It’s probably the list view. Which view is selected according to the View menu?
Yes, you’re quite right, it says “List” in the View menu—apologies, I see now that by using the word column I could have been referring specifically to “Column view” (which isn’t something I ever use, so it didn’t occur to me). I’m not sure what is the correct term for the column of space that exhibits the behavior I’m talking about. [EDIT: I’ve updated my comments to make clear that what I’m referring to is the Item List; apologies for the confusion.]
And do you know which actions make the groups collapse? E.g. switching databases? Going back/forward?
That’s what I haven’t been able to identify exactly yet, because it sneaks up on me. Now that I have the terminology correct: When I have the Item List set to the List view, and I’ve set the group and selected sub-group folders in my customized way of various expanded (or not expanded) states, my vague sense is that it happens after I’ve double-clicked on some sub-group so that the Item List switches from showing my primary group hierarchy to showing the contents of the sub-group. Then I do something—not sure what, perhaps drilling down to the next group level, or double-clicking a group to then have the Item List show the contents—and then when I’m done, I think when maybe I use the little back arrow above the Item List to click back to the primary group hierarchy, or something along those lines, when the Item List returns to the top level of the primary group hierarchy (i.e. the top level of that particular database), DT3 has automatically re-collapsed all of the group folders, and all my work getting them set to my particular customized state of expanded (or not) is lost and I have to start over.
Now that 3.5 is in operation—and thank you to the developers for at least this new Sidebar behavior for us to try— I’m not going to spend more time using the Item List in the way I’ve described above; I’m going to switch to using the new Sidebar behavior to customize my groups in their expanded (or not) states instead. But if I experience the same problem with the Sidebar, I’ll try to identify exactly what’s causing it and post that. As I noted above, I hope that the Sidebar having a specific setting in Preferences to either automatically manage group expansion, or not do so, as is my preference, means that this won’t happen there. Fingers crossed!
The new sidebar mode should remember the expansion for each database.
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I like (and use) the new sidebar mode. Would the “remembering” also apply to the “Workspaces” defined?
No, workspace remember only the opened databases, windows, tabs and selection.
I’ve been using DT3 exclusively for about a year now, including the most recent 3.5 update with the new sidebar features. There’s no point piling on what has already been covered in this thread ad nauseam. But I will make this comment. If the usefulness of a feature/design choice can be measured by how much it gets used, the new sidebar as a replacement for 3PV is a bust. I really only use it to switch between databases. I never use it to traverse databases/groups like you would do in 3PV because it is so frustrating to use.
With that out of the way, there is one design choice that is causing problems for me. I bring it up here because it is a direct result of the new sidebar being shoehorned in as a replacement for 3PV. And that is the use of the sidebar for searching in the current selection. I find the default behavior unintuitive and frustrating. When I select a group in the item list, and then type a search term, my expectation is that I should be able to limit my search to the selected group. But it doesn’t work that way. The only way to use the scope:selection flag is if the group is selected in the sidebar. Ugh. The “improved” sidebar strikes again, making searching more difficult than it ever was in DT2 with 3PV.
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When I select a group in the item list, and then type a search term, my expectation is that I should be able to limit my search to the selected group.
A selected group in the item list is not the active location. The active location is listed in the Path bar.
A group selected in the Navigate sidebar would show as the active selection, regardless if you’re using unified databases or not.
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It does indeed, which is fantastic. Is it possible for DT3 to also remember which document I was viewing when switching between databases?
I am, so far, having a different experience of 3.5. I really appreciate the changes made to the sidebar, which have restored a huge amount of my ability to work as I was accustomed to in DTPO2 using 3PV – which in turn is allowing me to fully explore DT3’s bells and whistles. I’ve only been using it for a couple of days, and may yet run into other issues, but for the moment am once again enjoying using this software.
A future release will probably support this (in columns view it is actually already supported).
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For what is worth, now that databases and the content are separate, it should be easy to create an extra side bar, so to speak, using Keyboard Maestro or Alfred, if it is needed.
Using Alfred for instance, I can hit ⇧⌘L to activate a filter for open databases and quickly switch. Adding tags or favorites should not be difficult either.
The main sticking point for me is that I have some databases with lots of groups. With these databases, the stuff on the sidebar that I find useful to have always onscreen (Favorites at the top) and (Smart Groups & Rules at the bottom) scrolls away when one of these multi-group db’s is expanded, because the sidebar is pressed into double duty. I can sort of get around this by turning off the View > Show Only Documents option and doing my group navigation in the item list, but with my preferred Preview choice of Standard that leaves me with a pretty short list without scrolling and switching to Widescreen doesn’t leave me with many columns available without eating into the Preview area itself.
It always gets me back to “I wish I had 3PV”.
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Wow, that looks very nice! Would you mind to share how to set this up in Alfred? I looked into this https://github.com/mpco/AlfredWorkflow-DEVONthink-Search, but not quite sure where to start since I have never custimized an Alfrend workflow.
I made a version for you that filters databases, favorites and workspaces.
If you want to remove any of those, all you have to do is open the item called Script Filter in the workflow and look for the line I marked. Then you can remove from the string what you would like to leave out.
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Amazing, thank you!
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I also use Standard, but with Show Documents Only turned on. My databases also have lots of groups, but I use the other elements of the sidebar infrequently, so don’t miss Globals, Favourites, etc. Smart Rules is still a problem for me to access quickly and easily using DT3’s interface. @Bernardo_V’s example of Alfred above looks excellent, but of course adds another app/step to the equation so might not be optimal.
If you still have room in the toolbar, you could place some links there as well.