# Any way to interface with Android?
**URL:** https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711
**Category:** Feedback
**Created:** [October 10, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711 "2012-10-10T11:40:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mannp](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/mannp)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/1 "2012-10-10T11:40:08Z")
Hi
Done a search for android with only some old items, so asking my question.
Appreciate there will likely never be a devonthink to go for android, I really would like to interface my workflow with it if I can.
Has anyone tried, made any progress of adding android into their workflows?
I’ve paid for everything Apple, so not looking for an Apple / Android comparison, but just a alternate way to script or interface with android.
Thanks in advance
Paul.
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### Author:  [@bosie](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/bosie)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/2 "2012-11-02T12:22:57Z")
have you found a solution? i am in the same boat now.
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### Author:  [@korm](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/korm)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/3 "2012-11-02T12:27:43Z")
Not clear what “workflow” means - but for data, what about Dropbox or Box, or some other cloud thing?
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### Author:  [@bosie](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/bosie)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/4 "2012-11-02T12:38:22Z")
i can only speak for myself but i would like to be able to load/read pdfs/html snippets, annotate them and load it back into devonthink. ideally syncing the last position of the document too.
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### Author:  [@bosie](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/bosie)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/5 "2012-11-02T15:01:05Z")
> [@korm](#):
>
> what about Dropbox or Box, or some other cloud thing?
how?
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### Author:  [@korm](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/korm)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/6 "2012-11-02T16:23:07Z")
Well, for example, you could use the Android version of iAnnotate PDF, sync iAnnotate with folder(s) in Dropbox, and index the folders in DEVONthink.
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### Author:  [@bosie](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/bosie)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/7 "2012-11-02T19:23:24Z")
> [@korm](#):
>
> Well, for example, you could use the Android version of iAnnotate PDF, sync iAnnotate with folder(s) in Dropbox, and index the folders in DEVONthink.
well yes, except that i don’t need to sync my entire database (which is about 50gb). i need a partial sync to dropbox/drive for already indexed files in my database, and since i alter them, i also need to be able to re-index them.
i just tried it the way you suggested and either i did something wrong (absolutely possible) or DT won’t update the content.
i also tried to copy the files to my dropbox, alter it on my android, copy it back to the original place (somewhere inside the dtBase2 package) but it won’t re-index it either
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### Author:  [@korm](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/korm)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/8 "2012-11-02T22:08:38Z")
Sounds really complicated. I still don’t understand the desired “workflow”, sorry.
Over here, I just use Dropbox folders as a temporary way to pass things back and forth to annotation software on tablets. It’s just an ad hoc approach I used with iPad that will work exactly the same with Android. If it doesn’t work, forget it. 😕
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### Author:  [@bosie](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/bosie)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/9 "2012-11-02T23:44:29Z")
> [@korm](#):
>
> Over here, I just use Dropbox folders as a temporary way to pass things back and forth to annotation software on tablets. It’s just an ad hoc approach I used with iPad that will work exactly the same with Android. If it doesn’t work, forget it. 😕
heh, well, first of all, thanks for the answer.
i tried it again. my “workflow”:
a) copy the PDF from inside the database package (…/database.dtBase2/Files.noindex/pdf/1/Self-Organizing\_Maps.pdf) to a local directory (might as well be your temporary dropbox directory)
b) open the pdf in preview.app
c) underline words
c.a) add a note
c.b) add a textfield
d) copy the file back to the package, replace the old version
e) open the database
now i see the changes i made to the file showing up in DT pro. it still can’t search for the text i added.
problems:
a) the textfield i added isn’t being indexed
b) doing this for tens of documents seems cumbersome 😉
where does your workflow differ, other than using the android/ipad app for annotation?
thank you
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Jones](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Greg_Jones)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/10 "2012-11-03T01:57:52Z")
For what it is worth, I believe that copying files out and back into the database package is very dangerous to the health of your database. Eventually, something will become corrupt and cause problems. You’ll be much better off either exporting and re-importing them after edits, or indexing the documents into the database.
