Hi! Brand new to DT. I have it mostly set up, but I have one lingering question before I purchase.
I’ve previously been using PDFOptim to compress PDF files. I find that ScanSnap doesn’t seem to care too much, and I didn’t see any compression settings in DT.
What is the best way to handle a compression workflow? My suspicion is that if I scan to DT and then run PDFOptim on the file (replacing the original file) it will cause issues with the database. Is there validity to that fear?
If so, what’s a better way to do this? Scan files to my hard drive/external drive, run all optimizations on the file, and lastly import it into DT?
My setup: I’m on macOS using a ScanSnap iX1300. I have it set up to be able to scan to DT and have a couple profiles based on the ScanSnap defaults but set up to scan to DT. I’ve opted to import rather than index.
Welcome @PermaSlate
Does PDFOptim actually generate a new document or does it save the changes to the current document? If so the latter, you shouldn’t have any real concerns. If the former, you’d want to generate the compressed files before importing.
My setup: I’m on macOS using a ScanSnap iX1300. I have it set up to be able to scan to DT and have a couple profiles based on the ScanSnap defaults but set up to scan to DT. I’ve opted to import rather than index.
Did you follow the instructions in DEVONthink 4’s In & Out > Going Paperless (Other Options) section of the built-in Help and manual?
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Does PDFOptim actually generate a new document or does it save the changes to the current document? If so the latter, you shouldn’t have any real concerns. If the former, you’d want to generate the compressed files before importing.
Its options are Replace Original or several ways to pick a destination folder. I believe it’s rendering a new, compressed version of the file, and then replacing the old file with one of the same name.
Did you follow the instructions in DEVONthink 4’s In & Out > Going Paperless (Other Options) section of the built-in Help and manual?
I did! The documentation has been very thorough and helpful (albeit it a little overwhelming).
It sounds like my workflow should be to scan a document with ScanSnap Home, optimize it with PDFOptim, and then import it into DEVONthink. If that’s the case, does it matter if OCR is activated for both applications? I think PDFOptim might strip out OCR data as part of its optimization. Is having OCR on in both applications simply unnecessary, or will it actually cause problems?
Using OCR in both wouldn’t hurt anything but it’s definitely inefficient.
It sounds like my workflow should be to scan a document with ScanSnap Home, optimize it with PDFOptim, and then import it into DEVONthink.
If you follow this path, I would make sure to disable sending the scan to DEVONthink via the Send to option. That way you could post-process the scan with PDFOptim and import the compressed version after the fact.
I’m actually unfamiliar with PDFOptim. Many people in here use Witt Software’s PDF Squeezer.
If you follow this path, I would make sure to disable sending the scan to DEVONthink via the Send to option. That way you could post-process the scan with PDFOptim and import the compressed version after the fact.
Ah, yes definitely. I’d use ScanSnap > DEVONthink only if I didn’t mind the sizing.
I’m actually unfamiliar with PDFOptim. Many people in here use Witt Software’s PDF Squeezer.
PDFOptim is just what I ended up using at the time I went looking for a solution. Does PDF Squeezer fit into a DEVONthink workflow better? Or would I find myself in the same situation?
