Apple Briefs

I’ll admit it – I am a sucker for Finder replacements. I have Pathfinder, which I mostly use, and Forklift. Forklift is also an FTP program, but I primarily use it as a file manager (albeit occasionally) because I have Transmit for FTP. Yep Software (makers of Yep, which I have discussed before) are coming out with a new program called Leap (it is currently in a public beta release). Yep Software is billing Leap as a Finder replacement. For that to happen, though, you will have to totally rethink the way you use and look for files.

The main window of Leap has three parts: a sidebar, a filter panel, and a file list. Leap shares many similarities with the Leopard Finder. Finding a file starts by choosing a source from the sidebar. The sources are grouped into categories (Library, File Types, Places, and Search). Once a source is chosen, the file list will display all of the files that match the criteria for that source. If there are too many results, the list can be narrowed by choosing one or more options from the filter panel and/or using the search field. The file list defaults to an icon view with a live preview, allowing you to quickly find the file you are looking for.

The most powerful feature of Leap is the ability to add custom tags to your documents. Tags are labels that describe the contents of the file or how you would use the file. Leap allows you to easily add tags to files, and then filter your results by the tags associated with those files. None of this is anything that you can’t accomplish through the Finder in Leopard. However, working with tags in the Finder is clumsy and slow. Leap, on the other hand, is designed around custom tags. Leap has many ways to add and edit tags, including drag-and-drop and the info panel.

Many of Leap’s features don’t translate perfectly to the world of law. Some practice areas, though, will value Leap more than others. For example, lawyers in practice areas with thousands of client files – like estate planning – will often organize their files in a specific folder hierarchy. In this situation, Leap doesn’t add much. On the other hand, litigators can generate thousands of research documents and pleadings that will likely be scattered throughout the file system. Leap can be very helpful in that environment.

Leap’s custom tagging and search capabilities could be a real benefit in enabling the reuse of previous work. A litigator may want to use one set of tags to describe the kind of document (e.g. letter, pleading, research file) and another set of tags for practice areas (e.g. civil procedure, trademark, copyright). By using tags of varying detail, you can create a highly-structured repository of information without worrying about what directory a particular file sits in.

Starting to use Leap seems pretty daunting. Some of the features, particularly custom tags, won’t be very helpful in the beginning because none of my files will be tagged when I start using Leap. So leap requires a commitment, and a little bit of faith that using it will become better over time. I am still undecided, but I will certainly give it another look once the final version is released.