Ok, I'll take a loose stab at this. And keep in mind that this really is a loose stab - I couldn't come up with an easier way of doing it, so this is it. If anyone else has a bright idea to prove me silly, feel free to humiliate me.
Consider this a "proof of concept" as it will work, but certain limitations may arise. For instance, I'm actively modifying the "Archive" attribute of your PDF file. If you use a backup program which depends on that attribute - or something else changes it specifically - then this might cause problems. Also, I don't know if you use XP, Vista, or Win7, but the silly UAC in Vista and Win7 may flag changing attributes via a vbs file as "trouble", so it might get upset every time you run the script and ask you about Administrator nonsense. Personally I find UAC to be a waste of time so I always leave it off. Anyway, these are just caveats - I leave the work-around's up to you. 
Right, still with me? This is going to be a pain in the ass, so roll up your sleeves.
Ordinarily the Colour Coding rule is bound to the file itself and x2 can't know if you think it's relevant to your research or not, so we need a permanent way to change "something" in that file to mark it as Important or Un-Important so the colour-rule can engage or disengage automatically. In this case, we'll change the Archive attribute as it's simple to do.
Copy the following text into a text file and save it somewhere as "TogglePDF.vbs"
Code: Select all
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If (Wscript.Arguments.Count > 0) Then
Set objFile = objFSO.GetFile(wscript.arguments(0))
objFile.Attributes = objFile.Attributes XOR 32
end if
Then you need to create the User Command to run that file: (
Customize -> User Commands -> Add New)
Code: Select all
> "C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe" "C:\TogglePDF.vbs" $S
(You'll note that for simplicity I placed the file in C:\ - obviously you should change the path to wherever you saved TogglePDF.vbs)
You can add this User Command to any toolbar by right-clicking on the toolbar and selecting "Customize" then finding the new command and clicking "Add".
Now you need a rule to set the colour-coding for PDF's. (
Customize -> Color Coding... and click the teeny-tiny "add new" icon or press <Space>.)
Basically it should look something like this: (Green would indicate the PDF is relevant to your research, otherwise the PDF will just be the default black colour.)
For the main rule ("Named:") just use
*.pdf and untick the box next to "Folders" just for cleanliness.
(Do not close this window yet, as the following step is important.)
Next you need to configure the attribute check, so where it says "Additional Rules" click the first teeny-tiny "add new" icon, or click in the box and press <Space>.
Under "Property and Description" click the down arrow and select "
Attributes [S]".
Then in the "Find" box type an "
A" (for Archive, obviously).
Under "Boolean Context" click the "
Not" button. Basically (as far as I know) most new files have the Archive bit set by default, so this way when we disable it the colour-coding rule will engage (in this case making your "relevant" PDF green). Otherwise, all PDF's would register as green to begin with, and it would get confusing to de-mark them one by one.
If you're still with me (I bet you're not
), you're now done. When you click the Toolbar button it will toggle the archive bit of the selected PDF file, and x2 should "auto-refresh" and the file (in theory) should turn green. Click the button again and it will switch back to normal text colour.
Just to prove that it works ("Proof of Concept"), here's the final result (I made mine a really ugly purple colour just because Green-on-White is hard to read):
Now watch for someone to come along and suggest a simple 1-step method that does the same thing without the bother of all that crap. My brain doesn't always identify the simplest solution to any problem.
(Probably why my favourite film is
Fitzcarraldo )
)
Go Papillon! 
