For the few quid it cost I decided to take a punt on the Eagle Filer on the bundle Hunt site. I have just started to use it. but I was wondering, for those experts out there, if you had any tips for a new user.
For example would you recommend using just one big library or several smaller one.
Thanks
Nick
Iâve been using it for a while now and find it very useful - itâs my main document library. I paid full price - itâs a real bargain on Bundle Hunt. The developer is very responsive on the EagleFiler forum.
I use just one library, but my work and life tend to flow into each other, so your mileage may vary.
I save quite a bit of web content to the library and find the bookmarklets handy (EagleFiler Bookmarklets). This allows me to choose whether I want to save as a PDF, plain text or as a bookmark. There is quick capture available too.
I store my library on iCloud, so I can access the files there (even though EagleFiler isnât available for iOS - itâs not really necessary). Flagging an item in EF comes across in Finder (tag: flagged)⌠I use that to highlight PDF files I want to read later/annotate on my iPad.
You can print a PDF to Eaglefiler from pretty much any application.
You can save emails to the library using the capture key or by dragging from Apple Mail into the library. Indeed, you can add any file to the library by clicking the file in Finder and pressing the capture key.
EagleFiler plays nicely with the Skim (free!) PDF reader - if you search for a PDF and then click on it youâll be taken to all references of your search within Skim. Apparently it also searches Skim notes.
This feature list is a good summary: EagleFiler Feature List
The manual is comprehensive: EagleFiler Manual
For more advanced usage, including things like OCR, there are a bunch of AppleScripts: EagleFiler AppleScripts.
There are also some âesotericâ settings. EagleFiler Manual: Esoteric Preferences. Iâve found it useful to change some of these - e.g., exactly how a PDF is captured to the library. Might be something for later, once you start to explore the features, but theyâre worth knowing about.
Feel free to come back with any questions! Iâve also made some tweaks to better display Markdown files.
Thank you @nationalinterest for taking the time for such a comprehensive answer - that is absolutely brilliant.
Nick
hi @nationalinterest , do you access the EF library from more than one mac? I am scared of corrupting the library if I forget to close the app from one mac before I use EF on another Mac
I donât. However, the way that EF stores its data suggests it would be easily rebuilt if there was corruption. Itâs one of the attractions for me, having had problems with DevonThink failing to repair a database in the past.
https://c-command.com/eaglefiler/help/how-can-i-access-my-lib
Only open the library in one copy of EagleFiler at a time. Multiple copies of EagleFiler simultaneously using the same database can damage it. (If this does happen, you can easily rebuild the library.)
thanks for the quick reply, that helps
Sometimes people describe DEVONthink as a âsuper Finderâ tool. Thatâs would be a certainly possible but merely superficial usage of DT capabilities. But if you could extract the âsuper Finderâ capabilities from DT to a standalone app it would look a lot like Eagle Filer.
Pretty useful for organizing and sending stuff to it, although it is not without its quirks UI-wise but sync is rock solid because EF basically doesnât really do sync. Just point it to a iCloud Drive folder and off it goes.
Iâve been using EF since 2007 and agree with @nationalinterest and @pantulis. Itâs a rock solid program.
Does EF support Shortcuts on the Mac?
I donât think so. But EF is scriptable and several are available on the website. I have very little need for automation. My primary computer is an iPad Pro. When I want to add a file to my Archive library I save it to an iCloud folder and have Hazel process and add it to EF on my Mac.
I may get Hazel at some point - it seems very powerful. Right now I just save things into the ToImport folder from my iPad and they automatically appear in the EF library. Great for capturing PDFs Iâve downloaded or captured on the iPad (or my phone).
Thatâs similar to what I did for years. Hazelâs primary job is to check for account numbers, etc. in PDFs and modify file names for financial or medical records before importing into EF. Everything else is just filed.
I add the âTo Import (EagleFiler)â folder to my Finder sidebar and then drag and drop or print to that target (youâll see its exact name if you look in Finder where you store your EagleFiler files).
I have a âWeb Receiptsâ folder for financial documents with a subfolder for each year, and a âPrefixedâ folder for my many filenames that start with âhow to,â âlists,â âlogs,â and ânotesâ along with a saved search for each in my EagleFiler sidebar. Also a folder containing subfolders for a few distinct topics like Taxes, Retirement, Medical, etc. And the final folder is called Collection which has a subfolder for each year and is where everything else goes.
At the moment, I have two libraries, one for email, and one for everything else. Theyâve been together in the past. Itâs easy to move stuff into a new library or to combine existing libraries so donât spend a lot of time worrying about it. You can always reorganize. 
Thatâs clever, and easier than having large numbers of folders.
Just taken the plunge and purchased EagleFiler, itâs a steal at that price!
If EagleFiler had an iOS app and three-column view itâd be much more attractive.
But then it would be DEVONthink, which I have rejected in favor of EagleFiler.
So the Bundle Hunt link has EagleFiler for $6.99 and I am thinking whether I need a filing system in my life. I donât use DevonThink and I prefer my stuff in their own app, for instance, mail archives should be in Mail.app, Obsidian in its Obsidian folder, scans from my scanner in itâs Canon Scan Folder, iPhone photo scan in Scanner Pro (which is an iPhone app) folder. I keep web articles I want to read in Drafts because I like that I can highlight paragraphs in Safari and save the paragraph as quotes in Drafts.
I downloaded the EagleFiler and I see one useful feature - it has OCR and is able to search documents I scanned using Canon scanner, so searching for words inside my PDF scan is useful. Bonus: I could search using Alfred! Thatâs a really nice bonus.
So, is it worth $6.99? I am not too sure if it is just for that one feature that I use. I will read more of how MPU uses it, so if you have new use case, kindly share!
Edit: what would be useful is if EagleFiler can save the whole website, especially if it were behind a paywall, e.g. NY Times or WSJ. Currently, it seems to save the URL only.
Itâs current full price is $59.99 and, knowing what the program can do, I would buy it again if I wasnât already a satisfied customer.
Nytimes.com has files going back to 1851. If you can find a program to download that youâre going to need a bigger drive 