Tagging
Tags are a flexible way to organize your knowledge base in Recall. The tags panel in the left sidebar provides a centralized view for navigating all your content, displayed in a hierarchical structure where each tag can contain cards (your saved content) and nested subtags.
Watch the full tutorial below for a walkthrough of tagging in Recall, or read on for a detailed guide covering tag creation, sorting, bulk actions, drag and drop, and more.
Understanding Tags
Tags are a flexible way to categorize your cards. Unlike traditional folders, a single card can have multiple tags, allowing the same content to appear in different contexts. For example, an article about machine learning in healthcare could be tagged with both Technology/AI and Health/Research.
When you save new content to Recall, it automatically assigns tags based on your existing tag structure and the content’s topic. This keeps your knowledge base organized while maintaining the structure you’ve built over time.
The tags side panel shows this organization visually:
- Tags can be expanded to show their contents (cards and subtags)
- Cards appear under their assigned tags with a thumbnail preview
- Nested tags create hierarchies like
Movies/ThrillersorWork/Projects/2025
Click a card to open it directly.
Create hierarchies that mirror how you think about topics. For example: Health/Nutrition/Recipes or Work/Projects/ClientName.
Filtering by Tags
Click a tag to show only the cards with that tag. A filter row appears at the top of the home page so you can see and clear your active filters.
Filter by more than one tag: hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) and click each tag you want. Every click adds or removes a tag while keeping the rest of your selection. A normal click replaces the filter with just the tag you clicked.
You can also click the Tags pill in the filter row to open a searchable list and select or deselect tags there.
Header Controls
The header at the top of the side panel provides quick access to common actions:
- Add New Tag (+) - Create a new top-level tag
- Filter Tags - Search for specific tags by name
- Sort Tags - Change the ordering of tags and cards
- Collapse All - Collapse all expanded tags to get a clean overview
- Close Sidebar - Hide the panel to maximize your workspace
Sorting
The tags side panel offers flexible sorting to help you find content the way you work best.
| Sort Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Manual | Drag and drop to arrange tags and cards in any order you prefer |
| Last Updated | Tags with recently edited cards appear first |
| Created At | Tags with recently added cards appear first |
| Alphabetical | Sort A-Z or Z-A by name |
Sort Direction
For automatic sorting modes (Last Updated, Created At, Alphabetical), you can choose:
- Descending - Newest first for dates, Z-A for alphabetical
- Ascending - Oldest first for dates, A-Z for alphabetical
Within each level of the tree, tags are always listed before cards. This keeps your organizational structure visible at the top.
Manual Sorting
When you select Manual sorting, you gain full control over the order of items. Drag any tag or card to your desired position. This is useful when you want to prioritize certain topics or keep frequently accessed content at the top.
To reorder items within the same parent, you must be in Manual sort mode. In other modes, dragging moves items between tags instead of reordering them.
Managing Tags
Creating Tags
From the Header: Click the + button in the panel header, type your new tag name, and press Enter.
As a Child Tag: Hover over an existing tag (or use the menu on mobile), click the + icon that appears, and type the child tag name.
Begin with broad categories and add specificity as your knowledge base grows. You can always restructure later using drag and drop.
Editing Tags
Double-click a tag name to edit it inline. Press Enter to save or Escape to cancel.
On mobile, tap the menu button (three dots) and select “Edit tag”.
Deleting Tags
Hover over a tag and click the trash icon to delete it. Your cards are preserved; only the tag is removed.
If a tag has subtags, you’ll see an option to delete all subtags as well. The dialog shows the total count of tags that will be deleted.
Tag deletion cannot be undone. Cards remain in your library but lose their association with deleted tags.
Working with Cards
Cards appear in the tags side panel under their assigned tags. You can manage them directly from the panel.
Opening Cards: Click any card to open it in the main view.
Deleting Cards: Hover over a card (or tap the menu on mobile) and click the trash icon. Unlike tag deletion, deleting a card permanently removes the content from your knowledge base.
Bulk Actions
The tags side panel supports bulk selection for tags and cards on desktop.
Normal clicks (no modifiers):
- Tag — Adds the tag to the filter context (opens the filter row on the home page)
- Card — Opens the card in the main view
Bulk selection:
- Ctrl/Cmd + Click — Enters bulk selection mode and selects the clicked tag or card. This click becomes the range anchor for Shift-click.
- Shift + Click — Only works while bulk selection is active. Selects all visible rows between the Ctrl/Cmd-clicked anchor and the row you shift-clicked, in either direction.
- Escape — Clears bulk selection
- Clicking outside the tags side panel also clears bulk selection
When you have items selected, an action bar appears at the bottom showing your selection count. You can delete selected tags and cards, or edit tags on selected cards.
You can also bulk delete or tag cards from the home page using the card selectors and Shift-click range selection there.
Drag and Drop
Drag any tag or card and drop it onto another tag to move it there:
- Move cards between tags to reorganize your content
- Move tags to create nested hierarchies
- Drop on an empty area to move to the top level
Auto-Expand: When dragging over a collapsed tag, it will automatically expand after a brief pause. This lets you drop items into nested tags without having to expand everything first.
Mobile
On mobile, tap the menu button (three dots) on any tag to open a menu with actions:
- Add child tag - Create a nested tag
- Edit tag - Rename the tag inline
- Delete tag - Remove the tag
Multi-selection is only available on desktop. On mobile, use individual actions from the menu.