# Feature request:

**URL:** <https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331>\
**Category:** Feedback\
**Created:** [July 16, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331 "2026-07-16T14:01:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/anderswt)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/1 "2026-07-16T14:01:08Z")

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Hi, I’m using Devonthink 4 on top of GIT repositories. Nowadays, the files are mostly Markdown due to AI.  
A great feature of GIT software and applications such as Word, BBEdit and GIT is the ability to compare file versions. In this case, similar to GIT’s diff.

In this use case, DEVONthink’s version handling is not an option since Git is used.

Kindly/Anders

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**Author:** ![BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bluefrog/32/135_2.png) [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/2 "2026-07-16T20:50:21Z")

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> [@anderswt](#):
>
> the ability to compare file versions.

Your request is unclear so I’m guessing this is your actual request?

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**Author:** ![CAE](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@CAE](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/CAE)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 2:19am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/3 "2026-07-17T02:19:00Z")

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I also did not understand the request. Additionally, what does DT “on top of” git repositories mean? Is that in addition to, or you’re indexing repositories? Would be curious about the latter.

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**Author:** ![anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/anderswt)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 6:42am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/4 "2026-07-17T06:42:16Z")

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Hi, let me clarofy, the request is:

Add a DIFF functionality so that the differences between two (text) documents can be shown in colours, added, removed and changed.  
Thus can be done for two selected (text)documents, ala BBEdit.  
When DT is indexing folders and files under Git repo management, the DIFF can be performed between the current document and the most recent committed version in Git, this ala development IDE’s

Make sense?

/Anders

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**Author:** ![chrillek](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/chrillek/32/29340_2.png) [@chrillek](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/chrillek)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 7:11am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/5 "2026-07-17T07:11:19Z")

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To me, it makes very little sense to add an isolated feature to work with Git repositories in DT. You can’t merge, push, pull nor fetch from DT, so you need a Git client anyway. And that should provide a diff, I guess.

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**Author:** ![BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bluefrog/32/135_2.png) [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 12:55pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/6 "2026-07-17T12:55:44Z")

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Yes, that’s more clear but there are already apps for doing a diff between documents. Request noted with no promises.

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**Author:** ![anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/anderswt)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/7 "2026-07-18T15:43:23Z")

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It is about how long you stay in one tool. It would be great to be able to us DT for DIFFs while other tools can do the same.  
I asked Codex to create diff command for my experimental software and it took 20 min to code it and for me to check the visual appearance.

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**Author:** ![rmschne](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@rmschne](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/rmschne)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/8 "2026-07-18T15:47:18Z")

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> [@anderswt](#):
>
> It is about how long you stay in one tool.

Can’t the “one-tool” now be macOS with DEVONthink in one window, and your favourite diff software in another window?

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**Author:** ![saltlane](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@saltlane](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/saltlane)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2026, 3:49pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/9 "2026-07-18T15:49:16Z")

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Don’t forget DT handles many file types. How do you diff rtf, pdf, docx, etc.?

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**Author:** ![BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bluefrog/32/135_2.png) [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/10 "2026-07-18T18:36:49Z")

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> [@anderswt](#):
>
> for my experimental software

Context matters. Your _experimental software_ is not DEVONthink _(or other applications)_. Perhaps your experiment can be receive file drops or selections to diff outside DEVONthink.

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**Author:** ![anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/anderswt)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 7:38am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/11 "2026-07-20T07:38:20Z")

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It would be great to stay in one tool for DIFF and not have to switch for a small feature like this.  
The coding example was to show how quick such basic feature can be implemented.

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**Author:** ![anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/anderswt)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 7:41am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/12 "2026-07-20T07:41:13Z")

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Yes, I already have plentiful of DIFF tools, even GitHub Desktop.

Its about how long time you stay in one tool.

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**Author:** ![anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/anderswt)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 7:44am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/13 "2026-07-20T07:44:11Z")

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This an engineering challenge that Microsoft, XML, and PDF tool vendors have solved.  
Its about how long time you stay in one tool.

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**Author:** ![cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/cgrunenberg/32/7172_2.png) [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/14 "2026-07-20T07:46:50Z")

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> [@anderswt](#):
>
> The coding example was to show how quick such basic feature can be implemented.

Building a prototype is one thing, having a reliable, user-friendly, thoroughly tested and fully documented feature is another thing. And of course not everything that can be done has to be done. It’s noted but no promises.

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**Author:** ![chrillek](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/chrillek/32/29340_2.png) [@chrillek](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/chrillek)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 8:15am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/15 "2026-07-20T08:15:43Z")

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> [@anderswt](#):
>
> Its about how long time you stay in one tool.

I do not understand the relationship between Git and DT here. If you have GitHub Desktop and need it to _manage_ your GitHub repo anyway – why don’t you stay in that tool for your Diff, too?

If DT were to add Diff for your GitHub repo files, you’d have to switch tools again unless DT were to add Merge, Pull, Push, Fetch, Branch, whatnot. Diff is but a tiny aspect of the whole Git workflow, why should _that_ be added to DT but not all of the other commands/tools?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/anderswt)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 8:24am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/16 "2026-07-20T08:24:01Z")

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> [@chrillek](#):
>
> I do not understand the relationship between Git and DT here. If you have GitHub Desktop and need it to _manage_ your GitHub repo anyway – why don’t you stay in that tool for your Diff, too?
> 
> If DT were to add Diff for your GitHub repo files, you’d have to switch tools again unless DT were to add Merge, Pull, Push, Fetch, Branch, whatnot. Diff is but a tiny aspect of the whole Git workflow, why should _that_ be added to DT but not all of the other commands/tools?

I do manage the Git through several tools, no need for DT to replace them.

The use cases are not associated with Git, its about seeing changes to a file or differences between files. These two use cases are already considered as important in general (in Word, PDF tools, IDE, etc,) and also in my work.

The seeing the change use case typically needs versioning, DT’s own or Git or anyone elses.

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**Author:** ![anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/anderswt)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 2:51pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/17 "2026-10-09T14:51:54Z")

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Proposal withdrawn. Ive implemented myself using Codex and Claude Code.

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**Author:** ![chrillek](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/chrillek/32/29340_2.png) [@chrillek](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/chrillek)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 3:04pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/18 "2026-10-09T15:04:15Z")

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If you find a solution to a question you posted here, it would be nice if you posted the solution too. _That_ you found one is good for you, _what_ you found, might help others.

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**Author:** ![anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@anderswt](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/anderswt)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 2:36pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/feature-request/87331/19 "2026-10-10T14:36:13Z")

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Hi, I found the solutions outside DEVONthink. I asked Claude+Codex to create a workspace framework with an attachable project inside GitHub repos.  
DEVONthink still indexes most folders, but I use it less because I have introduced the concept of Catalogues with validations for specific entry types.  
A rather nifty mix of unstructured and structured data, which I now use AI to produce dashboards and data analysis. The introduction of YAML+Markdown format, a la Google, was a super enabler.