DT 3.0beta4 - Rich text format default

DEVONthink
1

Is there a way to customise a default layout format style for a RTF. Having set the left and right hand margin markers, set the spacing and added some text for my preferred font etc, I have added the new style to favourites, But when i click on the style, it doesn’t do what I saved, but all the taps appear and i have to start over.

Alternatively with Formatted Note, is it possible for me to customise the format so that when I click Formatted Note is starts exactly as I would like.

2 Likes
2

Thank you for asking about RTF style options.
I agree, we need options for custom RTF formatting, including line width, spacing, and background color.

I would prefer to have these options under Preferences -> Editing

1 Like
3

Having deleted my format styles and started afresh, I have customised the margins, the line spacing and font and saved as a style, selecting also the options to include the font and ruler as part of the style. All ok.

Also I have created a style with the text in colour.

However, what would be best is to be able to use my saved style without having to wade through a series of steps on the menu: Format>Style>Styles>FavoriteStyles>(click dropdown to my style)>Apply. If saved styles could be listed on the Format>Style menu then that would be something. What would be ideal - there may a way to do this already, i don’t know, is a keyboard shortcut to the custom style. Or for the toolbar icon to be set to the user’s choice of default style.

4

I would prefer to have these options under Preferences → Editing

These options are already found under the Format menu, just as often seen in typical word proccessing apps, like TextEdit, Pages, etc.

5

You can use the OS’s App Shortcuts (found at System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts) to make key commands.You just need to make sure that the Format Bar is visible (shift-command-F), or the key commands won’t work. Just use a unique name and use that for menu title (e.g. if the style is named “UniqueStyle”, in the Shortcut panel set Menu Title to “UniqueStyle”.

I have also created a couple Apple Scripts to do some basic formatting, although this is pretty rough solution because:

  • you cannot apply a saved style, so you need to rebuild it step by step
  • and you cannot use “line height multiple” (my default method) to control spacing

Here’s an example:

tell application id "DNtp"
	try
		tell selected text of think window 1
			-- for color take RGB value and multiple by 257: header blue = color:{7196, 17733, 34695}
			set properties to {alignment:left, font:"Georgia", size:11, color:{0, 0, 0}}
			set properties to {style:plain}
			set {line spacing, paragraph spacing, minimum line height, maximum line height} to {5, 0, 0, 0, 0}
		end tell
	end try
end tell
1 Like
6

Thank you, mog, for the discussion. I wasn’t aware of the Format -> Style -> Styles option.

This is very helpful for me, as I want to apply a certain style to every new RTF file without going through all details of the Format menu, as Jim suggested.

8

Noted, thank you.
I am familiar with using System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts. When you say I need to make sure the style menu is visible, presumably that means in DT3, in which case it is shift+cmd+T. If not then why Cmd-F? However, I don’t think I’m using a sufficiently unique name for my style - it’s just two letters - either that or the shortcut is in use somewhere else. When next I have the time, I’ll try again using a more unique name.

9

There are also options available in the Format > Show Format Bar, allowing quicker access to thes options. This is covered in the Help > Documentation > Documents > Plain and Rich Texts.

10

Yes, visible in DT3.

Sorry, I had the wrong name — it is called the Format Bar (Show Format Bar is under the Format menu) and the key command to make it visible is shift-command-F.

11

Got the keyboard shortcut to work now, and using my two letters style name.
Thanks.