Hi all,
I’ve been using DEVONthink Pro for research-heavy projects, and its AI-assisted search has become one of my favorite features. That said, there’s one improvement I keep wishing for: AI visibility—specifically, a way to understand why a particular document ranks where it does in the search results.
Right now, when I search for a keyword or phrase, the results are impressively relevant, but sometimes I’m left wondering:
- Is this ranking based on term frequency, semantic relevance, tags, or some AI inference?
- Did it match the title, body, metadata, or a related document through See Also?
It would be incredibly helpful if DEVONthink offered an optional toggle or hover-over explanation that provides insight into why a result was chosen or ranked high. Something as simple as:
- Matched keyword in title
- High semantic similarity to query
- Tagged with searched term
- Linked in See Also to another relevant item
Even a basic 1–2 bullet summary per result would go a long way in giving users confidence that DEVONthink’s AI isn’t just working well, but transparently. It could also be an excellent educational tool for new users learning how to better structure their data for improved discoverability.
I understand this could clutter the UI for some, so ideally it would be a view option or a tooltip setting in Preferences. For power users like me who rely heavily on DEVONthink for academic or legal research, this level of control and clarity would be a major win.
Has anyone else thought about this? I’d love to hear how others approach understanding and trusting the search logic in DEVONthink.
Thanks,