As an addendum to Criss’ suggestion: I would make a general suggestion to not have those other databases open anyways. If there is no need to have the unrelated databases open in a given situation, close them and let your system breathe a little.
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Evan
My approach is - Group by file number [YYnnn], folders within group - depends on type of matter and I force the sequence I want - 1. Correspondence, 2. Court; 3. Evidence and so on. Usually, I file all to correspondence and may sub file to sub groups by party name. I adopt the same approach for other groups eg Evidence 1. Client 2. Other side 3. Production 4. Subpoenas. I may even go down another level as I will do with Primary Materials where I want to have access by subject matter (tagging would be too cumbersome).
I have relied on duplicating but am trying to reduce file size by now going to replicants.
I don’t agree with Mog’s comment about being able to find things quickly when a client is on the phone - my system works well as usually I will be discussing a particular subject matter with a client and can go to the folder or sub folder where that information is stored.
I am often able to email to a client a document or previous email from the client while we are speaking so that the client has the document there to discuss.
Generally I name documents (PDFs) as , file number, date using TextExpander for yyyymmdd for my created documents and 10Jul19 for 3rd party created.
My only complaint with DT and PDFs is that DT creates its own date as the date of import into the database rather than the date that is in the Finder. (as the Create Date)
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DT creates its own date as the date of import into the database rather than the date that is in the Finder. (as the Create Date)
That is incorrect. The Addition Date is the date an item is added to a database and it’s distinct from the Creation Date.
The Addition and Creation dates would only be the same in specific instances, like creating a new document in DEVONthink.
Imports from the Finder would have different values for these dates.
Many of my clients have different subject matters and our discussions will often dart around them back and forth rather than one at a time before going onto the next. By having a smart folder tag to client as well as tag and folder for the particular matter I can have all matters in front of me when discussing.
This system works for me - I can have thousands of documents in a specific matter database - as long as the groups I create are properly referenced to subject matter, I have no issue with moving from topic to topic and having the relevant documents in front of me as I discuss aspects with the client (usually when preparing our evidence or reviewing evidence of others).
I generally work remotely so this level of organisation is critical to effective teleconferencing with clients.
@mog and @p_mitchell
You are both wrong… and both correct 
Each method works for each of you and that’s great. There is no “one size fits all” approach, and the fact you both can work efficiently in your own way is just another testament to the flexibility of DEVONthink.
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I guess the issue is more related to when PDFs are moved into a folder at system level. I may receive a PDF by email today but not move it to DTP for several days. The date of the PDF is not the date it was created by the sender but the date it hits the Mac folder. It is that date that is shown as the Created date in DTP. I am not aware of a system setting that would alter this situation.
Ah, the philosopher’s touch! Fully agree.
There are a couple I can close, but many I need to reference or put things into throughout the day. For example, I serve on a couple Bar Association committees, and I give each committee its own database. During the day, I might get emails relating to those, which I clip into DT. Not a big deal, but having to close databases before court appearances, etc., in order to get a 3-pane view sorted how many lawyers sort, is busy work that wasn’t there before. The rest of the changes in version 3 are so good, though, that one disruption to my workflow isn’t going to kill me. 
The rest of the changes in version 3 are so good, though, that one disruption to my workflow isn’t going to kill me.
Hopefully none of our changes are going to kill anyone! 
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Sorry to be answering so late but hopefully you will get this. One of my favorite new features of DTP3 is that you can change the creation date of any file in the Info inspector (right-hand sidebar). The metatata of the file itself is changed, not just in the database.
I’d like to second the request for keyboard focus in the sidebar. One can mostly replicate the old 3-pane view using the combination of the widescreen layout with the sidebar. The only deficiency is that you can’t traverse the sidebar tree or expand/collapse branches using the keyboard. Keeping keyboard focus in the sidebar until the user selects an item in the item list would alleviate this problem. Thanks!
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Regarding the 3 Pane view … are there any news whether it will return in DT3? Bought DT3 today (upgrade) but switched back to DT2, given the lack of the three pane view. Perhaps I’m missing something, but I love the three pane view (see picture, top) and DT3 just acts differently (read: worse). Or haven’t I found the right options to get the three pane view back?
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There are no such plans. However, there’s an option to show only documents in list view (see View menu) and a hidden preference to preview groups (see appendix of help).
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use View->As Columns, this will give u pretty much what u need (I think) by combining this
and this
Thanks for the hint, it seems like
defaults write com.devon-technologies.think3 DisplayGroupsInPreviewPane -bool TRUE
did turn on the preview mode. But it’s no replacement for the Three Panes View.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but I wonder in which direction DEVONthink is going. First the iOS app is wasting GBs of space for previews. Now you present a new version — which might have nice features — but remove an — for many users — important view. Is there no one in your company who uses DEVONthink this way? Who noticed that this might be … missed?
