The last remaining tweak I need to make in my workflow is finding a Rich Text editor that works on iOS/iPadOS for use with DEVONThink. The DT editor on the Mac is fine, but even v3 of DTTG is not great.
I want to create RTF Notes from my phone, iPad and Mac that I can then export to DT AND use that same app as the external editor in DT so that I have one editor for all of my notes. I want to use RTF in DEVONThink and externally because I want to use tables and other formatting features such as highlighting. I can always convert files in DT to most any other format so that is not an issue. The problem I’m running into is:
Drafts only supports plain and markdown format
Craft only uses markdown, it does not open RTF files so I cannot use it as an external editor in DT
TextEdit is only on the Mac
Is there a rich text editor that will solve this problem?
I remember Keep It Mobile has great RTF support on iOS, despite the incompatibility of .rtf editing on the mobile platform. I also remember that it supports Files.app sharing, and iCloud syncing for the Keep It macOS version.
I might be wrong, but cannot check right now because it is a subscription app and I’ve spent my trial period.
I think the app is worth a shot. It is often said as one of great “everything bucket app” alternative to DEVONthink.
I actually tried that but once created, Pages wants to default to the last folder used to save the document, which means I have to then find and select the folder. That is additional work.
I appreciate the recommendation but I’m heavily invested in and happy with DT so I don’t want to change to Keep It. I appreciate the suggestion though.
I certainly like cheaper. But, I don’t want to add a subscription just for this purpose. I’m a bit surprised that it is not easier to find a light-weight cross platform combination plain, MD, RT editor.
The search for editing RTF on iOS/iPadOS always reaches a dead end. Sorry, but IMO if you want rich text editing on a mobile device, don’t try to scratch that itch with RTF.
(I agree, editing anything, especially RTF, in DEVONthink to Go is unpleasant.)
Painful?
Really, why give up on an otherwise fine application because it takes two clicks instead of one to save a document? You must be a beast when you’re head’s down at work
@anon41602260 you are always a wealth of information and always helpful, thank you!
You are right, two clicks is no big deal but boy, Pages seems like a “heavy” app to use for note taking. I wish Craft would add RTF as an option.
I have no coding experience but given that there does not seem to be an app like I’ve described there must be a technical reason. Surely, I’m not the only one who would appreciate a light cross-platform plain/MD/RT editor?
Certainly. But as far as I know, and from what the DT folks have been saying, UIKit (iOS) provides no basic, easy RTF framework, contrary to AppKit (macOS). Which is why you have to build things again from scratch (and building a text editor is no fun these days), and why editing RTFs in DTTG has always been a pain: there’s nothing to help devs with that.
There might (huge emphasis on might) be a hope for the situation to improve this year. SwiftUI has been progressing by leaps and bounds in two years and Apple added a multiline TextField component in 2020 (multiple lines, no styling), which was sorely missing. The next logical step would be styled text, being necessarily cross platform, and it would be major piece of productivity apps, possibly providing an easier stepping stone to design text editors from a higher starting point. (As I’m going back into app development on my spare time, I’ve been watching this closely because I need that for some ideas I have) We’ll see at WWDC.
Would you think the future of rich text editing is probably different than the future of Rich Text Format (RTF), as a document format? Folks do like their browser-based editors.
I wonder. I think rich text needs that richer underlying framework on mobile no matter what (if I’m not mistaken about the state of things). I would rather think that once it’s there, we might see new editing apps because it would be easier to build them and from there, maybe great new ideas.
@dfay thanks for article link but that is too much overhead to manage notes—I take a lot during the week! On the Mac taking notes directly in DT is fine but not so much on iOS/iPadOS.
@jec0047 Thanks. I edited my OP to be more specific, thanks for pointing that out.
As to AN, I’ve stopped using it because I’ve run into periodic syncing issues over the last few years that consumed a lot of my time to fix. Sadly, I don’t believe I can trust AN. I’ve migrated to Craft.
That said, after reading your suggestion I tested a new Apple Note with a table and exported it to DT. The table is not preserved, though the rows do export to DT as text separated by tabs. That is still better than Craft, which does not have a table option. A helpful advantage of Craft is that it creates a link back to the original Craft note once it is exported to DT. Craft almost works for what I need. The only issue is that I end up with the same note in two places. Note a big deal and could be an advantage if a note in DT is corrupted for some reason.
I wish Craft would add RTF as an option.