easily change display size of images in a note

I DTPO 2, in an RTF or formatted note, is it possible to change the display size of an embedded image? Lots of times, I’ll embed an image from my phone and the dimensions of it are huge in the note - usually so large that I can only see the top left corner of the image on the screen. I know there’s a script to resize an individual image entry in a database, but I don’t see a way to change the display size of the image once it’s in a note that also has text above or below it.

If not, as a workaround, is it possible to edit formatted notes in an external HTML editor? This seems to be one case where Evernote handles things much better than DTPO, but I still prefer DEVON because you have so much more control over your data, and the product is much more stable than Evernote.

Thanks!
Phil

In any RTF editor on macOS or OS X, double click the image and it should open in Preview. In Preview, use Tools > Resize. When you are finished, Save and close Preview. Back in DEVONthink or another editor, you might need to click away from the RTFD and back again to make the change reload. (RTFD files are “packages” – folders containing separate files for text and inserts like images.)

Formatted Notes are not so good for this sort of thing – my personal opinion.

Evernote has proprietary editing features.

Currently, this is not possible but the request has been noted as a potential enhancement in future versions.

Thanks, korm and BLUEFROG for the help! I found a nice workaround for now:

Since formatted notes are just HTML, I was hoping that those files would obey any styles set in the user stylesheet. I created a “devon.css” file and stored it in “/Users//Documents/DEVONthink”. Here’s what I put in it:

img { max-width: 100%; }
body { margin: 1em; }

The first line keeps images from growing too wide, and the second line adds a subtle empty border around content in formatted notes. It’s much easier on the eyes, especially when you’re looking at the content in the Three Pane view.

I selected that new “devon.css” file under the “Style Sheet” setting in the DTPO prefs, under the Web tab. Restarted DEVONthink and those formatted notes displayed much more nicely, and the images no longer stretch past the application window.

Just be aware of the caution that DEVONthink Help provides for that setting

To better customize your experience, and avoid unwanted effects, you can created your personal template for formatted notes as follows.

  1. Create a formatted note as usual and give a creative name like, say “My Formatted Note”.
  2. Use BBEDIT or some external HTML editor to modify the content of the note by using Data > Open With to open the document in the editor
  3. Edit the document to include your CSS. Do NOT change the third line

<meta name="DT:isEditableNote" content="Yes"/>

  1. Save and return to DEVONthink
  2. Use File > Export > As Template and save your template in the Templates.noindex hierarchy that the command suggests.

From that point, you can make your own customized formatted notes using your settings, with Data > New from Template. You’ll avoid unwanted results by using global preferences that might have negative effects.

Also, by putting your CSS outside the note as you did, your notes are not going to be portable. E.g, they would not work as you expect if you synced them to another machine, opened them in DEVONthink to Go, or even exported them from DEVONthink.