This sounds good, Bill. Thanks for the reply. I’m curious to know how this differs from the Table feature in DT PE 1.9.3. It sounds like a spreadsheet-like record is a distinct, dedicated animal, whereas a table is an element that can be inserted into any normal text file.
I’m certainly glad to hear that DT Pro beta is locked and nearing release.
I have moved from DT to CP NoteBook to Ulysses to CopyWrite and just now back again to DT to write my doctoral dissertation with the hope of customizable full screen editing becoming available in the pro version - an indespensable work mode for good writers, I think. I am reading comments about the pro version dating from the end of 2003 - will it actually come out in 2005? Otherwise, it might be back to Copywrite for me.
My goals for using DTPro are quite similar (PhD studies and dissertation-related resource database).
The first public beta of DTPro is scheduled for release within the week.
The alpha’s have been remarkably stable (I’ve been using them for about a year or so).
I’d grab the first beta and see if that meets your needs. Usability and the feature set has improved and continues to do so.
It’s almost “there”, IMO and the devs are quite responsive to feedback, comments and requests.
HTH
The first beta release this week is great news. I assume that Pro beta can open a PE 1.9.3 database, even if it has to re-save it in a different format.
Do you have any specific “best practices” advice for how to deal with legacy personal dbs that will be imported into Pro as tab-delimited files?
Ditto on the Ph.D. and dissertation-related resource database. Actually, DT houses ALL of my project resources, as well as information on everything from fitness to political and social issues, and I’m greatly looking forward to being able to break some of that up!
In any case, I hope this is accurate! I, like so many of us, am quite anxious to try it out, after hearing so much about it for so long.
I hope you meant to say ‘an indispensable work mode for many writers.’ I’m a pretty good writer, by most accounts, and I’ve never used full screen editing. But I have also tried out a lot of software to find what works for my dissertation! I’ve settled on the fact that it requires several programs to make it all work. But, I’m hopeful that DTPro may reduce that number!
In any case, I plan to take ‘milhouse’s’ advice and grab the first public beta and run with it! I have already been checking out the forum at least twice daily to see if its been released yet!
Ever hopeful,
Alexandria
What do you mean by “being able to break some of that up”? What aspect(s) of your info, and what capabilities of Pro are you thinking of with this comment?
Are you thinking of “breaking it up” into entirely separate databases? If so, why would you want to do that? Wouldn’t that mean losing the possibility of finding unexpected connections among disparate items and thoughts (a valuable thing for most writers, if only for making analogies)?
Or is Pro able to load multiple database structures simultaneously? Even so, I’m having trouble understanding your motive for “breaking it up.” I’m sincerely curious about what you could mean here, and don’t mean to sound combative about it.
No worries about your sounding combative. There’s nothing to combat. It’s quite simple. I have stuff in my DT database I want in separate databases. That’s what I meant, and I don’t need to justify it at all.
So I’m looking forward to that and other features that will be forthcoming in DT Pro. Have been for quite some time. Happy to hear it will be available soon.
That’s all,
Alexandria
I certainly wasn’t asking you to “justify” anything you’re doing, and I’m sorry if it sounded that way.
I’m simply interested in “best practices” for the use of DT as a writing resource and / or writing environment. I’ve always assumed that a single, unified repository was the best approach (for me at least, because it would facilitate connections across disparate sources). So when I heard you talking about “breaking it up,” I was curious. If anything, I was questioning my own usage assumptions, not yours.
That said, most of the people here with long-term access to Pro beta seem to be using very large single repositories. So at least from a performance standpoint, DT Pro would seem capable of handling almost unlimited db size. And I gather that’s been one of the design goals.
Ah, no worries. Sorry if I mistook the tone.
When I said I wanted to ‘break things up,’ I’m talking about things like clip art and information on yoga and nutrition, receipts, etc.–things that are totally personal in nature. I want these things separate from my ‘work’ database, which houses everything relating to my dissertation, my political and social activism, everything I read that pertains to anything that might pertain to my work! That won’t change and I won’t be breaking that up at all. I want that to be available for DT’s AI and search functions, etc. I agree with the idea of a single repository for all of this kind of information, which is most of what I collect, to, as you said, facilitate connections and make searches more comprehensive and easier to enact.
