I see the latest version of DTPO has Calendar links allowed in Richtext. I still wish there was a calendar view - either native or a way to port into a windpow from an outside Calendar app view. I will gladly take the progress though. Using BusyCal I can copy the URL of an event, then past that event into a Richtext note. Then I highlight It and tell DTPO to make It a link. Might be a good idea if I could just paste It as link? Did I miss that command? I see smart paste and I looked in help but It appears I have not missed this?
- Copy URL to Clipboard in BusyCal
- For test purposes create new rich test note in DTPO
Tested in Plain, Rich and Formatted Note - same results - Paste contents of clipboard into note
- Text pastes in unformatted as text
- select text just pasted and set as link
Not sure It works for you? Sounds like you don’t have to do step 5.
Yosemite OS (non beta) 10.10.4
DTPO 2.8.6
Wonder if one of my clipboard managers is reaking havoc? Keyboard Maestro, TextExpander … ? Doesnt seem likely but, I cant think of why this would work on your mac - but not on mine?
You may potentially be answering your own question! 
Every machine is an individual “ecosystem” with its own inhabitants either contributing to or degrading the environment. Your use of “clipboard managers” (and the use of the plural form ‘managers’ concerns me too), could easily be suspect since you are dealing with pasteboard data.
Easy enough to check. 1) Quit Keyboard Maestro - a macro that also can ALSO manipulate clipboards but it is NOT the same as TextExpander. 2( QUit TE. TE is a great tool for fat fingered typos. Either way, I just tried it again with both apps absent, same results.
This last version of DTPO is supposed to have changed RichText hyperlinks to include calendar “ics” data, correct?
Assuming from the two responses, this is now working for others without having to tell the pasted text to become a link? Wonder why it is not working on my machine?
Que bummer!
Sure, I have the wording mixed up. Your first response showed what I was asking - unless I completely misunderstood what you were saying? You showed a screen shot of the pasted Busycal URL that was blue and underlined as in, an active link.
Yes I know this is not an actual URL. When I paste it, it pastes NOT as an active link as it appears in your screen shot. It pastes as text. When I highlight it and turn it into a link then yes, it opens that event in BusyCal. And that is what I want.
I used the term .ics improperly, I apologize. If I tell Busycal to send an event to Mail, that generates an .ics file. I have tried pasting that .ics file into DTPO and of course, it does nothing.
I can try dragging an iCal event to DTPO and see what happens - I guess … But I work now with BusyCal and, if you say it is working for you but then I have an extra step to make it an active link … that is what I am trying to understand here.
As an aside, note that DEVONthink Pro or Pro Office provides scripts that can be set to create calendar events or To Dos from within the DEVONthink application, e.g., Scripts > Reminders > Add as Event to Calendar (with keyboard shortcut). The Calendar Event contains a link back to the referenced document, and clicking that link will open the document within the DEVONthink environment. Handy for scheduling actions on a document within Apple’s Calendar app.
I appreciate your mentioning that. I am left with korms feedback that pasting a URL pastes as a link for him - but not for me. Oh well.
If I Drag and drop an event from Calendar, it shows the event name and date - and it shows a link to that event which, when clicked in the DTPO RichText document, open Calendar to that event. From what I understand, this is a new feature in the latest DTPO release?
If I do the same thing in BusyCal it also drops in the event Title and date/time. however it does not also paste in the URL, active linked or otherwise.
When I copy the Event URL in a BusyCal event and past that clipboard text into a DTPO RichText field, it WILL NOT paste in as an active link. It pastes in as text. When I select it and set it as link in DTPO, then it acts as an active link back to the event in BusyCal.
Korms experiences aside, it appears that all that is now going to work in DTPO is to drag and drop an event from Calendar into a DTPO RichText note.
Ah well. Thanks to all as always for al the input.
And, another aside, I will be glad for the day when I Can see my events as a calendar view (month, week,etc.) directly inside of DTPO. I don’t care if it won’t appeal to everyone, my point is not to please everyone but to suggest better ways I would love help in getting my own work done. Even if there was a way to pull in a full calendar view form Calendar in a DTPO object, that would be beautiful.
And again, I will have to study how to use scripts to make events from within DTPO to sent out.
DEVONthink is a document database application that focusses on helping the user collect, organize and work with documents that may have been created by a number of other applications. Except for a few filetypes such as plain and rich text, HTML, WebArchive and PDF for which OS X includes the code for editing them, editing of a document under its parent application is done by opening it under that external application or perhaps another chosen by the user, that’s capable of editing it. Display of documents in a DEVONthink database uses applicable code included in OS X, e.g., PDFKit for PDFs, or Apple’s Quick Look display for, e.g., Pages documents.
