Formatting questions

Hello,

Please forgive me if I’m missing the obvious here, but I’ve been checking various resources over the past couple of weeks and just can’t find the answers to my questions…

First, I have numerous exploded parts diagrams in my database. They are often attached to a link I’ve added to the part number of an invoice annotation. Unfortunately, not all the diagrams are the same size or resolution. When I attempt to look at some, they are so big I sometimes can’t see anything in Edit/View window. I select the option “Scale to Width” or “Scale to Size”, both of which are perfect. I can’t seem to find anywhere that I can set this preference to always apply. The documents are all stored as a PDF, so I’d be perfectly happy to have anything in the Edit/View window appear as I’ve mentioned. Does a global preference exist for this?

Second, I copied the annotation template across from DT2P mostly because I’m familiar with it and as a creature of habit and consistency, wanted to keep using it in this version. It works well for my purposes. Regardless, whether I use the menu at the top of the screen or right mouse click, the new annotation sometimes appears in the Edit/View window, and sometimes opens and appears in a new window (preferred). For the life of me, I can’t figure out why it appears one way versus the other. Sometimes is seems that accessing it through the menu, if I hold the mouse pointer over the menu option just a little longer before clicking it, a new window opens… but not always. I just can’t figure out how to have this always open a new window. The documents I’m annotating are always the same (or similar PDF’s).

Any help will be much appreciated! The DT3 documentation specifically touched on my first question, but not how to set viewing scale as a preference. I wasn’t able to find anything related to my second issue.

Thanks in advance!

  1. PDF size in preview
  2. I’ve never seen the behavior you’re referring to. Is it consistent in any way?

Thanks so much for the quick reply. Given how much time I spent looking, I have no idea how I missed the sizing information. The PDF size in preview allowed me to set everything to my preference.

In regards to the annotation issue, there doesn’t appear to be any consistency at all. I tried all sorts of different things to try and replicate behaviour, all unsuccessfully. Tonight for example, the annotation has consistently opened in the Edit/View window. Other sessions it’s been a mix of this and opening a new document window. I figured it had to be something I was doing to sometimes get one and then the other. Dozens of annotations and keystrokes later, nothing I do seems to make it behave one single way. I’d love it to always open in a new window (or at least be able to set a global preference), because I reference information (part numbers, locations, etc.) in the original document which I have selected and open in the Edit/View window. Now, when I don’t get a new window, I have to double click the annotation to open a new window, click on my list of items to bring it to the foreground, select my document to be annotated again, then I can move back to the annotation an make my notes. It’s quite cumbersome.

Does it depend on the visibility of the preview pane in the main window?

It doesn’t appear to matter. 2020 is my year to become paperless, so for the most part, my routine consists of:

Scan document (ScanSnap iX1500).
Name the document.
Document appears in my Inbox (all inbox files appear in the top half of my screen).
Click on the document in the list (becomes blue and appears in the view/edit window).
Select Data->New From Template->Annotation.

I’ve tried as many different keystroke combinations and methods to add an annotation, but cannot find anything to establish common behaviour. The first being a mouse right click versus drop down menus to start a new annotation. Next, once the document is selected in the inbox list, clicking on the first thumbnail (along my right screen… blue focus border changes from the inbox list to the thumbnail) and then starting a new annotation. It doesn’t seem to matter, I can never predict how the annotation will open and appear. It’s always a PDF that I’ve scanned and was converted to a searchable PDF (as I haven’t really brought much in the way of other documents into the database as yet). The document I’m annotating is always visible in the edit/view window prior to me creating a new annotation (whether the inbox item is highlighted in blue or gray).

I used to write software many years back, which is what makes me think there has to be some variable I’m not accounting for, perhaps in my process, that may be altering the behaviour. I’m just at a loss to find it. All last night while I was working, surprisingly all the annotations were appearing in the edit/view window. Then, about an hour before finishing, about half a dozen opened in a new document window.

I’m very much a creature of habit, so the way I perform tasks is generally very consistent.

I guess my other question… Is the expected behaviour that a new annotation appear in the edit/view window, or should it appear in a new document window? Since I’m seeing both, I’m not sure how this was designed.

I am using the Annotation file template from DEVONthink 2.

This behavior is consistent (and logical) here…

  • If the view/edit pane isn’t displaying a file, the Annotation file should appear in a new document window.

  • If the view/edit pane is displaying a file, the Annotation file should be selected and appear in the pane in the main window.

I believe I understand what you’re saying, although if I am, it’s not my preferred behaviour. Regardless, If I have an item selected in my item list, and it is displayed in the view/edit pane, sometimes when I create a new annotation, the annotation will replace the selected document in the view/edit pane and I can begin typing my supplemental notes and details… I can of course no longer see the original document at this time, which isn’t helpful for my purposes (unless of course I go through other steps to have both visible on my screens).

Despite this, I can still follow the same process as I outlined, yet a new document window will open and display the annotation some of the time (I can’t speak to a percentage of either occurrence). I understand you’re not seeing this, but it is occurring. When it does create the annotation in a new window, it also simultaneously appears in the item list. For me, this is preferred so that I can still view the document I’m annotating in the view/edit pane while I create the annotation in the new window. I gather from your reply that this is not the intended, default or your observed behaviour.

I’d have to say that I annotate almost every document I scan because of notes and important details unique to that document/project, so perhaps I’ve just run across this atypical scenario by sheer volume of doing this? From a logic perspective, there still must be some sort of trigger to cause this, which I still can’t figure out. I can work around it, I was just always hoping a new annotation would appear in a new window instead of the view/edit pane.

I do appreciate the help and feedback! I’m trying to figure out as much as I can on my own, but I come from a very long history of PC applications and experience. So much of the Mac world is new, especially terminology. Too many years of “doing things the hard way” I suppose :slight_smile: