I am a new user to the mac and DEVONthink. I use Firefox as my browser of choice.
When I go to the Services menu and select DEVONthink Pro all the items to select are grayed out. I just want to send the page to DEVONthink. Am I doing something wrong? There is lots of posts on the forum about getting Firefox and DEVONthink to work together, but I have not seen anyone mention the grayed out menu.
If some one could give me a little help it would be much appreciated .
Thanks,
Terry
Mac applications written using Apple’s Cocoa code can use OS X Services for a number of interoperability features.
But Firefox isn’t Cocoa-based. That’s why the OS X Services options for DT Pro are grayed out. Another interoperability problem for DEVONthink Pro is that Firefox has next to zero AppleScript capabilities.
Safari, DEVONagent, DT Pro’s built-in browser and several other browser are Coco-based, and Services do work in these browsers.
Personally, as I do a lot of gathering information from the Web, I don’t use Firefox, as I don’t find it efficient for my purposes. I do most of my routine browsing of scientific journals, selected news sources, government agencies and the like using bookmarks to their sites that are stored in my DT Pro database. When I select a bookmark the page opens in the built-in browser. I do most content downloads as rich text notes of selected text/images. After selecting the area for capture, a Control-click (right-click) provides the contextual menu option to Capture Note. If I wish to capture the HTML code, that’s another contextual menu option, as is the choice to capture the page as a WebArchive.
DEVONagent is my default browser and provides similar quick and ergonomic options for page captures – as well as the ability to serve as an intelligent search agent on the Internet. That’s why I prefer using these browsers. It’s all about getting the information I want into my database as quickly and easily as possible.
Hi tab32
If you want to use the Services menu with Firefox, you’ll have to wait until Firefox 3 is ready. I.e. mid-2007 or so 
So how do you get a webpage from Firefox to DEVONthink? It it at all possible?
Thanks,
Terry
Copy the link address.
Right-click on DT Dock icon. Select “New from Clipboard” in the menu that appears. Select the group you want.
This creates a dynamic copy of the page: it will update when the page updates. If you want a static copy, create a web archive instead.
Katherine
Yes, but with Firefox’s current design it will feel like trying to fix a watch with a hammer, if your purpose for browsing is to capture information content into your database.
Check the Extras folder on your download disk image for DT Pro. There are two bookmarklets that can be installed (at least via Safari). One will let you download a bookmark of the page to your database, the other will let you download a WebArchive of the page. (I usually prefer rich text captures because I can choose the content for capture. Example: I just downloaded a rich text note for a news article. File size: 4 KB. By contrast, the WebArchive capture took 561 KB and included extraneous text and images.)
Or you can save the page as HTML and capture that file into your database. But then you will have to manually add the original URL to the file’s Info panel to retain the source reference.
Or you can ‘print’ the page as PDF to your database, but will lose any hyperlinks the page contains.
Hi There,
I have the bookmarklet installed in Firefox and it works really well. I use the one that creates URL link in my database.
Best
Lou
Gee I fill stupid, but where do I find this “bookmarklet” in firefox?
I really like using Firefox because of all the extensions, and if I have to chose between DEVONthink and Firefox, Firefox is going to win. It sure looks like someone could make a DEVONthink extension for Firefox.
Thanks everyone for your help,
Terry
See my previous post re how to find the bookmarklets. They are available for DT Pro and DT Pro Office.
I guess we differ on the role of browsers. For me, a browser is just a tool to let me see information that I may wish to collect into my database. The best browser is the one that makes it easiest to collect information into the database. From that perspective, Firefox doesn’t make the cut.
It’s all about the information and what I can do with it. That’s where DT Pro gets important.
See my previous post, I am asking WHERE in FIREFOX I can find the bookmarklets?
I have already installed them I think.
I don’t use a browser just for collecting information, Firefox has some great features I don’t want to do without . For example as I type this sentence Firefox is spell checking it, this is a great feature. The only thing missing, in my opinion, is support from DEVONthink for Firefox users.
No other browser has as many add-ons as Firefox, that is why I like it. I like choices, and I don’t like people or software dictating how I am supposed to work.
Where did you install them? Firefox treats bookmarklets just like any other bookmark, and lets you put them anywhere that you can put any other bookmark. So look in your bookmark bar, bookmark manager, etc.
Usually bookmarklets are installed by simply dragging them to the desired location. If you aren’t sure whether (and where) you installed them, you probably didn’t.
Expecting the DT folks to remotely troubleshoot your Firefox configuration seems a little unreasonable to me.
Katherine
tab32, spell-checking wasn’t originated by Firefox and is a very common feature in browsers, including the DT Pro built-in browser, DEVONagent, Safari and others.
Christian has tried to provide assistance to Firefox users via scripting. Unfortunately, Firefox also lacks a scripting dictionary for common Applescript terms and commands.
Only the developers of Firefox could make it more interoperable by providing Services hooks and a good AppleScript dictionary. DEVONtechnologies cannot do that. Perhaps Firefox 3.0 will address some of those issues.
Have you even tried the data download features of DT Pro’s built-in browser? Note that you can use DT Pro’s File > Import > Bookmarks > Firefox command to enter all of your Firefox bookmarks into your database. You can organize those bookmarks any way you wish in your database.
DT Pro’s built-in browser isn’t intended to be a full-fledged browser, like Safari, Firefox or others. But it was designed to help users bring information to their database from the Web and is quite powerful for that use. For that purpose Firefox is currently a very weak browser.
You can keep Firefox as your default browser. Note that if you wish to transfer a page from the DT Pro browser to your default browser, just click in the URL address field and the page will open in the default browser. I do that whenever I want to download an application or PDF that I’ve discovered in the built-in browser.
It’s just a question of using the best set of tools for getting a job done. Firefox is a very poor tool at the moment for interoperability with DT Pro. It’s not only the difficulty of making quick captures of notes or HTML pages from Firefox. The lack of AppleScript support in Firefox means that power users who depend heavily on scripting to do many other things as well cannot use Firefox.
Bill_DeVille, Ok the spell check was a bad example, 
I just like using Firefox and that is my choice. So I beg of you please stop trying to get me to use something else.
Is there anyone who that uses DEVONthink and Firefox together on a regular bases with bookmarklets or scripts?
On my system the bookmarklets don’t just drag onto Firefox, they do in Safari.
What I am trying to figure out if I am doing something wrong, or if bookmarklets, and scrips do not work with Firefox. It is ok if try don’t work, I am just looking for an answer.
I just gave it a try, and it worked fine. I was able to drag the bookmarklet form the DT Extras folder right into Firefox. You have to make sure though that you have the Bookmarks Toolbar turned on, that’s what you have to drag the bookmarklet into.
Hope this helps.
parlar, thank you for your response.
I figure out the problem, I am using Path Finder (cocoatech.com) instead of regular Finder for file management. For some reason it will drag and drop to safari, but not Firefox. When I tried the regular finder it worked. 
Thanks for your help,
Terry