But I store a lot of information, and some of it has no place with my work-related stuff. I want a cleaner database system, so I’m looking forward to having a ‘work’ db and a ‘personal’ db, where I don’t really want the information to be accessible to each other. For example, it’s annoying when I’m doing a search that is for work to get stuff like how to do the sun salutation in my yoga practice (which has nothing to do with my work) or how to do a liver cleanse (yes, I’ve done a few of these!).
So it will make the whole process cleaner and much more productive for me.
Yes, I think the capability to handle a much larger db is a good thing. It will be good to know my huge, ever-growing db, and whatever other dbs I cultivate, will be nearly unlimited in potential!
Hope this responds to your question a bit better! Take care,
Alexandria
Like you, I’m throwing everything into DT, and that includes stuff that would simply clutter writing-related search results and not provide any conceivable inspiration (receipts, vehicle ID #, software and server access codes, boilerplate, etc.)
But instead of physically breaking up my db, I’d rather find some elegant way to limit searches (a software-based or procedural way to do it). For ex. the Data menu offers Label colors. Might it not be possible to limit a search to a color (or exclude a color)? All you’d have to do is file non-work stuff in a folder of a certain color (or colorize all of the files) and they wouldn’t clutter the results of a work-related search.
Surely the developers have thought of this problem and user-need, and have provided an easy technique for doing this – whether using label colors or some other method. Christian and company seem to have thought of a great many things more subtle than this obvious need.
I write fiction as well as non-fiction, and surely one of my characters will someday need to do the sun salutation, so I’d want that in there. For that matter, I’m sure that a number of my characters could use a good liver cleanse, not to mention their creator. How does one do that? 
Ha! If you are really interested, I can recommend some sites and books on the subject. My health issues have forced me to know of such things. They are really effective, btw!
Good point about characters. Yes, I write fiction as well as non-fiction too. I’d LOVE to have a way to tag things, either to search with them or use them to exclude things. That’s one of the first things I found missing in DT was a way to use keywords, labels, whatever, for searching.
But of course, I don’t always remember what is work vs. non-work stuff. It’s all a grand work in progress!!! Always evolving as I evolve. And what constitutes work vs. non-work, well, that will take some thought no matter how I make that division.
But I still plan to have more than one database. Certainly for the kinds of things you mentioned–what I’d call ‘family business’ stuff like receipts and the like. Some other things too. I find it feels cluttered to have everything thrown into one place. A matter of personal preference, I’d say. I know a lot of people just like to dump everything in one spot and use search capabilities to make distinctions and find things. I work in a kind of hybrid way. I also really like the process of organizing things. It’s in my nature, I suppose.
Anyway, thanks for the discussion. I am looking forward to Pro’s ability to handle multiple dbs. But I would be ecstatic of Pro or any other newer version of DT included ways to do searches using labels or tags (I use this constantly with CP Notebook. If DT had this and more substantial outlining capabilities, I’d not even need Notebook at all!).
Off to get to work. Take care,
Alexandria
Though I’d also love to have multiple ways to tag a record (attributes à la Tinderbox would be great) I’ve quite gotten used to using the comments field as a tag repository. With multiple word keys (e.g. Article, Task, Thread, Character etc.) and DTs ability to restrict a search to the comments field, I can find or list whatever I like in a snap.
Moreover, I’ve adapted one of the Smart Folder scripts in the DTPRO beta to automatically find keywords in the comments field and replicate the matching records to the folder. Thus I can quickly gather, for instance, all the Current Drafts of scenes with a particular character in them.
I’ve also learned to leverage DT’s Automatic Linking in ways that make up for its lack of outlining features. The simple fact that a note dragged out of another is automatically linked back to the original is deceptively powerful. One example:
I keep notes that I call “Threads”: records of a single theme, character, motif, plotline etc that runs through the playscript. Here I work out, say, how a character evolves or a theme is expressed throughout the story. Each note within a thread document can be a “step” made up of a descriptive title followed by carriage return and one or more paragraphs of detail. When I feel confident that I have worked a step out with enough detail, I can then drag the step/note and drop it into the folder(s) that contain the notes for the appropriate scene. And here’s the magic: DT automatically creates a new note titled for the first line (the above “descriptive title”) and containing all the detail; simultaneously this new note is linked from the original thread for further reference. Eventually my “Thread” will contain links to all the scenes through which it runs: it becomes , in a sense, an outline of that particular plotline, character or theme.
