I have tried several Actions available in the Drafts library and none seem to work with certainty. For example I uninstalled all the actions I have used in the past and installed just the one mentioned above by @rkaplan. That action for me dumps the drafts documents into the global inbox as a plain text file. I need the markdown to be retained, and then I would like to send to a specific DTdb’s inbox.
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Although you did not ask me but @rkaplan I’d like to provide an answer: You can set the file extension in the action. And no more than a different file extension is necessary, as Markdown is plain text.
On the Mac I use the File action, and the name I chose is the date created in a certain format plus “.md”: [[created|%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S]].md
On iOS/iPadOS one way to get notes from Drafts into DTTG would be the X-Callback URL action which starts like this if you want a Markdown note: x-devonthink://x-callback-url/createmarkdown…
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Thanks. I’ll try that in a second. But what will happen to files that have forward and backward wikilinks? I forget the formal name but you create them with [[text]]
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Do you mean you use Wikilinks in Drafts already? I don’t do that, so I don’t have any experience in it.
As far as I can tell in that case the file name must be set in Drafts already and by all means must not get changed when transferring the note to DEVONthink.
I do.
Okay. That means the notes have their final names in Drafts already (probably given by a heading in the note?).
Then the File action should have the name [[title]].md
@suavito there’s an easier way than that to send Drafts as markdown to DT, you just need to change the URL in the script to:
x-devonthink://createmarkdown?title=[[title]]&text=[[body]]
Not sure how you send to a specific inbox, I don’t do that, everything hits my Global Inbox first.
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I don’t want to start an argument about subscriptions, but I am a bit confused by your comment and just wanted to clarify if I may. Drafts is free at point of use, but has a Pro version for additional options in the app (that summary is for other readers, not you! I suspect many people use the app without ever paying!).
Actions from the directory are free to use, I thought. You’re only paying for additionality, like the ability to create and edit your own actions, use Shortcuts, etc. Is that the issue you came up against? From your example I would’ve thought converting from markdown to html is just an action from the directory, which is free. I can’t test it because I’m on Pro (I want custom themes and to edit actions).
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It works by right-clicking on the destination to get the link of the destination and adding it to the URL without the leading x-devonthink://, like: &destination=123456-1234-124567-12F135-F124567
I am using the Global Inbox too for every new item. But not with x-devonthink because this does not work with batch apply and it starts DEVONthink everytime. A simple File action saving a note to the (Global) Inbox folder in the Finder allows to send lots of notes in one go without starting DEVONthink.
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I just created a new thread asking about those links and who owns the actions they take. T
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At the risk of veering too much off from the original topic, I would like to reiterate my original point was that Drafts’ subscription model disincentivizes the developer(s) from supporting additional API options.
Of course, there are many things to consider when deciding how one’s own app is to interact with others. Retention of subscribed customer, which is relevant only for subscription-based business models, is one of the major considerations. In another example, Matter, a freemium subscription app, has implemented an API but preferred not to share its recipe.
Again, it’s perfectly fine to say you’re OK with paying subscription. The developer(s) are simply following an established and well-trodden path, and I don’t consider the $2/mo price tag as greedy in any way. Does my warm feelings towards an app change the reality that its business model prescribes the technical aspects? I don’t think so.
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Not sure I follow that
Do you mean that lack of a data export feature helps the developer to retain customers?
And you are equating an API with a means for customers to programmatically export their data?
good question.
in my experience the drafts action ‘send to devonthink’ shares it in whatever drafts format it originated in.
Drafts gives you the option of 'syntaxess. these syntaxes, are all just variation on essential a plain text file (as you can change the file extension to anyone of them with little risk of corruption). the default syntaxes are plain text (.txt), markdown(.md) , multimarkdown(fletcher penny AND github flavors)(.mmd), and javascript(.js) .
all the other ‘syntaxes’ are essential ‘extra capabilities’ built apon those standard (e.g taskpaper, is just w .txt with some feature syntaxes builtin, templates similarly. and markdown is just a way systemitizing formatting in plain text to make it extensible to ‘text-processors’ (other small scripts) which.
In drafts you set a default syntax (in my case multimarkdown github flavor). But any draft’s syntax can be changed while ediiting the draft or after editing the draft, (or even beforehand).And i believe its whatever syntax your file is in when you run the action ‘send draft to devonthink’ is (that determines) the text format that Devonthink will import is as.
all this talk is making it sound so much more complicated than it actually is.
I would say drafts is one of the best ‘inter-app-communication and integration’ apps that exists. I get that subscriptions suck. but im an og drafts user, who upgraded to the full version before they moved to subscriptions and i can still say that even the subscripiton feels like a ‘steal’.
unluck other apps that i’ve paid for, drafts are consistent and timely with update and are everyexpanding their features and documentation.
Check out the difference in UI per ‘notes’ and you’ll see why. Drafts is like writing notes ‘on the go’ like a journalist in teh field… Devonthink is like when your sitting down before you most difficult class adn need to make sure your matching up assignments with lessons, with appropriate labs AND your schedule AND makes sure its connected with external resources AND properly cited for your mid-term paper.
Or… Drafts notes go into devonthink projects… but devonthink notes almost never go out to drafts. drafts is preferable for iOS. devonthink is the main app when i’m taking notes on my computer.
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My solution with iA Writer:
- Create a folder in iA Writer to sync with DT (like ‘iA Notes’)
- Find it in iCloud and index in DT (I keep all indexed folders in Inbox of appropriate database)
- Make it favourite in DT and remove ‘exclude from tagging’ (make it a group tag)
This simple setup will allow you:
- Start any note on iOS device (in created folder)
- Continue on macOS (you can find it in favourites in DT - it’ll be synced and indexed there), tag it, replicate to the working group, …
- Start a note on the macOS, or just throw a rep of existing note to the location in your ‘iA Notes’ group (just tag it with the group name) if you want to work with this note on the go.
- Continue on the iOS device
The same solution works nice with other iCloud (PDF Expert) or non-iCloud services (like OmniOutliner).
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You didn’t say what you didn’t like the look of when using it to take notes during a Zoom meeting. So, I’ll post this JIC someone finds it useful.
When I want to take a note but don’t want to see all of the sidebars in DTP, I will double-click on the note and it will open in a new window without all of the sidebars (same function as when you use the Open function). This makes is a cleaner look and I can resize it to fit next nearly any other app window. If your format bar doesn’t show, you can toggle it in the Format menu bar.
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I had massive problems to get my content out of Drafts (in a reasonable format, and without subscribing to Drafts!) and am now using iA Writer instead - happily!
This is why I like DT’s internal editor, actually, because you can turn on the inspector in the new edit window and see links/backlinks/mentions and everything else available in the inspector.
External editors don’t have access to all that DT metadata.
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Drafts has Applescript support and an incredible capability to add integration with other apps.
How could your data be stuck in Drafts?
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I have no idea about Applescript.
I finally solved it by a bash script:
BUT, Drafts does not allow this for a regular (non-subscription) user in a sensible way!