Updating DEVONthink To Go will also happen in phases where we add more functionality of DEVONthink for Mac into its mobile counterpart, one by one.
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Is custom metadata possibly in the future for DTTG, or is it never? Even an implementation that doesn’t expose the metadata via DTTG’s interface, but doesn’t remove the metadata when updating an item, would be useful.
If the answer is that DTTG will continue to clobber custom metadata for the foreseeable future, that would be useful for users to know. For me, DTTG’s clobbering custom metadata makes the feature in DT3 effectively worthless, as I update items via DTTG often.
You are referring to beta software with new features interacting with public software. There is no clobbering mechanism.
Remember: DEVONthink 3 is in beta testing, meant for testing, finding and reporting bugs. It should not be used in mission-critical or production environments. It also should not be expected to work seamlessly with DEVONthink To Go in all aspects since it includes new beta features.
And as Eric mentioned:
Updating DEVONthink To Go will also happen in phases where we add more functionality of DEVONthink for Mac into its mobile counterpart, one by one.
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I understand that DT3 is beta software. I am not using it for critical work.
Let me rephrase:
Updating an item in DTTG is not guaranteed to preserve custom metadata that was created in DT3. If that behavior is planned to persist, it would be useful for users to know. Otherwise, the custom metadata feature in DT3 will be worthless to me, even when DT3 is out of beta.
I’m not sure why it would be “planned to not support custom metadata”…? DEVONthink To Go functions as a companion to DEVONthink on the Mac, so this would be a strange omission if we didn’t support it.
However, when that support happens is another matter. And if we weren’t planning on eventually supporting it, I’d be as surprised as anyone! 
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There are many features that are in DTPO that are not in DTTG. TO DEVONtechnologies’ credit, I cannot recall a situation where something I did in DTTG failed to preserve data that I had created in DTPO. The situation with the custom metadata in DT3 is different, as DTTG will not preserve it.
DEVONtechnologies often reminds us that iOS ≠ macOS, so we should not expect feature parity between macOS and iOS, even if features from macOS often do make it to DTTG. Given that fact, and DEVONtechnologies’ understandable reluctance to disclose much about their product roadmaps, how would a user reasonably be expected to anticipate what new features of DT3 will eventually make it into DTTG? I think this is a case where it’s reasonable to ask for more transparency.
Remember: DEVONthink 3 is in beta testing, meant for testing, finding and reporting bugs. It should not be used in mission-critical or production environments. It also should not be expected to work seamlessly with DEVONthink To Go in all aspects since it includes new beta features.
If you really are stressing that this shouldn’t be used with mission critical files/environments then why is DT3 THE most prominently displayed version on your website? Why when I went to go download it and put it on my third, occasionally used, computer was DT3 the version that downloaded automatically? Then when I installed it and noticed it looked quite a bit different and hunted for an explanation only to find out I wouldn’t be able to have it on a third computer sometime in the unknown future and would instead want to “downgrade” to get the ability to put it on a third computer…then and only then was I able to squint hard enough to find the links to the “production stable” DT2. This all seems very contradictory to me. Don’t keep stressing that it’s Beta and not production ready if you’re pushing it so hard on your own site.
Oh and also stop saying that you haven’t charged anyone for upgrades for 11 years (that is not the customers fault) and just amortize the upgrade cost over an 11 year period…unless of course you want to go on the record and say that you don’t plan to charge us again for an upgrade for another 11 years. In that case by all means go ahead and stress what a good investment that will be for us.
I’m very impressed that the colleagues from DT are always helpful and very patient to all kinds of questions and comments.
I’m very happy to get noticed of the beta version and be able to get the beta so easily. With so many different ways of using DT, I hope our feedbacks can help DT to roll out a more perfect final release in the near future. It’s a win-win case, IMHO.
This “beta” is so much more stable and ready for real data (so far…) than the beta release of many if not all apps that I have ever tested.
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So just to make sure I as the responsible DEVONthink To Go developer understand correctly: DEVONthink To Go does not destroy any metadata inside the document but synchronizing it to the Mac might remove custom metadata entered on the Mac side? So it’s more the sync of the updated item that removes metadata on the Mac, correct?
I haven’t tested this (I’ll try to do so this week). I assume the loss of custom metadata from 3 → 2 syncing is similar, though:
This will be fixed by beta 2, at least if the databases are only synchronized and not directly used by both versions.
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Actually, DEVONthink To Go is supposed to maintain all metadata coming from the Mac, regardless if it can work with it or not. If it’s a bug we’ll fix it for the next maintenance release.
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Sounds great! I just tested what @eboehnisch asked about. I added a file in DT3, added custom metadata to it, synced it to DTTG via a Dropbox sync, edited the file on DTTG, saved it, and synced it back to DT3. The metadata was still there with the same value I had given it before. Does this help?
To clarify: what’s the difference between “only synchronized” and “not directly used”?
Directly used means that you open the same *.dtBase2 files with both version 2 and 3 on the same computer/account.
I now suspect user error on my part. I will test again this evening to confirm.
if it helps, I use dropbox as a sync too and never had custom metadata be removed from my files after editing them on DTTG
I can confirm that it works as expected. I do not know why I thought there was a problem.
I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I also apologize for making the error. But most of all, I apologize to you and @BLUEFROG for my aggressive tone in this discussion.
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No worries. We’re glad that the metadata transport works as expected also for you.
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+1 No issues to report here with DTTG and DT3. All syncing just fine.
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