When I try to place a note in a document, i get a small yellow square which, when I click on it, then provides a black annotation box in which I can write some text. When i save, close and reopen, the little yellow box is there as well as a larger yellow rectangle that includes only some of the text i wrote as well as a little white box outlined in black. The yellow rectangle has a grey circle with an X in it, as if I could click on the x and delete the box, but it doesn’t do anything. And nor is it possible to click on either of the yellow boxes to bring up the black annotation window to read what I had originally written. All I want to do is put a note on the top of a bunch of documents that sums up what I think of the document.
Appreciate any help! Thanks.
There are still issues with the Note Annotation. We are investigating what can be done. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
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Thanks Bluefrog. Can you suggest a quick and easy way to write and access a short description of a given pdf in main viewing window? I’d love to be able to hover over a document and access something i’ve written. As it is now, when I hover I get a dialogue box that gives me data like: Location, Title, Subject, Creator, etc.
I just want to quickly make and access a short note that i’ve written summarizing the document, or it’s relevance to my research, etc. What would be the quickest, simplest way to do that?
thanks.
@mammalian it sounds from your request that you could make use of the annotation file vs the note annotation. The annotation file can be generated from the inspector view and will allow you to view the note and the PDF at the same time.
We’ve been discussing some of these features. I provided a screenshot of the inspector view in a previous post here it’s image #2.
The benefit of the DT3 inspector window is that it makes it very easy to see the annotation file for a document and the document itself at the same time.
Is this the kind of annotation you’re looking for?
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The Annotation file mentioned by @Cali310 is what I would suggest as well.
Thanks. I’m not sure if i’m doing what you suggested but i did find my own way, using your advice. I just use the inspector and use the Spotlight Comments field. I can open the inspector and keep it open while I scroll through the list in the main window and then I just see the different Spotlight Comments field associated with each document as I scroll. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.
i did find my own way
Nice! DEVONthink is an incredibly flexible and capable application, so it supports many different approaches. Glad you found one that suits your purposes! 
An embarrassment of riches and, embarrassingly I don’t think I come anywhere near to realizing the potential. Especially with Devonagent. Do you guys ever offer courses in maximizing your apps?
just downloaded version 3 and the Finder Comments seems like a good place for what I need.
actually, lots of options…
Do you guys ever offer courses in maximizing your apps?
No, but these forums are a great resource for info and how people are using our apps.
@mammalian glad to hear you’ve found a way! Even when I’ve got a good workflow in place, I try to experiment with the other features of DT. What got me excited about DT3 was that this new inspector sidebar and features allowed me to take some of the annotation tasks I was doing in other programs (whether viewing or editing) and do that all in DT. It’s more efficient because it minimizes program switching.
One of the questions I had about the finder comments vs the annotation file was: is there a character limit to the finder comments box?
- As far as I can tell, there is no upper limit. I tried inserting 1,000,000 characters and 5,000,000 characters. DT3 handled this, but when I tried to drag the file from DT3 back to finder I experienced significant lag (this is a finder issue, not DT3 as far as I can tell). So the practical limit might be somewhere south of 1,000,000.
- One of the benefits of the finder comments is that it stays with the file, even if you drag it out of DT3 and place it somewhere else.
- One of the benefits of the DT3 annotation file rtf format is that it supports placeholders and allows more than just plaintext when building the annotation.
I think the annotations file and features can be a very expansive in terms of the possibilities. I’m looking forward to seeing how this feature grows in future releases of DT.
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