Don’t expect DEVONthink to include a calendar view, unless the developers of that calendar provide a Quick Look view of it – which isn’t likely, as that would probably be a crippled view of the calendar, no more useful than a screenshot. I’ve got instant access to the Calendar app and its information by clicking its Dock icon. If I’m switching back and forth between Calendar and DEVONthink Pro Office, I can do that by toggling Command-Tab. It’s easy to see my calendar schedule.
While the developers of DEVONthink have adopted many user suggestions, building a calendar view into DEVONthink would divert resources better applied to other plans for evolving DEVONthink.
It’s true that DEVONthink can capture the ics for a Calendar event. For my purposes, that’s not very useful. I can see the date and name of the event, but I’ve got to go to Calendar to do anything else with it. So I won’t bother with the ics. Other than the fact that I can use it to open Calendar, it’s no more useful than a static screenshot of a portion of my Calendar screen.
DEVONthink Pro and Pro Office allow scripting to provide interactivity with other apps, especially apps that are also scriptable. There are several scripts provided that can create new calendar events or To Do reminders, for Calendar and several other apps.
That means that I can schedule an action to be taken on a document in my DEVONthink Pro Office database. I select the document, choose Scripts > Reminders > Add as Event to Calendar and choose my calendar color and one of the date options. A new Event will be created. I’ll then go to the Calendar app and edit the event as necessary, adjusting time and date, alerts or perhaps setting it up as a monthly repeating event. When Calendar sends me a notification, which will be visible from within any application in which I’m working, I can go to the Calendar, double-click the Event to open it, then click on the link to the document that’s up for action. The document then opens within DEVONthink. I take action. Mission accomplished.
There’s not an existing script for such interaction with BusyCal. I don’t know whether or not BusyCal is sufficiently scriptable to write one. I use Calendar because it satisfies my needs and updates events to my iOS devices.
A scren shot or a simple text list of upcomming events and tasks would be all I ask. Exactly.
I appreciate the development that has gone into DTPO. In no way am I degrading that work experience for others. Speaking only for me and how I work with information, I only offer my desire for a calendar view as a hopeful suggestion. I have been accused of being selfish by private message from another from this list (with ties to the DTPO organization apparently) for even making that suggestion. It is beyond me why making a suggestion from an individual users perspective should offend anyone.
I don’t process lots of information very well as I have a disability that makes organizing quite challenging for me. I don’t want to see DTPO become another calendaring app. Neither do I have enough experience to know what It would take from the DT team resources to offer a calendar view to be seen in DTPO. For my very simple way of looking at this, if DTPO is like an all purpose viewer, It would be nice if It could also link-in a calendar view from Calendar, BusyCal or whatever.
I have my calendaring apps, Fantasical which works great in my menu bar, BusyCal and of course, Calendar. But It is important for me to have a visual of my tasks in front of me most of the time so I also use Nerd Tool to display my upcoming events on my desktop. I don’t change anything in NerdTool, I go to BusyCal to add or change or deeply review events and tasks. I went with BusyCal because It still shows reminders and events. When Apple split Calander and Reminders It confused me too much. It is a learning disability thing. Please don’t judge, others may not have the same trouble I have. But I do have a need to see information all in a place. It really does help (me).
Since I am working more and more with DTPO I am trying my best to get it set up the way I want It. I still don’t understand why others would see offering suggestions as selfish as we all have a work flow that works best for us. The more time I spend in DTPO, the more I wish I could have a calendar view somewhere so that I could stay aware of my events and tasks. I am not asking to add events to such a calendar. I am only wishing there was a way to view my calendar. That is all.
Again, I an not trying to disrespect how DTPO works now. It’s a great app and It is working well for me. I am disappointed though that offering suggestions can be dismissed so quickly.
Please understand, I an not here to argue my point, I only want to offer my (constructive) opinion as a user.
Post Script: I work on my tasks list from a text file indexed into DTPO. When I make changes there, It also allows Nerd Tool to update my desktop. I find this very useful.
As I noted, I don’t think it likely that Apple (the developer of Calendar) or the developer of BusyCal will develop a Quick Look calendar view that would be available to DEVONthink. For DEVONthink to do so would involve backward software engineering the code of the external calendar app (which is proprietary) and pulling in its data. That is something we will not do. There are laws about that covering patents and copyrights. That would also break Apple’s rules about “sandboxing” the integrity of an application’s data, so that we would not be allowed to sell DEVONthink through the Mac App Store.
