@BLUEFROG Hi Jim, I’ve looked, but can’t find an answer. Is there an issue with opening files directly rather than via DT3? I open files using the “open recent” menu in MS Office etc?
This shouldn’t cause any troubles as long as you don’t rename, move, delete or duplicate them.
I thought the path of imported records may be changed by DEVONthink even without user action. So no user action no changed path?
That’s right, only changes might cause different paths.
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You also do not want to make a change, say in Word, and do a Save As into the internals of the database. If you do, you will create an orphaned file.
That’s great, thanks for the clarification.
You’re welcome!
How does one find or recognize orphan files? Will they be outside of DT3? Can a single file be Indexed? (seems to me that it is only a folder)
How does one find or recognize orphan files?
Via File > Verify & Repair and reporting in Window > Log.
Will they be outside of DT3?
Not outside the database. They are files added to the database without DEVONthink’s knowledge.
Can a single file be Indexed? (seems to me that it is only a folder)
Yes, you can index a single file. However, it will need to be manually updated via File > Update Indexed Items after you’ve made changes outside DEVONthink.
Curious about something - Once a file is safely in Devonthink, does it move to different OS paths?
The reason I ask is that I have a terrible wandering eye when it comes to word processors. I think I saw that BBEdit honors some kind of project paradigm in which files are added to a Scrivener-esque binder.
I could live with Markdown. I’m about half tempted to write my next miserable screed in plain text. BBEdit intrigues.
If I add files in DT to a BBEdit project, will they stay in constant paths within DT as the database grows?
No …
No user action (or Smart Rule), no changed path.
Scripts could of course cause changed paths too.
That’s a user action 
I can see that reasoning, but I can open files externally from within Devonthink.
Does DT trigger a rescan of an externally opened document after the external process terminates, or is that done when a file’s modification time changes?
If DT waits for an external process to terminate, that seems like it could cause problems for DT. When I close an RTF document that I opened in Nisus, Nisus doesn’t terminate. It just writes the file without the Nisus process terminating.
Not trying to second guess people who know far more than I, just wanting to learn.
DEVONthink automatically updates the item after receiving filesystem events (typically after saving the modified document in the external app).
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You‘re of course right.
I thought there was no easy way to add documents that live inside DEVONthink to a BBEdit project but I now learned that one can actually simply drag a record onto the project. Nice!
I’m currently editing a powerpoint deck that is in the DT3 inbox and I have the enclosed message. Any idea what could be causing it? This has never happened outside DT3?
Had you done something to the file in DEVONthink?
All I’ve done is open the file from the recent file list in PPT and made some edits.
I write Python constantly, along with a smattering of JavaScript and occasionally C/C++.
That’s almost all in vim - I’m old school, and I work on remote machines without good X support.
My interest in BBEdit is for markdown. I’m curious what you think, is it crazy to want a powerful text editor to write the next great American novel?