Ok so I know there’s a ton of things people want from a better UI to new functionality and +1 to all of that but for me it is more basic: feature parity.
DTTG still treats iOS and its devices like they are underpowered or incapable of doing certain things, and it’s mostly not true anymore. I’d like to see DTTG catch up to that reality.
Specifically for me:
- The ability to edit RTF files. DTTG often tells me they are “too complex”. They aren’t. I can play Diablo on my iPad, I can definitely edit an RTF. Plus I can do it in other apps without a problem.
- Textbundle support. I store things in textbundle. I can view them in DT, but not in DTTG. This isn’t a limitation of the device or the OS, and I see requests going back to 2017 for this…
- Conversion options. Why can’t I convert markdown to PDF like I can in DT?
- Or HTML? I mean, c’mon. HTML?
- Speaking of conversion, MD->RTF conversion definitely doesn’t work (it should probably be going to HTML as an intermediate?) it just produces a plain text file with marks - a .md file.
- Same for “Convert to formatted note”. The .md file should be rendered and then converted, otherwise it’s just an .md file, maybe with a different extension.
Essentially, if DT can display something natively, DTTG should be able to as well. In places where DT is using a quick look plugin from another app (ex: viewing Affinity Designer files) I get that might not be possible…yet…but expecting it to have the same base abilities isn’t unrealistic.
Thank you for the suggestions! Unfortunately a lot of things (frameworks & APIs) which are available & possible on the Mac still aren’t on iOS. In addition, DEVONthink To Go is also a lot less expensive than the Mac versions.
Anyway, which version of DEVONthink To Go do you actually use? Since version 3.5 editing of RTF(D) should be possible.
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Maybe I just got unlucky with the RTF and it was really broken in some way. I’ll try a different one, because I am on the current version of both desktop and mobile apps. But RTF aside, I don’t really understand the response, even though I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
If you feel like DTTG isn’t profitable enough to justify feature parity in something as basic as viewing a .textbundle, or properly converting a markdown to HTML…then charge more for it. I know I’d pay more to not have to run back to my computer just because I need to share a document as HTML or view what is nothing more than a markdown file in a fancy folder. You could bundle feature parity behind a pro-package in-app purchase if want.
Heck, for the textbundle you could just display as a folder, which is all it is, and I could tap the MD document and it would render properly. Bonus: I could then EDIT the markdown document, without any further work from you.
MD->HTML shouldn’t require an iOS framework. You’re rendering HTML in the MD preview, aren’t you? You must be because in some of my “prettier” documents half the doc is straight HTML & CSS. Just save that data as a file and you’re done.
The world is increasingly mobile, and mobile devices like M1 (soon M2) iPads are no longer companion devices. I use my iPad Pro as computer, especially when I travel, and the changes to iOS 16 are going to make that even more mainstream.
DTTG should evolve to that realization, even if it means the price goes up or it becomes split “pro” vs “non-pro” feature set.
That’s my rant. thanks for listening.
Interestingly, there is a growing movement of people moving back to laptops and desktop machines.
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In the end people shouldn’t expect feature parity unless the capabilities of the devices will be identical and the price will be the same. There’s a reason why DEVONthink To Go is cheaper. But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any improvements of course. That’s all I wanted to say actually.
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I have no doubt that there are such segments…but I would hesitate to read that as a general population trend without all the data. There was an uptick in laptop sales during the height of covid mostly by businesses equipping workers for WFH. Since then though, they’ve been on a sharp decline.
I don’t know that that point, even if 100% true across the population, really argues against what I asked for 
If you make a version of DTTG that is worth the full price of DT, I’ll buy it.
But that argument by itself doesn’t really work. I can play Diablo on my iPad. Lightroom will automatically find and mask a subject in a photo. That’s far more complex and compute-intensive than anything DT does; so it certainly has the capability to convert MD->HTML.
Capabilities across devices don’t need to be identical; both devices just need to be capable of performing the requested feature. In the case of my post…both are, very much so. A 3 year old iPhone could easily do what I’m suggesting, never mind a modern M1 iPad.
Anyway, you’ve got better things to do than argue with me. Appreciate the insight.
My comment was actually a generic one.