Alternatively, we would have to develop our own calendar app entirely, which is not the focus of our development plans.
Of course, you are free to take screenshots of your own data if you wish. That’s built into OS X, and also possible via third party apps.
That wouldn’t bother me a bit. And, even if that never happens, nothing wrong with saying It.
Taking screen shots every time I had a new event would not be very efficient for obvious reasons.
BTW, Geek Tools and Nerd Tools us some sort of UNIX code that pulls in calendar events as ordered text. Do you think that oculd be possible at some point?
For that matter, AppleScript would probably do the same thing.
BusyCal still has a list view which can be dragged in as well. Yet another reason I switched to BusyCal (Apple Calendar = No tasks and no lists and no custom views).
I’m trying to understand what you want to accomplish, and why a calendar view, even a limited one from within DEVONthink would contribute to that. A Calendar ics hold very little information about the event (just date, time and name), and one can’t do anything with it except back in the Calendar app. I get a lot more information about the events in and from Calendar itself. So I look in Calendar. If useful, I might then make a note about the event in my journal – which, unlike the ics, is searchable in DEVONthink.
I’ve got years of past events, many of them containing notes, that can be searched for and found within Calendar. When I need to look at appointments or schedules, I look at them in Calendar. For upcoming events I receive notifications from Calendar, and I am not limited to working in DEVONthink for the receipt of notifications.
I keep a journal and other notes in DEVONthink databases. Quite often, those documents hold notes about a meeting or other event, including the date of the event. Those notes don’t require a calendar view in DEVONthink. But if I need the Calendar view, they tell me where to look in Calendar, year, month, day.
The kind of interaction between DEVONthink and Calendar that I do find very useful is initiation from within DEVONthink of Calendar Events tied to documents (a script is provided). For that, I need to access the event within Calendar when I receive an alert from Calendar. A textual or Quick Look view of the event within DEVONthink would be useless and redundant. The ics of the event within DEVONthink would be useless and redundant. The alert I will receive from Calendar holds information about the event, but it’s necessary to open the event within Calendar to reveal the link to open the specified document within DEVONthink. That’s a simple procedure. It works.
If I might interpret what I’ve read @levelbest describing. This is just a guess. I don’t know the facts.
I think @levelbest is looking for something like what people do with the paper Daytimer. Because of issues, it appears the day is tightly structured and organized around tasks associated with specific documents stored in DEVONthink. I’m supposing @levelbest would want to click on a calendar date and see the documents that require attention or work that day – or maybe even more granularly by hour. The “Forecast” view in OmniFocus can do this within a narrow time window – but requires a different discipline than DEVONthink. I mentioned an app that I’ve used from time to time that is similar to a Daytimer (which is why I mentioned Daytimers) and which can organize tasks and data in a calendar view. (I’m speaking loosely about paper calendars – please don’t shoot me, Daytimer enthusiasts. 
)
I believe it is very important for @levelbest to have all this in a single view and not spread across multiple apps or windows.
But I’m not familiar with anything on the Mac that actually does what @levelbest described.
I’m sure lots of folks organize tasks with DEVONthink – and tasks get scheduled onto calendars – so having a calendar in DEVONthink might be interesting. Interesting, but also difficult to specify requirements for.
Anyway, that’s just my guess. I don’t have a solution.
Thank you korm. Yes, I believe you have understood what I have been saying. I am not trying to bend everyone else to my way of thinking, I am just trying to get across my particular needs. Nothing more. Thanks.
At time moment It helps to discover that my menubar app, Fantastical can use a hot key. When I do It will at least show me a month calendar visually and how ever many days I have It set up to see. And, in my internal work environment, this does help.
If I could learn to track projects that would help too. Omnifocus and all the rest may be better ways of doing this than DTPO is. But then, I tend to slowly master one thing at at time and right now I am focused on grasping DTPO fully.
Bill, way back in 2015 you made this comment:
“As an aside, note that DEVONthink Pro or Pro Office provides scripts that can be set to create calendar events or To Dos from within the DEVONthink application, e.g., Scripts > Reminders > Add as Event to Calendar with keyboard shortcut).”
This is exactly what I need to be able to do - but I cannot find the keyboard shortcut. How might I do that?
Thanks.
Dave
The list of currently-installed scripts is available in the script menu:
and you can add hotkeys for any menu item in any application in macOS using the System Preferences>Keyboard>Shortcuts pane. Details here:
https://support.apple.com/kb/ph18418?locale=en_US