Back to the topic/question asked, the annotations/notes added by a third party app are not currently added to the text layer, so they are not searchable in DEVONthink. See [Notes in PDF searchable](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/notes-in-pdf-searchable/12410/1) for more info.
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### Author:  [@bosie](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/bosie)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/11 "2012-11-03T14:00:17Z")
> [@Greg\_Jones](#):
>
> For what it is worth, I believe that copying files out and back into the database package is very dangerous to the health of your database. Eventually, something will become corrupt and cause problems. You’ll be much better off either exporting and re-importing them after edits, or indexing the documents into the database.
how is indexing an option? i want to sync different files at different times.
the only problem i have with re-importing is the how i would go about it. it seems to me i would have to
- delete the original version
- import the new one
- move it to the right group(s)
- apply the tags
- apply all the metadata
no?
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Jones](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Greg_Jones)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/12 "2012-11-03T15:02:12Z")
> [@bosie](#):
>
> how is indexing an option? i want to sync different files at different times.
Now I’m the one that is confused about your workflow. Did you not mention earlier in this thread that the documents were already indexed?
> [@](#):
>
> i need a partial sync to dropbox/drive for already indexed files in my database, and since i alter them, i also need to be able to re-index them.
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### Author:  [@bosie](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/bosie)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/13 "2012-11-03T15:19:19Z")
> [@Greg\_Jones](#):
>
> > [@bosie](#):
> >
> > how is indexing an option? i want to sync different files at different times.
>
> Now I’m the one that is confused about your workflow. Did you not mention earlier in this thread that the documents were already indexed?
my documents are already indexed.
e.g. I index files A,B,C,D,E. now i want files B and D on android. a week later, i want B and E. Then A and C etc.
and changes on android should be visible in my devonthink database.
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### Author:  [@korm](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/korm)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/14 "2012-11-03T20:12:23Z")
> [@bosie](#):
>
> my documents are already indexed.
… didn’t you mention before that you were opening up the database package and extracting documents to edit? (Not a great idea, as Greg already said.)
> [@](#):
>
> e.g. I index files A,B,C,D,E. now i want files B and D on android. a week later, i want B and E. Then A and C etc. and changes on android should be visible in my devonthink database.
If you index a Dropbox folder, access that folder and its PDFs on your Android, make changes on Android, save back to Dropbox, and then refresh the indexed group in DEVONthink (select group and use File \> Update Indexed Items), then the changes you made on Android are going to be visible in DEVONthink.
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Jones](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Greg_Jones)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/15 "2012-11-04T12:33:22Z")
I’ve created a tip document in another forum post linked [here](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tip-accessing-editing-documents-outside-of-devonthink/14810/1) to offer a suggestion on how to do this with documents that are contained (imported, not indexed) into the database.
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### Author:  [@bosie](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/bosie)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/16 "2012-11-04T19:21:13Z")
> [@Greg\_Jones](#):
>
> I’ve created a tip document in another forum post linked [here](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tip-accessing-editing-documents-outside-of-devonthink/14810/1) to offer a suggestion on how to do this with documents that are contained (imported, not indexed) into the database.
thank you very much for the detailed explanation. i just tried it and it works great, exactly what i was looking for. thank you
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Jones](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Greg_Jones)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/17 "2012-11-04T20:32:41Z")
Glad to help!
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### Author:  [@Hans\_der\_Maler](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Hans_der_Maler)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/18 "2013-01-12T19:23:39Z")
Short of all:
there is no, I repeat: no DevonThink to go for Android.
Is any?
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### Author:  [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/19 "2013-01-12T19:59:41Z")
Correct. There is no Android version of DEVONthink To Go.
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### Author:  [@daftano](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/daftano)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 9:16am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711/20 "2013-03-20T09:16:23Z")
Are you planning an Android client or API documentation?
[Next page](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/any-way-to-interface-with-android/14711.md?page=2)