It is possible by script, I think. Whether you like the approach is another matter…
NOTE: I rewrite the post after two interactions of thinking:
The flow
The property of the database must enable “inherit tags of group”
Create a smart group at database level, e.g. I name it as “MultiGp List View”. Within the smart group, set predicates to Tags: ShowList Kind: any.
Create an unique tag under Tags (or anywhere u like), e.g. “ShowList”.
The above-mentioned steps only need to be done once.
Then
User selects the groups and run the script. The script execute 2 tasks to show the list of files of multiple selected groups
The script first deletes the tag “ShowList” to detach the tag to all previously selected groups. Then it creates and assigns a new tag of the same name “ShowList” to the newly selected groups. Then it switched the root of frontmost main window to the smart group and shows all files in the selected groups.
This script is tested and it works. It is not the most elegant solution but the task of viewing files from multiple selected groups can be achieved.
tell application id "DNtp"
delete record (get record at "/Tags/ShowList" in current database)
create location "/Tags/ShowList" in current database
set theSelection to selection
repeat with each in theSelection
set tags of each to (tags of each) & "ShowList"
end repeat
set root of think window 1 to (get record at "/MultiGp List View")
end tell
Thank you for the tips…I will toy with this to see if it can help.
Like I said, I can probably figure out work-arounds…but I can’t expect my fellow attorneys, associates, and staff to use work-arounds based on scripts.
I trust the wonderful people at DT (not sarcastic, I really do very much respect their amazing quality) will figure it out with subsequent releases. I very much look forward to such future releases. Once they arrive with keyboard navigation, multiple folder selection, etc., our firm will buy licenses for everyone immediately.
I may have mentioned this long ago early in this thread, but something else I’d like to see would be the ability to instantly hide everything in the left sidebar, except for my current database. I normally have several databases open for my typical “busy work,” as I add items to them throughout the day. But when I go to meet a client, go into court, go to a deposition, etc. (sometimes with my client sitting right next to me), I don’t want to be sitting there with irrelevant and sometimes personal databases open along with a database containing my case files, and I don’t want to have to close databases one by one, and then reopen them when I’m done. I loved with the old 3 pane view being able to hide the database sidebar with a keyboard shortcut, so only the groups in my current database were visible.
I know Views can do this to some degree, but then I have to set up a view for each database I want to segregate (if I’m wrong, though, and there is a way to make a View apply to the current database, whatever it might be, please let me know).
Select the database in the Sidebar. Either click the “Show/Hide Sidebar” button in the tool bar. Or press the View > Navigate command to toggle the Sidebar, or press its shortcut ⌥⌘1. I prefer to combine this with “View as Columns” and “Widescreen” active, but of course other options are available.
Thanks, Korm. I appreciate the suggestions. Unless I’m missing something, I still can’t get it to replicate showing only my current database in the sidebar, because “Show/Hide” will hide even that database (and hiding the sidebar isn’t an option, because navigating a database there is currently the best way to replicate the 3-pane view and retain the ability to organize the groups in the database alphabetically, and the items in the group by date. I believe many lawyers organize documents and files this way, as indicated by the lawyers chiming in on this thread).
Did you try using the suggestion? I didn’t say it was perfect or exactly what you want, but it’s one way to work in front of a client without displaying your other work – which is what you said you needed now.
I think I did, or maybe I’m just misunderstanding. The issue I run into using that method, assuming I followed it correctly, is that I can’t figure out a way to sort the groups alphabetically, and the documents in the group by date, which is essential to the way I work (and I think to many lawyers, as this is a traditional way of organizing case files). I seem to only be able to do that if I view the groups in the sidebar, without having it hidden (and if it isn’t hidden, any open databases still show up, even with “Show/Hide,” since I can’t hide the open databases if I’m using one open database to view groups alphabetically).
That’s what I do at present. But when I’m grabbing my MacBook and rushing out the door at the last minute for a deposition, a quicker method would be nice. And I also sometimes just forget until I’m sitting at a proceeding, where I then proceed to methodically close those other databases one at a time when I’d rather have my attention elsewhere. (Yes, lawyers are often much more last minute than we should be, if you were wondering). So a “hide all sidebar items except current database” would be awesome.
I have a Workspace set up for each of my main databases, and a key command assigned to them. This way I can just hit F14, for exmple, and switch to my “research” database without the sidebar being open. Would that help?
I think that would be a good solution for a few databases, but if you have 10, 20, 30 or more (like with a business having a large client base), I think it would be less than ideal.
That is what I do. I have a lot of my set ups on a Keyboard Maestro palette and the native hotkeys on ‘Workspaces’. I have over ten at present. I have smart groups set up to show via hotkeys too. If, as it is for me, DEVONthink is really my main app it is worth setting those up. The advantage of palettes in Keyboard Maestro is that you can see what you need and don’t need to memorize or call up lists of hotkeys. Consequently I only have the sidebar open in the Global Inbox.
I am on DEVONthink 2 still but preparing. I only started using 3 pane view recently too funny enough, after three years of using the app! I loved it but it was very counter intuitive when I first started and I never used it.
I don’t have that many clients currently, but if I were a lawyer or someone with a lot of clients, it would make sense to keep each of them in their own container, or database. This limits the cross-contamination of information, and as in the example above, helps prevent people from seeing information that they (ethically and perhaps legally) should not be seeing.
Even with only had a handful of active clients at a time, I’d be constantly managing which hot keys opened up which active client. I can easily see that becoming quite the time-consuming mess.
Not to beat a dead horse, but DT already had a great solution for this and it was removed. I’m confident the DT dev team will be able to figure out how to replace a lot of the functionality the 3PV had, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
