Since @BLUEFROG pointed me into the right direction I have been experimenting with the annotation file feature within DT3 and DTTG lately. I think it’s great that I can link sections of a PDF in the annotation file and add my own thoughts. However, I can’t cope with the different treatment of annotation files within DT3 and DTTG. But maybe it’s me and I have overlooked something.
I have set up DT3 so that the annotations files are stored next to the original rather than in an annotation folder. The standard format for such a file is RTF, which I prefer over markdown. I could create my own template for such files, which I find interesting, but it’s still too early for me at the moment.
DTTG finds annotations files I created with DT3, but saves new annotations files in a separate folder at database level, not side by side to the original. Furthermore such annotation files are markdown format. I couldn’t find appropriate settings in DTTG to change this and also in the documentation I didn’t find anything specific.
So how does the interaction between DTTG and DT3 work with regard to annotation files? I am currently confused by the different storage locations and file formats. And before I go down that road: are templates for annotation files transferred from DT3 to DTTG and are then also available there?
However, I can’t cope with the different treatment of annotation files within DT3 and DTTG.
DEVONthink and DEVONthink To Go aren’t the same applications and not on the same platform. DEVONthink is also more mature as it has been in development far longer. There will be differences, for sure. We are bringing things to parity between the applications as time and technology allow.
DEVONthink To Go only supports creating Markdown annotation files at this time, remembering rich text is not a mobile-native format.
It also only uses the Annotations group in a database, with no option to create it with the referring document. This may be possible in a future release.
And no, there are no shared annotation file templates, assuming you mean your own custom ones on the Mac.
But the annotation files work without issue in either application, regardless of which was used to create it. So if you create a rich text annotation file in DEVONthink, the referring document in DEVONthink To Go is linked up with it.
OK, thanks for the clarification. I will then stick with storing all annotations in a separate folder.
Still I would like to write annotation files in same manner (style) regardless where I started. I therefore would like to use markdown on both platforms. There is no such preference in DT3, is it? Currently in DT3 I just press Control-Option-Command-O to get a new annotation file (RTF).
Is there another keyboard shortcut for DT3 to start with an empty markdown annotation or a predefined one?
Yeah, you are right. I mixed that up.
Control-Option-Command-O only works, if an annotation file already exists.
Control-Command-L was the other shortcut I occasionally used to create a new annotation file, with a reference to the current page.
Maybe I could use Keyboard Maestro in combination with an Apple Script to select a specific annotation template (in my case an empty markdown file)? Do you - by any chance - have one in your Apple Script quiver?
KM would be waaaay overkill for this kind of thing, especially with an AppleScript. You only need to create a shortcut for the specific annotation file then open the menu to verify and register the shortcut.
You can do this in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts > DEVONthink 3.app or more easily in CustomShortcuts, from our friend at Houdah Software.
