in the way I work with my documents, I’d need constant access to their name, path, tags (Info inspector), annotations (Annotations & Reminders inspector) and in-content search (Search inspector).
I find myself having to constantly switch between these inspectors, just to review this information. Is there a way to configure a custom Inspector pane, that can be populated by just those fields that are relevant for my work (even if the individual fields come from different factory inspectors)?
OmniGraffle e.g. has an extremely useful implementation of such a custom configuration. Is that available in DT somehow as well? It might maybe even be helpful to have one “All” inspector (not configurable), but with the ability to collapse non-relevant groups (perfect would be to be able to re-order them vertically, but collapsing would even help in my situation).
I too would like the ability to have a customised information/inspector pane, instead of having to switch between the multiple available panes to see the information I want. Is this possible yet?
Disappointing. I’ve tried a lot of document management apps recently, my favourite being Papers 3 though that is sadly no longer supported (and the new version Readcube Papers is missing many features), and Devonthink looks like it has potential to be the best. Allowing a custom info pane to show the already available custom metadata would make the app better than Papers 3 and similar.
Is this on the radar at least? It would mainly require the ability to allow the user to add elements from the “generic” and “custom” sections of the main “info” pane. Or even just allow the user to edit what appears on the “generic” info pane (e.g. remove some items like “URL”, “script” and “geolocation”) and add some custom metadata fields.
As I said, nothing to report here. And if there was, it would not be anything implemented until the next major version of DEVONthink. You’re not discussing a simple thing from a development standpoint.
Expanding on @cgrunenberg’s suggestion, it’s possible have all three inspectors visible together if you open your Annotation in a separate window (using control-option-command-O from either the Annotation inspector or the Annotations tab in the Info popover); keep the inspector pane open on the Search tab; and view the Info inspector in the popover. It’s not a complete solution, as the popover closes when it loses the focus and has to be summoned back with a command-shift-I, while annotations in a separate window lose access to the invaluable Insert Quote command from the inspector version – but it might be sufficient or nearly so for the particular use case you describe.
Resurecting this thread to chime in that I too am looking for this feature. I’m coming over from the defunct Paperless and this is the only thing I can’t figure out a DT substitution. In Paperless you could set custom Inspector Panes for Documents vs Reciepts vs Contacts according to your metadata needs. While DT is infinitely more powerful, the inevitable downside to this is information overload and the subsequent clutter. I have no need to deal in 90% of what’s on the Generic Inspector pane. I need to be able to focus on the data I need for my documents in each DB (for bookwork and receipts it’s prices, taxes, categories and for my writing projects it’s subject, tags, author and notes). Even having all dates always giving us times as well=unneccary clutter for me. Having it on the document is also different than my need to SEE it.
My current work around is creating all custom fields for the data I need and arranging only those in the custom panel, even if I’m having to duplicate some of the metadata in from other fields. Anything else I have set up revealing their columns in the Item List for editing those within that.
I understand that custom inspectors may require a great efforts, but I’d be happy just with the possibility to organize custom metadata in collapsible groups. So, that you could name this group (kind of divider with name) and collapse/expand when needed. Is it possible in some near future?
Reducing the need for switching between inspector panes would be helpful for me, too.
I can fathom that to make Inspectors customizable implies a complete overhaul of how metadata is displayed in DT. That would be a major effort. Instead, I propose a (maybe) simpler solution for the developers: to allow for displaying more than one Inspector pane.
Your arrangement of the windows leads to the result you want. You probably still need a way to adjust the inspectors “automatically” when the document is changed in the topmost window. Or do you not need that at all?
I would like to have the multiple inspectors in my screenshot in (or attached to) the same window. And yes, they should all switch automatically when I navigate to another document.
(I know how to script the two windows in the back to follow the front window. But that’s not a reliable setup because I would have more windows open to display other stuff. An integrated one-window solution is surely preferable.)
Fortunately, I don’t necessarily have to see the inspectors at the same time. So I created a shortcut that cycles between the inspectors I need. In the meantime, I’ve gotten used to it.
