DEVONthink: stuck at the bottom of the hill

[schmidgall]

Right now I just have it import into the global inbox, however eventually I hope to get around to using a script to set a target database for some scans. See Hazel and DEVONthink 2 - Choosing a Target Database at MyProductiveMac to get started.

With DTP you can import (actually move the files into the database) or index (they stay in the same location but are also searchable). If you use a markdown editor like 1Writer or IA Writer that also stores the text files in iCloud, what is great with indexing is you can work within the markdown app, but also your entire library of markdown files is also searchable within DTP. Indexing iCloud and Dropbox folders has become such a great feature that now apps like Bear, Ulysses and Evernote with their own proprietary storage have become a small source of frustration. And yet I tend to keep Bear less organized and full of half-baked ideas and web clippings, so have a step to import into DTP only the good stuff does help keep the clutter separate. Sometimes the real problem is I just try to collect to much data!

You can access indexed files on iOS devices if the files reside on a shared cloud storage that is accessible from your iOS device. Also any files you import into a DTP database are super easy to export. You can just drag and drop entire groups (what DTP calls folders) and all your files and folders are intact.

I hope some of this helps Robert!

[schmidgall]

Check out MacDrifter’s article for another example of a DTP setup at My Text Corpus in 2017 - MacDrifter. Gabe has some crazy good tips and tricks.

Here are a few ideas for anyone looking to use DTP with your spouse and kids:

My wife and I use DTP on the Mac and iOS, our kids only have iPads and we purchased DT To Go with the premium features for each. The main use is so the kids can see their artwork, access their schoolwork and see their chores. We are just getting our two oldest started on using the clipper for school research with bookmarks and web archives with clutter free formatting.

We use a prefix naming convention to keep our databases grouped and sync them using a single shared Dropbox Pro account, so the different prefixes help to avoid confusion. Also with each prefix we created a separate sync storage location. So all the “DS” databases are in a DS-dsync local storage file on Dropbox, “AS” are in AS-dsync, “FAM” are in FAM-dsync, etc…

For example my personal databases start with my first and last name initials:

• DS - Bookmarks
• DS - Clippings
• DS - Notes

My wife’s personal databases are the same but start with her initials of “AS”.

Our shared family databases are:

• FAM - Finances (receipts, statements, tax records)
• FAM - Household (manuals, local restaurant menus, home chores for the kids, etc…)
• FAM - Medical (we keep notes of every doctor visit and labs, etc… and tag by family member name.)
• FAM - Ministry (we help with several ministries and keep meeting notes and scans of agendas and handouts here)
• FAM - School (homeschool stuff goes here)
• FAM - Vision (our family vision and values go here along with our family traditions, etc…)

We have a few Memory boxes (these could easily start with FAM as well, but we liked the separation as we do not access them as often):

• MEM - Artwork (kid’s artwork tagged by name, any special cards we receive, scans of programs for events the kids are in, etc…)
• MEM - Travel (research for any travel adventures, when a trip is wrapped up we save all our notes here)

The database structure continues to change, but thankfully it’s easy to move items from one database to another. So if you are just getting started, just start creating databases. Don’t overthink it. You’ll get a better organization as you spend more time working with your data, workflows and DTP.

Item links:

Last feature to highlight are the item links. They are a great way to quickly pull up the info. Just right-click any group or item and select “Copy Item Link” and paste it into another app. I use this all the time with Ulysses so writing is separate from research. Also DTP has in the scripts menu -> reminders shortcuts to quickly do this for several apps including Omnifocus, Things, The Hit List, Apple Reminders and Apple Calendar. See screenshot below.

For those considering a switch from Evernote:

I’ll second the tip to create a dedicated DTP database and import all your Evernote notebooks into it. This is non-destructive as Evernote still has all your data and now you have a second copy in DTP. It’s a great way to test this out. Once confident of DTP for long-term use, I made a final export from Evernote to .enex notebook exports and then deleted the notebooks from Evernote. This way you still could go back to Evernote and import the .enex notebooks, but also have all of your private info removed from Evernote’s storage.

And again I still recommend Evernote as a solid reference tool and in fact still use it as my work reference app as it’s provided by the company. DTP was just a personal preference and we found a little more security knowing we can encrypt the databases and even setup our own WebDAV server for in-the-home local storage (Synology NAS for example) for confidential information like personal finances and medical. And we are 100% Apple so we did not need the cross-platform functionality that Evernote is so great at.

[Robert]

@schmidgall: Indexing to a cloud folder looks like a good compromise for stuff that’s not supposed to be edited within DT primarily, thanks.
I don’t really get the hazeling yet: Even when using the script you mention, files will still be placed only in the inbox of a database, if not the global inbox. So you will still have to sort them later. With document providers, you could just save the scans to the correct folder directly on the phone and spare that step.

