renamed and moved files

On an APFS disk, a file keeps an identity when you rename it or move it on the same partition. Scan Missing Files uses that identity and updates the stored path. You do not tag the file again. If the file moved to another drive, the scan looks for the same name and the same content fingerprint. Empty files are never matched this way. Folders you add are used for that scan only.

Scan Missing Files

  1. Click the gear in the toolbar to open Settings.
  2. Choose Relink Files.
  3. If the files moved to another drive, add the folder that now contains them.
  4. Under Scan Missing Files, click Scan Now.

Manual Path Update

Use this when you already know the old folder and the folder that replaced it. Only missing entries are rewritten, and only when their path starts with an old folder you listed.

  1. Open Settings from the gear in the toolbar.
  2. Choose Relink Files, then Manual Path Update.
  3. Enter the old folder and the new folder. Remove a row you do not want.
  4. Apply. Empty or invalid rows are dropped.

Zip export

The files in the list may live in many folders. A zip packs the ones you select and leaves the originals where they are. A folder you select is stored under its own name.

  1. Filter the list until it shows the files you want.
  2. Select two or more rows.
  3. Right-click and choose Compress as….
  4. Save the archive. It starts in Documents as Archive.zip.

Automatic tags from the path

When you add files, Tag!t looks at the folders in each path. The file’s own name is not used. A folder is offered only when you already have a tag with that name. With several files, only folders shared by all of them are offered. A colored label will be applied. A grey label will not. If nothing matches, that row is hidden.

  1. Drag files onto the window.
  2. Under the tag field, click a suggested label to turn it on or off. A check means it will be applied. A cross means it will not.
  3. Click Apply. The choice is saved for the next file that passes through the same folder.

Inherit tags from the OS

The tag dialog can copy Finder tags the file already has. The checkbox is off until you turn it on, and then it stays on. Names that do not fit this app, such as a name with a comma, are skipped.

  1. Drag files onto the window.
  2. Turn on Inherit tags from macOS, above Apply.
  3. Click Apply. Those tags are added to the catalog, and a missing tag is created.

Languages

The interface language is a setting, so the same catalog can be used in another language. Switching language does not change your tags or files.

  1. Click the gear in the toolbar to open Settings.
  2. Choose General.
  3. Open the Language menu and choose a language.

Privacy policy

15 October 2026

Gen Ma makes Tag!t. This policy describes the Mac app sold as Tag!t. The catalog is yours. It is not an account, and it is not sent to the developer.

What stays on your Mac

Tag!t stores a catalog on the Mac: file paths, tags, ratings, sections, bookmarks, dates, and a sparse fingerprint used to recognize a moved file. The fingerprint is the file size plus a sample of the beginning and end of the file. The catalog does not keep a copy of the file.

Thumbnails are image files in a folder you choose, or in the default folder. Security-scoped bookmarks let the app open files you dropped or picked again after you quit. Settings such as window size, language, and the count of launches used for the rating prompt stay in the app’s preferences.

A sandboxed copy keeps that data in its private container. Removing Tag!t does not always remove the container. To delete the catalog, delete the app and then remove ~/Library/Containers/com.howang.tagit. If you chose a thumbnail folder in Settings, delete that folder yourself. Those pictures are ordinary files and are not removed with the app.

What leaves your Mac

Tag!t does not collect, sell, or share your files, paths, tags, ratings, or thumbnails. There is no account, no analytics, and no advertising.

After the app has been installed from the Mac App Store for a week, and opened enough times, it may ask you to rate it. To decide when that sheet is due, it reads the App Store purchase date through Apple’s StoreKit on the device. That check is between your Mac and Apple. The developer does not receive the date, the rating, or a copy of the request. If the purchase date is unavailable, the app uses the date of the first launch, stored only in preferences on the Mac.

Get Info sends an Apple Event to Finder on the same Mac, asking it to open an information window. Nothing about that request is transmitted to the developer.

Children

Tag!t is not directed at children under 13, and it does not knowingly collect personal information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top of this section will change with it. The current version is the one published at this address.