As the use of ePub documents is rapidly expanding, native ePub document handling would be a useful addition to DTPO.
Currently, drag-and-drop or Import > Files and Folders of ePub documents produces “unknown format” in the Log. But, is there a hazard organizing these documents in DTPO now? They do seem to be handled internally like any other document, but I assume it’s the indexing of content that’s missing.
They are successfully read and modified by external ePub (eBook) readers and editors. Also, while they are identified as epub (Kind), I couldn’t figure a way to create a Smart Group that would identify an ePub. A way to do that would be helpful.
Thanks for the link. The plugin didn’t seem to work for me and I am not sure if they are not primarily for displaying covers and metadata anyhow. Searching content is most important to me.
At this point I’m using Calibre and converting the ePub to RTF for importing into DTPO only when I cannot find a better format to import. It is a simple process to convert, keep the original ePub file, view both, and save both in the Calibre library.
I assume the key to natively handling the ePub file type and being able to search its content in DTPO will be a plugin for QuickLook that will display the contents.
@dlfuller – did you force a re-index? Somewhere in the discussion of the Codex plugins (both quicklook and spotlight) it mentioned that installing the plugins would work for anything imported after installation. For content already on the harddrive, one would have to force a re-index of the volume.
I haven’t done it yet, but I did notice that epubs I already have stored in the Finder (or, rather, not in DTPO) were working in Quick Look.
@parezcoydigo: Thanks for the tip. No, I had not forced a re-index and also had missed the mention.
Still nothing in QuickLook after a restart and a reindex.
Just to double-check with what works for you, the plugins were installed from Codex_Plugins_1.0b1.dmg downloaded from http://www.audacious-software.com/weblog/2009/09/codex-plugins-1-0b1/. My ePub files are in directories (not in DTPO). They typically open and display correctly in the Barnes & Noble eReader, but can also be viewed in Calibre.
The last post on this was about three years ago, so it has probably been addressed already. But is there a way to open/view ePub files and view them directly in DTPO? I’m still getting an “unknown format” error message. Wondering what am I’m doing wrong. Thanks.
As mentioned above, generally DEVONthink relies on Quicklook plugins for displaying file contents. There are several plugins for ePub available – of varying quality – with which DEVONthink works. None are distributed with DEVONthink, so you would want to find and install a plugin yourself in System/LIbrary/QuickLook. DEVONthink might need to be restarted.
/Library/QuickLook (system-wide) or ~/Library/QuickLook (per-user) are preferred locations for third party Quick Look plugins. Installing or modifying anything under /System isn’t advised unless there’s no other choice.