Copy page link when opening a file from another app

DEVONthink To Go Feedback
1

Hi,
is there a way to “copy page link” when you open an DevonThink file from another app in iOS? Is there a workflow or a URL command to achieve that?
thanks

2

Unfortunately no. Other apps receive the file, not the item link. How would you envision retrieving the item link for a document via a Workflow? We could only, e.g., add the item link to the data returned by a search conducted by a URL scheme.

3

I believe for items in DEVONthink that have a URL attribute, that attribute is made available to Workflow, no? Could it not be possible to surface the item link in a similar way?

4

The URL is a specific parameter, quite separate from the Item Link. You can’t have two URLs on the same document, so if a document had a URL, which many do, it would pass the URL not the Item Link.

Also, if a Workflow runs inside DTTG, the returns are different than running a Workflow in an item accessed by the document provider.

5

I love the file management and the copy item link of devonthink but I don’t like its pdf viewer. I was thinking of a workaround by opening the file through a dedicated pdf viewer app (thanks to devonthink’s close integration with files), but this workaround leaves one thing to be desired: the copy item link functionality.
Any ideas are welcome

6

I too am not in love with reading PDFs in DTTG, (I actually prefer PDF Viewer from PSPDFkit, who actually make the PDF viewer in DTTG!), and definitely the biggest downside is the inability to copy item/page links. Of course, this wouldn’t be feasible to do from within a third-party app. I’ve been doing a bit more reading in DTTG and just putting up with the little annoyances, but sometimes I just give in and move to a third-party PDF app.

(The folks at DEVONthink are well aware of the issues I have).

7

I agree, the devonthinktogo pdf experience gets degraded by the outdated pdf viewer. There should be an option for us to pay more and get a better pdf experience.

Although I give credit to devon for not using the ridiculous and annoying subscription schemes, I understand that there needs to be a financial support to devon to keep on upgrading devonthinktogo and making it even better. Probably launching new versions (with additional features every 2-3 years that we have to pay to upgrade) is the best option.

8

I wouldn’t say that the viewer is outdated, per se. There’s nothing, as I see it, that could be considered “antiquated”.

it is, however, missing a few features (bookmarks, markup export, are two example) and there are a few rough edges (Sidebar and zoom settings keep resetting every time the app loses focus) that I’d like to see resolved. However, a lot of this (not the sidebar and zoom, but the other bits) is up to PSPDFkit, who are actually the ones that developed the PDF engine in DEVONthink To Go. If it doesn’t exist in the licensed version of their product that DEVONthink uses, then it can’t exist in DEVONthink.

9

Scott is correct here.
Not only do developer-licensed editions often lack features of consumer available editions, the licensors often split up functionality and license on a per feature / subset of feature basis. Some even license on a per user basis. These factors can quickly and dramatically increase the licensing cost for the licensee, costs which have to be passed on to the end user.

10

The PDF experience of Devon misses four important features

  1. view outline of pdf (essential if you work with pdf books)
  2. full view without the UI banner (you cannot use it in landscape view in iPhone because half of the screen is covered by the UI banner, it also prevents you from having an immersive-undistracted experience with the document)
  3. tabbed view
  4. change pages with tapping on the side to allow for fast skimming

1 and 4 are probably related to the outdated or let’s say limited version of PDF viewer. 2 and 3 can probably be changed by Devon