It is a search

Google isn't known for having a great User Interface, but I'm often pleased by the intuitive options presented through some of their interfaces.

I use Google Docs somewhat regularly and I have a hundred or so documents created going back almost four years.  One thing I don't like about the Google Docs interface is that the default view is All Items.  That means when I share a bunch of documents with someone I'm collaborating with I pollute their default view with a bunch of recent documents.  That means that my collaborator needs to manage my documents in her view.

This has led me to use the Folders more heavily.  Folders are really Tags, but the Google Docs team had decided to name them Folders since most users know what to do with a folder but don't understand Tags.  This means they have the extended functionality of Tags (you can put a document in multiple "Folders").

So I have started sloshing through all my documents in order to put them all in Folders which means I'm scrolling through the All Items view in order to do this. Then I think, Wouldn't it be nice if I could do a search that shows me ever document that isn't in a folder?  Yes it would.  So while I'm trying to decide how to do this search I stumble upon the More Searches... option in the list and I find an Items not in Folders.  Then I discover a way to Save Searches.

This leads me to realize that all of the options including Owned by Me, Starred, and Hidden are all searched on the metadata associated with the files.  Quite interesting and intuitive.  And probably not easy to understand.