Which is better: a folder of terms or a glossary?

   Pathagoras works equally well whether clauses are stored in a Glossary or in a folder of terms. For most users, the folder method of clause storage will initially be the easier and more intuitive. Most users are used to, and very comfortable with, conventional Word folders and documents.

   But there are some real advantages to a Glossary. Here are the 'big three:'

•‘Editability’ is a primary one. Consider what you might do if there is a change in a term of art that appears in many of your terms or clauses. Or let’s say you decide to change the name of a variable for one of your books or systems.  Or let’s say your business name or your address changes.

oIf you keep your clauses in a folder of individual clauses, you may have to open all documents to effect the change system-wide. (Minimally you would have to open each document and at least inspect it to see if the change needs to be made.) That could be a lot of work.

oWith a glossary, you just open the one document, and can view the entire document at once. Using “find & replace,” you would then replace the old name/address/reference with the new one. Very quick. Very elegant.

•'Transportability': Being a single document instead of ‘many documents,Glossaries are ultimately easier to ‘handle’ in other regards. No special steps are needed to get it from your hard disk to a network, thumb drive or email attachment. A Glossary is simply a regular computer file (a Word document). They are easier to transport and to e-mail (only one file as an attachment, instead of multiple files), and easier to move to another folder.

•'Speed': Since all clauses are being drawn from the same document (which remains open during the entire assembly process), document assembly using a Glossary is slightly faster than requiring Word to open up separate documents. For small documents, the time difference is not noticeable. But we have 'clocked' about a 10% time savings (27 seconds vs. 30) for larger documents.

  But don’t let the advantages discourage you from doing what you already know. If you think that you will be more comfortable working with documents in folders, don’t elect ‘Glossaries.’ Ultimately, Pathagoras does not care. Pathagoras is designed to promote experimentation. If you decide to ‘go folders’ now and to ‘go glossaries’ later, the conversion is easy, and practically automatic.

   If at any time you decide that you want to convert a folder of clauses into a glossary, it is an easy process. See Folder to Glossary.