I use one Scrivener document per sermon. It makes it easy to file it away and be done with it when I’m finished. That part sounds similar to what you’re describing when you’ve published the article you’ve been workin on and don’t need to keep the research materials at hand anymore.
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Not sermons and not the same but I have several Scriverner projects. 1 for an association I am an officer in where I keep the offical newsletter article I write fr them, one that is my notebook for blog posts, storage of forum positngs and other similar stuff and one that is the emergency handbook for dealing with stuff here in case of an emergency of some sort.
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Do you care or edit documents in DEVONThink or is it all in other apps?
I do edit my notes in DT. All in either plain or rich text format. Things like my quarterly goals, my 1,3 and 5 year goals for each area of focus. My list of AOFs and the things that fit into them, all my someday/maybe/on hold project lists, lots of misc useful bits of info, the shopping list, book reading documents, lots of the farm stuff, hay use d and more. My most frequently used DT database is all things that are only in DT, not indexed and it’s about 4000 individual notes and items. The largest one is my email archive databse and that one is also all imported. The next largest is the Index database of my primary filing cabinet folder on my mac. I have 2 smaller databases, one of Android code which is al inside DT directly and an indexed one that contains cleaned LambTracker queries.
I have 2 database that I’m playing with right now, one is my research one that is an index of the Obsidian vault and the other is a SlipBox demo where I test out possible workflows for stuff. As I zero in on the system I will use for the research database the slipbox one will eventually be useless and be deleted. It’s a testbed or sandbox not something that will be used for real.
So for me indexed stuff is always edited in other apps and imported stuff is edited in DT because it’s all text files.
I do not do any editing in DTTG though. That is pretty much all reading only.
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This is, and always was going to be, a slow transition. For projects that started in DevonThink, I am continuing to work on them in DT.
But I’m spending most of my time outside DT now.
I do most of my work in Markdown and Word. For the Markdown part of that, I started with Obsidian, and got tired of its non-Mac quirks. It’s a great app for many people, but perhaps not for me. I put it aside.
I’m now using NVultra for my markdown editor. It’s got a lot going for it, but it’s confusing, particularly the document and folder navigation. I also looked at FSNotes, and even Ulysses. But I’d rather stick with standard document formats stored in the Documents folder of the Finder.
For navigation: The good old Finder. Also, I’ve re-installed Default Folder X, and I’ll see if that’s useful.
I’m using NotePlan for a task manager, trying it out as a possible replacement for Things. I like the idea of making freeform lists, rather than having structure imposed on me. Noteplan seems to strike the right balance between a structured task manager and a plain old text file.
The app I’m really excited about is Hook. I’ve played with that a couple of times over the last year, but it clicked for me last week. Part of my responsibility is writing the text of a weekly newsletter. I need to refer back and forth between a dozen or more Word documents and web pages while composing in Word. Hook is GREAT for that – it effectively puts a dropdown menu of all the source documents on top of my working Word document.
Hook seems to potentially bring the main benefits of Obsidian or Roam into the Finder. Neat!
Additionally, I expect that I’ll be using a hybrid system of the Finder and DevonThink for months, and Hook will enable me to put links to DevonThink documents and groups into the Finder.
I’m still using DT to archive Web pages and selected emails. I’m not making a priority out of finding a replacement for that.
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Since this thread reminds me of the time the whole town tried to get gum out of Lisa’s hair, my vote is for Notebooks 10. I just started using it but I love that it stores files locally (syncs via Dropbox). I imagine with a powerful search app like Alfred and/or Houdaspot you’d be set. Another benefit is that when you search your phone files will also show up on spotlight search (drag down start typing the file name). The only drawback is that you lose the ability to find similar files. I created a quick overview of the mac and ios app. The syncing issues with Devonthink on iOS are likely the reason I’ll abandon Devonthink.
Here’s a thread on the app
https://talk.macpowerusers.com/t/notebooks-app-your-experience/9770/30
Here’s a video I made just now (I forgot to show that emails can also be saved)
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What sync issues? I’ve been using DT for years and syncing ever since DTTG came out with basically no problems once I got it set up.
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I’ve had issues with getting files to sync on iOS. Even when when does work, syncing takes a long time. Maybe I’ve just had bad luck with Devonthink. Maybe the sync time is normal and it needs to check the health of the entire database every now and then. I’ll check around to see if maybe I have some option on there slowing everything down for me. David mentioned issues with syncing in Devonthink on iOS a few podcasts ago. Users have even discussed creating Apple shortcuts to help automate syncing.
I May use notebooks at some point, but for now I am not enthusiastic about everything buckets. I am more interested in using the right tools, and using the finder to tie everything together.
I have found DT sync to be sometimes very slow if I’m working on my iPhone and want immediate access to changed documents on my desktop. But if I am patient things eventually sync up. I find it helpful to create a document on one device, which seems to force a sync.
I have not seen that Simpsons episode. I need to look it up!
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Just checking: do you ever find yourself missing Hook on iOS? That’s my biggest paranoia: I’ll get used to the webs of items I’m building on the Mac, and then get totally lost if I’m working from iPad or iPhone.
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I’ve got the same concern!
On their forum (also Discourse, btw), @LucCogZest has pointed this out:
However, the iOS version is still on our roadmap and very much a priority this year. Some of our other Hook software development (some hinted at already, some unannounced) for macOS is also directly relevant to Hook for iOS (meaning the Hook iOS app will benefit from it). I would still rather not put forth an ETA until we have more clarity.
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How do you sync?
I use sync to my own WebDAV server and that, although a bit painful to set up, is flawless once configured correctly.
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I don’t miss hook on iOS. My iPhone and iPad are 99% consumption, communications, and note taking devices. I expect that will change post-Covid, and I’ll deal with that challenge then.
I’m more concerned about future proofing.
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I use iCloud, maybe that’s the issue.
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I routinely sync DEVONthink with four devices via local Bonjour, local NAS WebDAV (Synology), and Dropbox (for when I’m a road warrior). Works well. Bonjour method runs fast and well. Setup easy as described in the DEVONthink manual. Synology WebDAV needs a bit of network/server familiarity, but works great also for WebDAV and the other purposes to which I put it.
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I would say that it is. It seems like every sync issue I’ve ever heard of with DT is related to using iCloud. Anythign is better than that it seems.
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I use iCloud, and it works fine.
The most important thing is that your databases (the database files themselves) are not synced. So if you have Documents and/or Desktop syncing to the cloud, don’t put them there. Similarly, don’t put them in a Dropbox folder.
DEVONthink’s internal sync mechanism must do all syncing for it to work properly.
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not my experience. i have thousands of files in Dropbox that are indexed in DEVONthink.
To ameliorate my concern for my files, where is this discussed in the User Manual or other?
Not the files that are indexed, the databases themselves - the .dtbase2 files.
In case someone runs across this post in the future, see here.
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ah. yes. the database files should not be in Dropbox or any folder that is synced. spelled out in manual to put them in a folder under users home folder.
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