[tweetmeme]I reviewed Tags 1.0 just about a year ago, and even in that state it was a fairly functional way of working with Tags. However, it wasn’t integrated enough with the system to fit into the regular workflow. Apparently, the guys at Gravity Apps have been feeling the same thing, and have unleashed the next iteration upon us.

Tags 2.0′s highlight is its new search bar. While the earlier version allowed you to enter “tags:” as an operator in the regular spotlight bar or use the standalone Tags search window, version 2 brings its own ‘Spotlight’ bar, which looks and behaves almost like the native version. Invoke it using the Option+Spacebar shortcut, and you can use it just as you normally would—launching apps, finding files by searching through metadata, you wouldn’t know the difference. But beyond that it will also prioritize your tags, allowing you to drill down into them like folders, and conduct further searches. It’s all keyboardised, and very efficient. Granted the search bar is a little quirky (it springs out a fixed sized panel and then goes on to a scrollbar in it), but it doesn’t change the workflow in any measurable way.

Tagging files has been made simpler. Gone is the wood finish for the tags palette, as Tags 2.0 now sports a more native ‘Quick Look’ like HUD. Select any files in Finder or your desktop, hit Ctrl+Spacebar, and enter your tags. Previously entered tags auto complete, so once you’ve got your arsenal of tags set up, it’s just a few taps away from organising them. Hit Return again to go back to whatever it is you were doing. Tags not only deals with files, but extends itself into Mail, iPhoto, iTunes, Safari, and other apps. Think about it. Type in your project name, and have access to all your artwork, documents, email exchanges, and bookmarks show up without you having to drag and drop them into folders to start with.

In a tag based workflow, you’re not supposed to have a Finder like window—it’s all based on search. Tags does have a Tag browser though, should you feel the need to get even more organised. Your sidebar is sorted into favourite tags, recently used, and all. Unfortunately, it’s not even close to being useful. You can’t browse your untagged files, you can’t drag and drop files from your desktop or stacks onto tags, you can’t assign tags new tags to files. There’s also just one view—the list view—for looking at your files, so if you wanted to thumbnail it out on a bunch of images, you’re back to the Finder. Unless I’m looking at this as the glass half empty, the Tag Browser should have been a Finder replacement for mass managing tagged files, which it clearly isn’t.

I personally haven’t gone back to the tagging workflow yet. Mostly because most of my files are either in databases within applications, or I can find them using Spotlight. I hardly organise my documents in any folder other than the main “Documents” folder, so I haven’t felt the need to go around tagging my files. If you’re the type dealing with a lot of different kinds of files and projects, and have so far been sorting them out into folders, then Tags will definitely add value to that workflow. Gravity Apps has done an amazing job integrating the app into OS X—it’s almost transparent once you get used to its few keyboard shortcuts. They’ve kept the user interface down to a minimum, so there’s no moment where the app tries to impress you with ‘cool’ gradients. It’s also OpenMeta compliant means that it’s not tied to the particular app, and your tags will be accessible to any other future app that supports this format.

Tags 2.0 costs $29, with a 15-day trial to start with. I’ve only used it for a couple of days, but it’s definitely a quality app worth checking out.