Over the years I have tried all the notetaking apps - and though it’s taken a while for my DT setup to mature; it has done so with a completeness, solidity and flexibility that finally allow me to focus more on the writing than the organization. 
Okay, now this is something I haven’t used. I haven’t seen much use for the comments field, but I didn’t realize that you could restrict searches to it. I’ll have to experiment with this! I use CP Notebook because of its ability to really quickly add stickers and keywords to notes. I need a way to quickly tag things and find them later. But this could work. Thanks.
Now this is NOT your fault at all, but quite honestly, this annoys me. I’d LOVE to have the ability to do this…if only I had access to DTPro. I’m getting a bit frustrated with hearing about all the wonderful things Pro can do and still it eludes my reach! I hope this changes as soon as someone suggested it will…like this week.
I want to play with this idea as well. These are two areas that have forced me to utlize notebook programs–the need for outlining and keywords. There are a couple of other things I need, but man, I’d love to be able to narrow down the programs I use to just DT and a word processor for the final product. I keep bumping up against needs I have a program won’t fill, then I find a program that does it, but now I’m stuck with two programs…then three…then it gets really clunky.
Anyway, many thanks for the ideas.
Alexandria
I’ve been avoiding talking about PRO here for that very reason. And I wouldn’t mention it now if all indications weren’t that a public beta will be out soon. All I can say is that it will be worth the wait.
I sympathize and shudder to think how many person/hours of time have been wasted playing with notebook apps by writers everywhere. Dammit it isn’t Rocket Science and it shouldn’t feel like it is. That said, with a little planning and imagination – and a few shared scripts! – DTPro should do the job.
Yes! I am involved on other forums and all we discuss is how to make the process work with all these different programs. All of the writers I know just want something that can meet their needs–granted, those needs often very considerably! Like you said, it is getting sooo frustrating to have to mess with organizing when there is so much writing to be done!!
So I look forward, with great anticipation (and hope), to DTPro! And those scripts…now where would I find those scripts?? I am at this moment looking at my notebook programs and at the features I most depend on and require to see how DT can fill them. For example, with Hog Bay Notebook, the developer provides a little program (based on a script) that allows me to quickly open up a little note window, jot something down, and send it to HBN in an instant for later filing or developing. It’s not a clipping, it’s an actual little quick note. Now if I could find something like that for DT…
Alexandria
PS I think that by perhaps restricting myself to DT, at least for a while, it will force me to see what the true limits of the program are (and aren’t!). You have explored ways to make it work, and I haven’t done that nearly as much, since I’ve found other programs to do the things DT lacks. But the end result is a cluttered way of working, so that doesn’t really work either.
There is a Tiger widget in the works for this; still imperfect but coming along. One simple solution is to write the note anywhere (a postit, Textedit etc) and clip it using the services, a script, or the dock menu. In a sense, any field that can accept text can be the equivalent of your “little window” . Nonetheless, it certainly would be child’s play to write or adapt a script to do this -and more - in DT.
Given the freedom and quick accessibility to info of all kinds within DT, I think it can’t hurt to try and “restrict” yourself to DT – at least it didn’t hurt me. Finally accepting that I was not going to get real (MORE-style) outlining within a window in DT was abit of a breakthrough for me.
Don’t get me wrong: I would love it if every DT window was potentially an OPML editor; but accepting that that’s not going to happen has forced me to use links in a more creative way (see above post) and in the long run has given me more control thru less automation.
After all, the sonnet is a beautiful form because of its limits - not despite them.
Eiron
Alexandria
See? I told you the wait wouldn’t be long: check the download page and enjoy! devon-technologies.com/downl … ercial.php
Eiron
Sound of mouse click. Alexandria is downloading DEVONthink Pro beta.
Haha! You aren’t kidding, Bill! Thanks Eiron for the link. You made it quicker to get to! 
Off to play…
Alexandria
I like to keep my professional works and my private things separated too. But I separate them by using two different applications. For my professional work, I use DT; for my private things, I use MacJournal. Certainly there is no compelling reason to do so, but I like MacJournal, and I refuse to trash it. It doesn’t have the power and the versatility of DT, but for simple things it’s perfect.