File organization - I WANT TAGGING

[asterroc]

I have a bunch of files in Google Drive which can be characterized by two separate parameters, and I want to be able to sort/group/folder/whatever on each of the two parameters. Right now the files are named things like A-X, A-Y, B-X, B-Y, C-X, C-Y, etc., and if I sort them alphabetically I can get a list ordered as:

A-X
A-Y
B-X
B-Y
C-X
C-Y

I want to ALSO be able to sort them so I get a list like:

A-X
B-X
C-X
A-Y
B-Y
C-Y

This doesn't need to be as file names, it could be in folders (e.g., one folder for Xs and one for Ys, but then I want to be able to swap to viewing a folder for the As, a folder for the Bs, and a folder for the Cs) or tags (or maybe it'd have to be nested tags: Parameter1/A, Parameter1/B, etc.). Right now I only have 16 of these files, but I anticipate having 100-200 in the end.

Does Mavericks actually have a tagging system that would let me do this? I haven't upgraded to Mavericks yet b/c I don't like changing OSs during the semester, but if it did I'd gladly set up Google Drive to synch with my computer and start tagging in Mavericks.

Anyone have a different solution for me that can do what I want?

Originally posted on Dreamwidth. comments there. Comment here or there.

Comments

[calzephyr77.livejournal.com]

This is going to bug me all night, since I don't have a Mac at home :-D My first thought is using colour labels for X and Y, and then just whatever makes A, B and C alphabetical (or numberic - 001,002,003). That way instead of folder swapping, you can turn the colour label on and off. I do this for photos in Lightroom (colour + star rating). I don't know if I have Mavericks at work.

I wrote my first AppleScript yesterday, there may be potential in that or Automator. Folders would be really impractical. Unfortunately Google Drive doesn't have labels like Gmail, and while tags can be added to the description area of a Google doc, it seems so onesie twosie.