Abstract. Traditional document systems use hierarchical filing structures as the basis for organising, storing and retrieving documents. However, this structure is very limited in comparison with the rich and varied forms of document interaction and category management in everyday document use. Presto is a prototype document management system providing rich interaction with documents through meaningful, user-level document attributes, such as “Word file”, “published paper”, “shared with Jim”, “about Presto ” or “currently in progress”. Document attributes capture the multiple different roles that a single document might play, and allow users to rapidly reorganise their document space for the task at hand. They provide a basis for novel document systems design and new approaches to document management and interaction. In this article, we outline the motivations behind this approach, describe the principal components of our implementation, discuss architectural consequences, and show how these support new forms of interaction with large personal document spaces.

Information fragmentation is a pervasive problem which is felt in several stages of personal information management (PIM). As the example in the introduction to this special issue on PIM illustrates, even a seemingly simple decision, such as whether to say “yes” to an invitation, often depends upon a number of different kinds of information – information from a calendar, from a paper flyer, from web sites, from a previous email conversation, etc. Information can be fragmented by physical location. This is nothing new. Now information is often fragmented by the very tools that have been designed to help us manage our information. Our information may be scattered across various computers and gadgets. Some information, for example, may be on a laptop computer we use at home, other information may be on a desktop computer we use at work and one or more PDA or smart phones. Even on a single computer, our information is scattered across the computer desktop, “My Document”, file folders, email folders, collections of bookmarks, etc. New applications introduce still more forms of organization with little or no integration to previous forms. People can rightly complain that they have too many organizations.

This paper investigates the applicability of property-based document organization to NotePals, a collaborative notesharing system [1,2]. The traditional hierarchical structure for organizing documents confines users to the file system's representation and prevents them from forming their own organization schemes, especially in a shared environment. We have designed and evaluated a low-fidelity prototype on a collaborative note-sharing system based on the idea of an organization system using document properties [3]. A user study confirmed the applicability of this concept to the task of managing notes. Keywords Digital notes, property-based document organization, group collaboration, NotePals, note sharing. INTRODUCTION Document sharing on the web is rapidly becoming an effective method for sharing information with other individuals. With the advent of small, pen-based, portable devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) and CrossPads, more and more documents are appearing in...