[Jonathan_Davis]

I just wanna say that @schmidgall’s explanation in how he uses it with his family is awesome! I really would love to go paperless though my Dad is a loyal P.C. user. Maybe when I have my own family.

[schmidgall]

@Robert - Right on with saving steps with Hazel and folders versus inside DTP and you can index if you want the DTP visibility. Hazel is an area of automation I am still at the beginner stage. Same with DTP’s AI and auto-filing feature within DTP.

It’s so much fun to have tools that are flexible and allow us to tweak and build to best fit our workflows!

[bltupper]

Wow, this is an amazing thread! I was reading through and forgive me if I missed this. I am a PhD Candidate that does a lot of writing and have played around with DT for a long time. Right now I keep everything in Dropbox because I use a MBP but also do a lot of writing/research on my home iMac.

With the new iCloud sync on DT, can I set up databases on my MBP and have them synced to the iMac so I can work seamlessly across these two devices? Any advice or tips would be welcomed! So excited to post for the first time here!

[Quahog]

You should be able to do that with any of the sync methods – Dropbox, iCloud – whatever. Are you saying that you STORE your database on Dropbox, rather than sync you databases using dropbox? That’s not a good practice. Definitely use sync for what you want to do.

[BradG]

Valid point on Hazel - but, DTPO also offers Finder/Folder action integration.

So you can attach DTPO scripts to a particular folder in Finder, and have that script trigger when new files are added to it, and - if memory serves - have the files imported to a specific DTPO group.

If you integrate the above with Hazel, then the possibilities are quite endless. For example, upload from wherever to Dropbox, where those folders are being watched by Hazel. Upon specific matches being met, Hazel can move those files to any number of DTPO-specific folders in Finder, which will then trigger the Folder actions, and sort them that way into groups etc. inside DTPO.

[briandigital]

Yes. You could do this prior to the iCloud feature, too. Enjoy.

[dougmejia]

I created a new DT database on SpiderOak drive (think Dropbox on Security steroids) so that it can sync with all of my macs. Are you recommending not to do this? May I ask why?

[Jeremy]

Usually it’s recommended not to store a database on a syncing drive of any sort (Dropbox, google drive, iCloud etc.) because it has a higher chance of being corrupted during syncing. The data lives in one place and is synced via a cloud storage, but the actual data doesn’t live in the cloud. I don’t even think it let’s you create databases inside of Dropbox anymore (I could be wrong).

[dougmejia]

Thank you for the heads up. I don’t use Dropbox so I will have to explore other options to avoid the risk of data corruption.

[Robert]

That’s interesting, I‘ll look into that. Couldn’t a finder action be attached to a Dropbox folder as well? Thus I wouldn’t need Hazel (which I‘m sure one day I‘ll buy and use, but didn’t have the need yet. One thing at a time, I‘m learning Keyboard Maestro right now.).

[BradG]

That could work as well, but I guess would hinge on how the file “arrives”, with the syncing. Not sure how Dropbox handles that, since I’ve never thought to check - but presumably the folder action will only trigger once the file has completely downloaded/synced, and not see a ‘incomplete’ file imported into DTPO.

[Quahog]

Jeremy’s answer is what I would have said.

[Cathie]

Can’t figure out how to set up links in DT. Can you help. Love the DT thread.

[Bmosbacker]

Right-click on a document. This will give you the URL options.

[joshgibson]

This is mostly correct. From what I understand DT recommends that you save your database file on a local drive for your computer to read from, then tell DT where it is so it can sync that via the cloud to any other devices you want to have access. The full data is stored in the cloud, but is encrypted, and is largely inaccessible to other apps.

For example, you used to be able to just tell DT to look to a Dropbox folder for the database, and it would match that. You could then add PDFs, etc. with IFTTT to an “Inbox” folder in Dropbox, and it would mirror that in DT. Now that everything’s encrypted and in its own format, you can no longer do that. You also couldn’t just edit a PDF in PDF Expert and save it to a certain Files.app or Dropbox folder and have it auto-update in DTTG.

[StephenL]

I’ve only started using DEVONThink to go as of version 2. On iOS, DEVONThink is a file provider so PDFExpert can edit the files directly in DEVONThink. That goes for most file types.

Files can be automatically sent to DEVONThink to go via URL Schemes and manually via the share sheet. I’m sure they will update DEVONThink with the new Shortcuts capabilities in iOS 12.

[joshgibson]

That’s fantastic. I had no idea – I assumed everything was stuck in its own sandbox. That really makes DTTG even more of an enticing option. I just really need to jump off the Evernote ship and move 100% to DEVONthink. Thanks for the info!