I’ve been using DevonThink to write my dissertation and I absolutely love it! With that said, I do have one question. When I drag and drop items into the sorter OR desktop icon, does Devonthink import or index my files? I am assuming that Devonthink imports the files for each action, but I want to confirm that this is indeed the case, before I start to delete items in my Finder to free up more space.
Moreover, a reference to anything written on this topic (i.e. from a manual) would be most appreciated.
The only way to index documents into the database is to to a) Index them with the ‘File>Index…’ command or b) add documents to a Finder folder (or folders) that have already been indexed via the ‘File>Index’ command. The default behavior (drag and drop, the Sorter, the Global Inbox, etc.) imports the documents.
You can always visually tell which documents are indexed and which are imported as indexed documents always have an upswept/right icon attached to them.
You can index a document by click option+command and drag it from Finder into on open DEVONthink window. When you do that, you’ll see the little alias arrow icon appearing next to the file name as you drag it:
After you’ve dragged it, you’ll see a similar icon next to document name in the database – just as Greg described.
DEVONthink is a bit confused, though (at least as of the current v2.4.3). If you click option+command and drag, or click control and drag a file into the sorter, the same alias arrow appears as you hover with the file over a sorter bin. This is a tease. DEVONthink is not going to index the file. This UI anomaly is probably inherited from Apple’s UI and should be eliminated, IMO.
Page 18 of the Manual in “Building your database”, has:
This procedure works as the manual states. Though, in this case the alias arrow does not appear next to the name when you drag the file to the dock icon.
IMO, consistency with the UI would be nice. What would be nicer is if click option+command and drag a file to the Sorter would also index it.
