cmd opt drag not working (?)

DEVONthink Tips
1

I have tried to cmd opt drag a group/folder on a new rich text document, but no link created. The icon indicating an alias appeared under the pointer, but vanished when releasing the click. Same problem with pdf’s.
Did I misunderstand something?

thanks

Alb

2

This is a weird little glitch, but it may be the source of your problem. The command can’t seem to copy the link to an empty doc, hit return a couple of times in your doc and drag to the the newly created (empty) lines.

Did that work?

3

Thanks, Eiron. It works! (‘:D’)

(So, I understand that no link can be created in an empty line of the document. The return key writes an invisible character at the beginning of the line.)

A+
Alb

4

Thanks, eiron.

Similar glitch requiring document content:

“Open With…” will not open an empty rich text document in TextEdit, but will open it if any content (such as a Return) is added and the document is then saved before invoking “Open With…”.

NOTE about using “Open With…”: If a user plans to edit a DT document under another application, remember that only a copy is opened in the other application, and any changes will not be reflected in the DT document. Any Saves of the edited document will be stored in a temporary DT Pro folder, so that Save As should be used in the other application to create a ‘permanent’ new file in the Finder. Edit changes may be copy/pasted back to the DT document, or the changed file can be imported to DT Pro.

5

Bill,
Do you know what happens exactlt to the temporary file? Is it deleted when we quit Devon Think or when we log out? Where is it located? In another post, you suggested to get back this temp file. Could this be a reliable way of woorking with DT and external text editors (such as TeXShop, for example)?

Thanks,
Alb

6

It’s created in the folder /tmp/DEVONthink Pro/ and will be deleted after restarting the machine.

7

To paraphrase Bill Clinton, it depends on what “reliable” is. :slight_smile:

That’s why “Open With…” wasn’t named “Edit With…”.

It can be done, but the user will have to remember to do a “Save As” to make a “permanent” copy of the edited material in the Finder. Otherwise, the edited material will reside in a temporary folder that will be cleared out at the next restart.

As Christian noted, there will be lots of improvements in version 2.

8

Thanks, Christian.
Now, I can work with my text editor, and pick up the file afterwards. Peharps I’ll try to set up a script which does this systmetically each time the work is saved.

Alb

9

If you’re regularly editing a file in an external editor, it might be more useful just to link to or index the file (via File > Link To… or File > Index…) instead of importing it. That way you don’t have to deal with temporary files.

10

Yes, Christian, I understand, but TeXShop is not a WYSIWYG editor. I work on a source, and typeset to see the resulting document. The problem is that typesetting will save the changes of the source. So, if I am not satisfied by the new document produced, I can not go back to the previous text. This is why, a “save the source and typeset” would be very useful (and doesn’t exist in TeXShop).
Trying to do a “save and typeset” with the finder (on my desktop, for example) is not very easy. For each version saved, the name of the file has to be changed, and this may be confusing. But a “save to DT and typeset” works fine, and the modification dates of the records tell me which is the last version I was working on. This is actually what I’ve done, using TeXshop and DT independently( with Butler to have a button in my toollbar that will replace the “Typeset” button of TeXShop.) But at the begginning of my work session, I still have to drag and drop my text from DT to the finder, and open it with TeXShop, etc…

I could also work directly on the record (without dragging to the finder), and have a button “typeset an import the tmp source file to DT”. This would promote the tmp file to a true record in DTPro.

Any opinion or suggestion is welcome.

Thanks,

Alb

11

One solution coming to my mind is that you could save to a dedicated folder and attach a Folder Action to this folder. That should automatically import every new version to DEVONthink Pro.

12

Thanks, Christian,

so this would be made in three steps :
1-save the source to “thisfolder” (with action import attached)
2-typeset
3-delete saved source from “thisfolder”

without step 3 (or renaming the file), I will get an error message (doc already exists…) the next time I save and typeset my work.

(In general, would you recommend to avoid manipulating tmp files?)

Alb

13

I guess you should use a different name each time you save as you want to use DT to store different versions. Maybe be adding a version number?

14

Yes, I’ll do it this way. But DTPro can store several files with the same name, only creation/modification dates differing. I see this as an advantage over the finder (I know, however, that some other users do not like this possibility, this can be discussed).
I think I’ll keep on working with TeXShop, and set up an applescript that will save, typeset and rename “sourcefile-copy” to something like “sourcefile-backup & current date”. The newly created file will be sent to DTPro. But I also feel this is re-doing something that DTPro does better. (the renaming step is not necessary with DTPro.)

Thanks a lot for your advice

Alb

15

Thanks, Bill,

You’re right. It’s safer to avoid working on tmp files. The tmp file will not “vanish” accidentally, but I could forget to save and pick it up before closing DT, an logging out.

Alb