Bidirectional linking within DT and externally?

DEVONthink
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A person on Reddit has asked me how DEVONthink supports bidirectional linking (I had listed it as a helpful feature of DT). I’m wondering if someone could write a brief description of how bidirectional linking works within DT.

FWIW, here’s the Reddit query from the other person (“you” is me):

You mention

DTP supports deep bidirectional linking (from a specific location in one document to a specific location in another)

I assume you mean something like LiquidText’s ability to link any two points?

But after trying DEVONthink, the closest I found is Copy Selection Link, which only creates a one-way link. Am I missing something?

I’d give it a shot myself, but I felt certain that a more experienced person could do a better job. Thank you.

EDIT: Meanwhile, I’ve referred this person to the “Document Linking” section of the current DTP manual.

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The bottom pane of the Document > Links inspector lists all incoming item & Wiki links.

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Thanks, cgrunenberg. I’ve just relayed that bit of info, which should be helpful. In my initial reply, I used that info to describe some of the external apps to which and from which I have links in DTP.

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DEVONthink and the inspector are of course not aware of links used in other apps, only item & Wiki links in the currently opened databases matter.

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This is probably obvious, but, just to be clear, to be able to link from a location within a document in DTP to a location or document in another app, that external app needs to have a feature called something like “Copy Link”, right?

(I frequently do this with Bookends, for example, but also with a couple of other apps.)

Otherwise I’m guessing the user would need to use something like Hookmark to create a link which would be recognizable and actionable to DTP.

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Yes, the other app needs a feature similar to DEVONthink’s item links.

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Very helpful. Thank you! In putting together my set of research tools a year or so ago, I made this kind of linking a requirement. I’ve become so accustomed to it that I couldn’t remember if this feature was something that was generally supported or not. Thinking back, I remember how I had to fall back on Hookmark until I finally came up with a set of apps that play together so nicely.

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which apps do you use? for what do you use such linking in the daily workflow? I haven’t used it up to now, maybe I missed an important feature :smiling_face:

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I use DTP as the foundation app, where I keep copies of PDFs, along with notes on them and on many other sources (books, websites, lectures, etc.). I have zillions of interconnections established within DTP, and probably more than half of my work is done within DTP.

To keep track of references, I use Bookends.

Because I do a lot of biblical research, I use a research tool called Logos.

For visually associating multiple PDFs or other articles on a closely related topic, I sometimes use LiquidText, though not that often. I may not renew my subscription, though it’s a very nifty piece of software.

All four of the above-named apps work well together, supporting links in both directions.

I do longer form composition on Ulysses, in which I insert links to content stored in DTP, Logos or, less often, LiquidText.

To prepare original documents for distribution, I’ve used Scrivener, but I don’t always.

Unfortunately, none of these tools is freeware! In fact, several have premium prices which correlate to their premium features. But when I need a tool to do repairs on my apartment or vehicle, I don’t expect the hardware or car parts store to give it to me for free. And I’m not surprised if a really fine tool has a higher price. (Meaning that I sometimes have to do without, or save up.)

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I use markdown linking between several apps including Devonthink via Keyboard Maestro and GitHub - RobTrew/copy-as-md-link: macOS Keyboard Maestro macro group – single keystroke to copy MD links from different applications..

It’s been great! In one app, simply select the document, Option-Cmd-m to copy the markdown link, then in the other app go to where you want it and cmd-v to paste it. Clicking that link will jump back to the source app and display the file. I use it all the time with Devonthink, Obsidian, Scrivener, and Zotero. Although Devonthink indexes all of those so I don’t have to establish links back to DT, it’s very handy to put links into the others. I don’t use Bookends, but the macro group looks like it supports it.

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And of course, I use Hookmarks for bidirectional linking as well as to obtain a Markdown link for almost anything.

Lisa

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And to be clear: Hookmark doesn’t add linking functions to the other applications. It works as an intermediary process on its own.

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I use Hookmark as well, I find it easier than DT built in functionality. Yes, it’s an external tool nor related to DT but the 2 form, for me, almost a single tool.

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I also use Hookmark, but find myself wondering whether wikilink-style links operating only within databases, rather than across all open databases, is a necessary technical limitation? Or a decision about applicable scope (and, if so, if an option might exist to remove that limitation)?

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Scope and performance matter indeed.

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I’m the Reddit user who originally asked this. Thanks everyone!

Sorry for the confusion—I wasn’t clear before. What I’m really after is LiquidText-style links within a single PDF, jumping from one spot in the file to another, like in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWW2LzGbdjw&t=60s.

I’m used to that convenience in LiquidText and I think it’s a real time-saver. My guess is that’s a proprietary LiquidText feature.

In DEVONthink the nearest workaround seems to be manual annotation + “Copy Selection Link”. But I’m wondering if there is a smoother way to get true in-PDF two-point linking?

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I admittedly don’t know how or what DT is offering in this context. You can (in principle, that is) add links to PDFs using special annotations:

And the DT documentation has this to say on PDF link annotations:

Add a link to a selected area. Click and drag over an area to establish a hotspot for the link to be active. For the Link Type , choose Link within PDF , navigate to another page and click Set to create a link between pages within the same PDF. Alternatively, choose URL and enter a URL to an external item. This can be a web site address, or drag files from the Finder or your DEVONthink databases into this field.

That sounds (to me) like what you’re looking for?

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Thanks for the quick response, and of course. I do wonder, though, if there might be an additional option to specify databases across which it applies, thus ruling out any default performance issues, but leaving the user the option to possibly have two or more databases with auto-wiki-linking if performance is not an issue.

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A future release might support this.

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I’m the OP. I’m trying to determine if I oversold DEVONthink Pro’s support of “bidirectional linking” when I recommended DTP on Reddit.

I can easily link a location within an item to another item in DTP, but am I not able to link a particular location within an item to a particular location within another item?

I actually thought I was able to do this, but on closer inspection, I think I’m only linking a point in a document to another entire document, not to a specific location within that second document. (Sorry, but I don’t have the most precise vocabulary for this discussion.)