Hi All. I’m new to DevonThink (and new to Macs in general) but so far I think the program will work well for me, though I’m still trying to get a handle on exactly how I will use it best. I have been using TheBrain as my knowledge and information management software but have been looking for something that feels a little more robust. I think DevonThink is that - I’ve worked through the “Taking control of…” ebook and so the basics at least seem to have sunk in.
The one drawback with moving from TheBrain however, is that visually I found it stunning and easy to navigate so I’m looking to see if I can combine the 2 programs in a way that doesn’t create too much working overlap. To that end I’ve been looking into DevonThink’s use of links and they seem to work well - I can put links in TheBrain back to the DevonThink note (and I may even be able to automate that somehow), but I would love a better understanding of how the links work for down the track.
The links seem to be in the form of: x-devonthink-item://4DF4AD38-etc etc
I guess what I’d like to know is what can break the link. For example would moving the item to a new database alter the link (moving it to a new location in the same database was fine), if I had to move all my databases etc to a new computer would the links still work etc? Even if the link I was clicking on was in a file located outside of DevonThink? There are other examples I’m sure I’m not thinking of, but basically as I said, I’d like to know what can break the links before I spend too much time setting them up.
So since no ones chimed in I thought I’d come back with “answers of sorts” to my own questions in case someone comes across this looking for similar answers.
Moving files (with links) between databases (or groups) was no problem - the files still linked to the correct files after moving. Wikilinks however seemed to only work within a single database (ie. if a note containing a wikilink was moved to another database, the link disappeared).
Renaming files (with links) was no problem - the files still linked to the correct files after renaming.
Moving the location of the databases was no problem - the files still linked to the correct files after the databases were moved and re-opened.
Rebuilding the databases was no problem - the files still linked to the correct files…
I didn’t test all this extensively but the links I was clicking on were located both within devonthink databases and in files I stored on the desktop. I’m very happy with how the links held up - I couldn’t find a way to break the devonthink links in normal/expected use so that’s encouraging, especially since being a new user my workflow and structure will likely change as I get the hang of the software.
Of course if anyone does know how links can be broken I’d still love to hear that so i can avoid it if possible.
The “x-devonthink-item://…” link is specific to a document contained in a DEVONthink database, and it is unique. No other document will have that link. The only time the link will stop working is when the document is deleted and the trash is emptied. You can move the document, you can rename the document, you can edit the document, you can close the database, you can move the database, you can even delete the document – and the link will work. Yes, it will even open the document if it’s in the trash. But, emptying the trash destroys the link.