DT4 - seond impression

DEVONthink
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Last weekend it took me almost an entire day to read and add to DT4 my scribblings on scraps and sheets of paper to bring order back into my life. Jolly glad I did, it has made all the difference.

I used DT4 to write my monthly 1000 word article, something never done before - that is, to use DT as a writing tool - Saving versions was very useful.

It’s slick smooth - I’ve a Mac M2 Ultra - and OS Sequoia 15.3.2 (i know there’s an update).

Perhaps for the first time I am understanding the benefit of separate tags for each database and adding tags to favourites. Indexing pdfs to one database was very fast, as is exporting for a database archive.

For pdf, I normally use Adobe Acrobat Pro but dragging a pdf into DT4 and not having to tell DT to ocr is a time saver. The highlight is responsive - but would be excellent if having selected a colour I could simply click highlight and it would; also if the Remove Highlight were under Highlight. I need to experiment extracting pages from a pdf and organising when I add pages but if DT4 passes that test then I can envisage abandoning Acrobat Pro.

Every day. when I logon I read the tip of the day and extra of the day and make a mental note of something that might come in handy. I am reluctant to import emails because it would be quicker to copy and paste material content onto the sorter and tag and flag accordingly.

I am using the sorter for more than notes of calls, also for making notes on something I’m working on and as an extension to a word processor instead of margin notes and comments. Whenever i write a report which includes exhibits I expect I’ll use the sorter to list the exhibits, instead of wading through the report for the margin comments. Also i have three websites, one private access only for my law liabrary so when I add content to a public site or the law library site I use the sorter as an intermediary for transferring content. I also use a rich text note with a flag and tag to copy and paste content. to remind me whether the same item on one or both sites.

For my posts on LinkedIn the character count is much easier to get the limit as i’m writing than edit afterwards. Perhaps word and character count was on DT3 but as I didn’t use DT3 for writing I never noticed. To set the width of the writing space is much better.

I would think that as I get more into DT4 many of the features that I’ve never used before will enter my thinking. I look forward to DT5!

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with DEVONthink 4. We’re glad to be a part of your digital life! :heart::slightly_smiling_face:

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Can you add more details to “DT as a writing tool”
I use DT to store/organize my writing works
and I know DT has integrated note editor/formats
However, for serious writing I use Apple Pages and export to pdf format

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I’m curious on this, too.

I am considering using DT4 as my authoring platform at least for meeting materials (agendas, minutes, reports) for my strata (think HOA, or Condo Board).

I’ve already reorganised my folders as groups for past meetings, and begun playing with an RTF exported from Word for future agendas and minutes.

One thing I love is replicants - I have been storing the Minutes PDF in both the folder of the meeting they are of, and the next meeting for adoption in the first item. This used to mean duplicate files – now they’re replicants in groups.

AGMs also have Committee Meetings held after, so I’ve used replicants for those meetings’ minutes between the General Meeting and Committee Meeting groups, and put a link to the AGM Group in the Committee Meeting group for each such meeting (there are also additional Committee Meetings held through the year).

But beyond grouping, and getting back to OP comment, I want to work more frequently directly in DT4 for creation of data.

Yesterday I created my first Sheet item to keep track of number of messages in Mail mailboxes vs DT4 groups as I imported them.

I’ve started taking some Markdown notes (like upgrade process for some open source software I use), and putting links to that item in the old Apple Notes note for that upgrade process while I migrate over to DT4 for such things (in case I look in the “wrong place” through “muscle” memory).

My tags and groups need a major overhaul, but for now I’m concentrating on working with (and creating) items in DT4 and using groups like folders.

I think most of my non-work MS Word use can be translated over, Excel will take some beating due to formulæ.

I do most work on PDFs in Preview, so that’s a mostly easy translation of work.

I love how integrated this is likely top make me :slight_smile:

Sean

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Indeed and as noted in the documentation, sheets are not a substitute for Excel or Numbers spreadsheets, unless you’re just creating tables of data in them.

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For serious writing, I use Mellel and export to pdf and/or .docx and/or .rtf For letters I use Pages and export to .docx and/or pdf. (I have Nisus Wrieter Po but ratrely use it.)

On DT4, Settings>Editing>Format, set Max Line Width to choice, set Margin to choice, set Line Spacing to choice, set Line Height Multiple to choice. Select Rich Text & Note Font. (There are other settings but those are the ones I use.)

On the writing area, Show Editing Bar. 17 editing items with tool tips.

Write. Copy and paste to Mellel or Pages. (Advantage using DT4 is tag the writing, tag the research items, then add the tag to favourites to see everything at a glance.

For a writing aid - useful for typo mistakes. including but not limited to extra spaces - I use LanguageTool for Desktop. Copy and paste the DT writing, Correct the typos, I ignore most of the suggestions for rewriting. Copy the corrected, Paste into DT4 for storing the writing. Paste into the wp.

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