Bike file support?

DEVONthink
1

Hello.

Can DEVONthink work with Bike files? E.g., can it read/preview/display/edit them?

2

To be honest, I have no knowledge of what a “Bike” file is. But if you can use macOS Finder to read/preview/display and you have an app that can edit them, then DEVONthink will use its connections to the macOS built-in capabilities and your app. Try.

3

Sorry, I tried to link to the Hog Bay Software site, but the forum wouldn’t allow the link. Finder can’t preview the files for some reason, but EagleFiler can, so I’m wondering if DT can.

4

Well, in DEVONthink, use the “Open With” command on the file to open with your copy of EagleFiler? I don’t have EagleFiler or a “Bike” file to test this idea. You can try yourself with your own copies of these? I don’t know how searching would work as the macOS doesn’t seem to know about them (suggested by not working in Finder), but try.

5

For posterity: I downloaded the demo and can confirm that DT3 on Mac will read and display a preview for Bike files.

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6

My understanding is that Bike uses HTML as its underlying format, so renaming the file to .html then importing or indexing should mean it’s displayed correctly by DEVONthink.

I’ve no idea how edits made in DEVONthink will be reflected in Bike. Perhaps create a test file and see how it works in practice?

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7

Bike outlines are indeed HTML files, and the Bike   Format > Highlight command wraps highlight phrases and passage in standard HTML <mark> .. .</mark> which means that:

  • they show up (DT 3.8.7+) in the Document Annotations inspector
  • and they can be summarized by Tools > Summarize Highlights

The best interaction between DT and Bike may be to:

  1. index a Finder folder full of Bike files, and
  2. use Data > Open With ... Bike
  • Bike outlines are well displayed, with their inline formatting, and rendered by the DEVONthink > Preferences > Web > Style Sheet in DT think windows
  • but be aware that if you make edits in DT itself, DT will both rename the file and change its content (DT HTML and Bike HTML have slight different headers and structure) leaving it unopenable by Bike. DT doesn’t appear to leave a backup of the original file.

IE for a round-trip workflow it’s important that you edit the .bike file, using Bike itself.

8

A smart rule could handle this using the Before Saving trigger (similar to the default smart rule Create Version).

1 Like