I read RSS within DEVONthink Pro. I have an Unread smart group which includes only the unread entries and I simply open this Unread group and read the entries from it. So far so good, but sometimes I am having a problem. While an entry open and while I reading it, it sometimes disappears from all panes. I suppose, while I read; DEVONthink Pro updating the entries (according the time set in RSS Preferences > Check for updates. When it updates, that current entry removed from the Unread smart group and the opened pane, and I cannot read it. I am having to open the real entry in the database, of course if I remember what it was and where it was correctly.
What should I do to prevent the currently read article from being disappear from the opened pane? Can it disappear when I select another article?
I you use the Unread is On predicate in a Smart Group, you will not be able to stop the Smart Group from updating as soon as you click the document. Instead of unread, perhaps consider using a flag to indicate whether you’ve read the item, and set the flag when you’re finished reading.
I don’t want to stop the Smart Group from updating as soon as I click the document. When I click the unread document, Unread smart group is being updated but article is still visible to me to read. But, if DTP updates the feeds while I reading, the article disappears from my sight.
This always used to bug me as well. Here are a couple of additional solutions that work pretty well, and I alternate between the two myself. First, if you open the feed article in its own window (command-o) it will remain visible until you close the window, even if the feed list has refreshed in the smart group. Second, if you prefer to not open the feed article in its own window you can toggle a document’s read/unread status with command-k. Select a document in the smart group list, command-k to mark it unread while reading the entry, then command-k again when finished to toggle its status to read.
Greg, those are pretty decent workarounds. I’ve just been opening things up in a browser to avoid the issue.
Unfortunately, at its heart, this is an issue which I think should be addressed; it’s surprising and counterintuitive. I doubt many users expect or want to have the currently displayed item to be suddenly yanked away. The fact that it will leave a separate window alone tells me that it’s more likely than not an issue not with how Smart Groups are updated but with how tabs interact with the currently displayed list. In other words, the Smart Group update isn’t causing the tab to close; the tab sees that its ‘parent’ has disappeared so it closes itself.
In fact, this is consistent behavior elsewhere in DEVONthink. If you are in a folder and you have an item displayed then click to another folder, the display clears itself. If you have multiple tabs open, whichever tab is highlighted clears itself when switching to another folder but the other tabs keep their content. So I’m guessing it’s definitely an issue with how tabs interact with the currently displayed list.
What I want to test now is if this tab behavior is consistent during a Smart Group update. Does only the active tab clear itself during an update or do all tabs do so? Could the way the active tab behaves be changed specifically for Smart Group updates while leaving its current functionality alone or would that require a massive rewrite of how tabs handle themselves.
I’m a professional developer so this is all quite interesting to me.