@ngan
Thank you for the tip — unfortunately, this view takes up space horizontally, which is inconvenient. The problem is that DEVONthink is a productivity app which I use every day and very intensively. Even small changes are awkward, and this change is rather large (the Three Panes View is my default view).
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Understood. BUT if you are a mainly one-database user, u can consider turning off the side bar. You can still see inbox and tags within the list view by enabling the relevant options A very nice touch on sorting groups in list view. Nor you need the inspector to be on all time to save the horizontal space. There are quite a few discussions on 3-pane view in DT2 vs DT3 and u can search for it to see how different users are getting to like the current setup as they use the system more. Obviously, not all users are the same.
@ngan
Thank you, but I usually use 6 databases (Collection Inbox, Work, Notebooks, RSS-Feeds, Sources-Fiction and Sources-Non-Fiction; got more that I use infrequently).
My (unfortunately) temporary solution is to avoid using DT3 (sigh, €100 down the drain, well, at least for a while).
I hope they are not going the Circus Ponies Notebook route (a great piece of software suddenly stopping to exist), but so far my impression of DT3 is rather negative. The missing Three Panes View being the worst missing feature. But it’s also the design … it looks … stale … and colorless. (I could live with the later, but not with the former.)
And yeah, I’m wondering whether they are neglecting their power-users. The product is/was great, the support is really helpful, but the overall direction gives me pause.
Anyway, thank you for your suggestions, here’s hoping for the best.
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You did a very good job diagramming the issue here. I agree with your general assessment.
I think the consolidated sidebar is a good idea because it can free up space when the right-side info pane open (as you show in the bottom most diagram).
However, the consolidation means that the document branches start in the pane at a two-spaced interval (once space for the dropdown arrow and another for the database folder). In my case, I have many folders that have 3 or more levels of subfolders, and by the third level the panel cannot display the folder names beyond a few characters before the ellipsis starts. Obviously one could expand the side bar to a point, but then this begins to take up more screen real estate. A small reduction in the space caused by the dropdown arrows and folder icon spacing would probably help.
I would second the point about the folder contrast. I liked the blue folder icons. They were somehow much easier to see. And I don’t find the aesthetics to be that outdated. IMO there is a relationship between aesthetics and productivity. Overall I think DT3 improves in a many areas aesthetic and otherwise, but the folder pane and folder icon is one where the vision in DT2 very nearly hit the mark.
After falling in love with DevonThink Pro Office years ago as a solo attorney, I implemented DevonThink as the central document management application for all of the attorneys at my current law firm. Today, myself and the other attorneys at my law firm discussed DTP during our lunch and I gave a demo overview of DTP3. I very much would prefer Three Pane view to return as an option (even if it does cause a loss of screen real estate)…but I think I could adapt. However, the other attorneys in my office decided to indefinitely delay purchasing DTP3 licenses for all attorneys and staff until something similar (or the same) as Three Pane view is added in a future release.
Everyone loved the new look of DTP3 and found the other new features very compelling (especially the Inspector pane). However, It appears that all of the attorneys in my firm use Three Pane View 99% of the time in DTP2. The less tech savvy don’t want to change their workflow (it is not a question of wanting DTP3 to “look” the same as DTP2, but rather that there are many standard workflows that cannot be replicated without Three Pane View as an option). Top issues mentioned during our meeting (i) inability to select multiple folders or subfolders at the same time in the Sidebar of DTP3 and see all files contained in said folders; (ii) right-clicking on Sidebar folders in DTP3 provides far fewer options compared to Three Pane view in DTP2; (iii) Sidebar in DTP3 does not allow for keyboard navigation between folders.
I showed the partners some of the work-arounds I have read about on this thread to get some of the Three Pane functionality…some thought that was sufficient, some thought that it was confusing, and everyone thought that it would be nearly impossible to teach our paralegals and assistants to use the work-arounds in DTP3 to get similar functionality as Three Pane View in DTP2.
Someone pointed out that DTP3’s view settings are basically the same as Finder’s view settings…this was noted as a bad thing…one of the reasons we migrated the entire office to DTP3 was because of the view limitations in Finder (selecting multiple folders at the same time to see contents of said folders is impossible in Finder, but is possible in DTP2 Three Pane).
In any event, I will keep an eye out for future updates to see if DTP3 eventually implements features that allow users to use the Sidebar in a way that provides most or all of the advantages of Three Pane View in DTP2. Either that, or perhaps simply adding Three-Pane View back as a view option in DTP3. The firm is more than happy to pay top dollar for good software, but the Three Pane View (or something with all of the same benefits and functionality) caused the partners to delay upgrading at this time.
Again, love almost everything about the updated DTP3…and will likely buy a license for my home computer (mostly media organization).
Thanks, Patrick
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