DevonThink Help

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21

Yeah, I figured as much. I need to work with the “see also & classify.” I’m still getting my head around devonthink search. I struggle sometimes to find articles I know I have in there. It requires much more clicking than it should.

However, I did discover that on iOS if I press on the article I got an “Copy Item Link” option. I get the same thing if I option click on the Mac. That will copy a link to the specific article. That is useful if you want to paste a link to the file somewhere outside of DevonThink. I wonder if it could be used within DevonThink kind of like a “see also” type of deal?

22

What will probably work in your case, is the built-in annotation feature.

Select the PDF you want linked, and then click on the below in the menu, or use a shortcut key:

DTPO%20Anno1_2Y_

What you then have, is an automatically-created RTF file, linked back to the original PDF, as below:

DTPO%20Anno2_2Y

Note the URL link that has been automatically created, linking the PDF to the RTF. Not shown, is when you open that PDF, a blue link is present in the toolbar, allowing you to quickly jump between the PDF, and its annotated note.

Also, notice the little grey ‘thought-bubble’ icon to the right of the PDF name, which indicates it has an annotated note associated with it.

Opening that RTF note, gives you what is below. I have used rather garish colours here, but everything is fully customisable, so it’s largely up to you on how you want this to look:

DTPO%20Anno3_2Y

You can then drag and drop, or copy in, as many links as you want, to other documents.
And similarly, using the same approach on those other documents, you can link back to this document.
OR, you could get creative with the WikiLinks feature, and go from there.

I think this is more in line with what you were wanting to achieve?

4 Likes
23

WOW!!! I will give this a go ASAP. Thank you so much!

Can I ask a really stupid, unrelated question?? Everything in my database is tagged. Sometimes, I want to find something that is tagged in two separate ways. In other words, if I want to find all the instances in DT that are tagged BOTH blue & red I should be able to do that… No? I’m having a heck of a time making it work. I’ve tried blue & red, blue AND red. Devonthink keeps coming up with a goose egg even when I know I have articles title “blue & red make the world go round.” I’ve fiddled with the dropdown menu in the search bar and selected various options and I just can’t figure out the right combination.

24

If what you are wanting to see, are all the articles you have tagged both with Tag:Blue and Tag:Red, then why not jump into the Tag view, and select both of them. This will provide a view of only those files that have both of these tags associated with them.

DTPO%20TagView_2Y

Tag View is the one where the left-most arrow is pointing towards.
Over on the right, holding CMD down, allows one to select different tags collectively, which then only displays those files that have both tags associated with them.

That being said, under Search, and the Advanced Tab (accessed at the bottom), you are able to add specific Tag properties that are to be searched for. So you should get what you are looking for by telling it to search for Tag:Blue AND Tag:Red.

Regardless, when working with Tags, I find going through the tag view to be quicker.

1 Like
25

Thank you again @BradG. I don’t know why I didn’t think of selecting multiple tags. That works great. And, on iOS the tag: Blue AND tag: red works just fine. I never did see the Advanced Tab you were talking about. I assume you were talking about the Mac OS, but maybe I’m blind.

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26

As a counter point: I’ve never experienced sync issues (except once with user error when I forgot to sync a new database from a new source!), and the way I have set up things up I don’t have an issue finding things. Plus it’s extremely scriptable, yes, on iOS which is of course a big plus.

27

@RosemaryOrchard My experience is the same.

And I am sitting with a combined total of 40.49 GBs/67,997 items inside DTTG2, with one DB in particular, that I access daily.

That’s not to suggest that the syncing is perfect, given feedback received from some users over at the Forums – but I certainly think those are the exception, rather than the norm.

28

Well, I did already suggest placing links in the documents AND using tags…

29

@Doty Here is the Advanced ‘Tab’, accessed at the bottom of the Search pane.

DTPO%20AdvancedSeach_2Y

It brings up additional options, including the Tags criteria.

DTPO%20TagSelect_2Y

1 Like
30

What of I want to select two tags in a specific group?

Also, should it not work the same way in the “Three Panes” view? Then I would be able to easily select files in group A that has both tags Z and X.

31

Have you looked at the Tags & Groups pane, under Tools? This will allow you to choose tags from anywhere, and open them in a separate search window.

That said – I’m pretty sure I am misunderstanding what you are asking.

32

Thanks, just tried and that allowed me to select one tag inside a group. If I choose two tags I get two new windows. But seriously, that is one bad looking solution anyway. If this is not possible the app is probably not what I want.

33

@Erlendks I am not really understanding what you are trying to do, so that’s possibly why we are missing each other.

If you could explain what you are wanting to do in a bit more detail, I might be able to assist – failing which, someone else might have a suggestion.

From what I gather, you are wanting to do something in 3-pane view – but what exactly?

34

I want to see articles only in Group:A that are tagged both with Tag:Blue and Tag:Red. I would also like to do this from the 3-pane view if possible.

35

A smart group set up like in this screenshot should do what you want. I usually have a group smart groups that I keep around all the time that I can quickly edit to do custom sort and select.

1 Like
36

@Erlendks The smart-group suggestion below by @joshsullivan will probably get want you want, especially given that those smart-groups can also be added to the primary side-bar, for quick access.

37

Thanks guys! I had actually figured that method out, but I find it a bit slow especially if I’m quickly switching between tag combinations. Replacing some tags with a label and sort after label might work for me.

I dislike that in “Three panes view” selecting Tag:Blue and Tag:Red show files with either tag.While in “Tag view” selecting Tag:Blue and Tag:Red show files with BOTH tags.

38

This is where I am missing you. How are you selecting those tags from 3-PaneV?

In 3-PaneV, if you look right at the top of the ‘second’ column (of your ‘active’ DB), do you see the ‘Tags’ icon under your DB’s Inbox?
If you click on that disclosure triangle, you should see all your tags in that group.
What happens when you CMD+select Tag:Blue and Tag:Red in there? Does it not only show you the files that have both of them?

39

This is how I select those tags in 3-PaneV:
27

As you can see, it shows files with either or both tags.

If I select the same tags in tag view:
48

It only shows the one file that has both tags. This is how I want it to be in both views, but for some reason it only works that way in tag view.

Also, it should be possible to include a group as well. I want to view stuff in that group with those two tags. Instead it shows everything in the selected group, everything with the tag “0-10” and everything with the tag “Tallinje”.

10

I may be wired wrong, but this is how I want it to work.

40

@Erlendks Thank you for clarifying. But unfortunately – it appears you are correct.

I was wrong in my earlier statement - the Tags pane does work differently to the 3PaneV. Since I hardly use the latter, I had given it a quick check without noticing the distinction.
When you popped up your pics - I went hunting over at the DTPO forums, since I remember reading something about the distinction before – as it turns out, I was asking some of the questions.

That post from 2013 confirms that the Tag-pane sees the multiple selection of tags only show files that have Tag:Blue AND Tag:Red, whereas the 3PaneV, for whatever reason, sees the behaviour as you are seeing it, in other words files with Tag:Blue and/or Tag:Red.

FWIG, the distinction is there to allow the variable outcome between the two.
Maybe pop up a query over at their forums, to check what the rationale is.