Ecco organization generally.

The underlying power of Ecco allows you to OUTLINE the structure of your documents (and audio & video files).  One example might be:

* TLI = Client Matter

Sub item 1 = Filings

Sub item 2 = Correspondence, etc.

Individual documents in this example are placed under the appropriate sub item.

Documents can also be tagged by multiple categorizations and instant searches/views created based on category.  Documents can be assigned (even automatically) to multiple category or date folders (for sequencing, exporting a time line,  and viewing in daily/weekly/monthly calendar views), and all documents of the same type can be viewed together, in full context.

 

Adding documents to MagicView.

Literally tens of thousands of documents can be added to an ecco file at once, but there is a preliminary question to ask:

Question 1:  Where do you want the documents physically to reside ?

There are 3 options. 

1. On your disk or network, exactly where they are.

In this case you'll create a live 'link' to the files.   Note: if you move or rename the files the link will be broken.  On the other hand,  if you update the file and keep the same file name,  the updated file will be linked.

2. A fixed copy of the file in the ecco file's ".web" folder on your hard drive (or network).

This is safe.  This does not touch the original file,  only make a copy of it in the ".web" folder.

By networking the ".web" folder, these files can be shared across a network freely.

(This is the recommended approach to try.)

3. An internalized copy of the file inside of ecco.

This allows keeping all related files together & sharing them in an ecco network (without the need to also sync a shared network ".web" folder).

So long as the files are not too large (up to about 1/2 a Meg) this works fast & effectively.   (Files up to 6 Megs in size per file can be 'internalized' but viewing is slow due to the data transfer rate of so much data in and out of ecco.)

Up to about 1.5 Gigs of information can be stored in each ecco file.

There are many ways to add files to a MagicView page,  the simplist of which is dragging the file(s) into MagicView's 'Drop Box'.

 

Note:

1. Activate the Drop Box: From within MagicView via  View > Drop Box  (or  Winkey + Alt + B).

2. You can Drag the drop box to move it as desired.

3. Files dragged tot he Drop Box will be inserted at the currently selected ecco item.  If that item is a "Top Level" item,  the insertion will be as sub-items,  otherwise as new ecco items following the currently selected item.

4. If you want to 'localize' or 'ground' the files,  e.g., to copy them to the ecco file's ".web" folder,  hold down the shift key when you drop the files into the ItemText box or Drop Box.

5. If you want to 'internalize' the files to store them entirely within the ecco file,  hold down the control + shift keys together when dragging the files.

Note: You can 'ground' any linked file (ie., move a copy to the ".web" folder) at any time by pressing Alt + G when the item is viewed in MagicView.

 

6. Files may also be added to any active MagicView page by:

A. Dragging and dropping to the MagicView pane's  "Item Text" box.

1. Select a parent item under which you desire to insert files. 

2. In Ecco go to that item.

3. Load its MagicView page (Winkey + / ).

4. Drag one or more files (PDF/ DjVu/ MHT/ DOC/ XLS/ EML/ JPEG/ WAV/ AVI/ SWF/ MP3/ MPEG/ HTML/ ETC) to the MagicView pane's "Item Text" box.

B. Using a 'File Selection Dialog' to select any file, via File > Load > File.

C. Loading the file name in the clipboard via  File > Load > Shift +  File.

 

Note: After you've attached documents (or multimedia files) to ecco items, you can select multiple items and Winkey + /  to load them all together in a 'multi-view' (similar to EverNote's ribbon but instantly exportable to a web browser while also allowing you to select which documents are included).   To view documents in a selected 'multiview', press F2,  or press Alt + W  to send the 'multiview' to your browser to view the documents.  (Multi-view features also come into play, for example Alt + Home provides a multi-view index,  Alt + L allows zooming to any single item, etc.)

To have the documents shown in MagicView to always be the document attached to the active ecco item,  activate 'QuickView' mode by pressing Winkey + Q. 

 

You can freely move items in Ecco around,  and their linked documents move with them.  To Copy (or Cut)  & Paste items with their view pages  (to the same or other .eco files)  use the EccoMagic Classic tool .  If you make extensive use of moving ecco items,  the MagicHijack tool is recommended (as is learning to use Ecco in multi-view mode to show multiple viewpads at the same time).  Placing the MV pane in 'vertical' mode is often helpful when working with native ecco multiple columns.

You can also export your documents in outline format to a html format that all web browsers (if the systems have installed the proper software to view the relevant type of files, eg., pdf, djvu, etc., ) will be able to view.  Both the ecco outline and the attached documents will be exported.

 

Once you get the hang of EccoMV,  it really is easy.  'Getting the hang' sometimes takes a deeper understanding.  Feel free to ask questions and share solutions in the forums.  That is what they are there for!