I definitely do use all sorts of tags, topics, searchable documents etc. The problems start when I need to find something very fast on a mobile device - as I’ve already explained. The screen is small, the UI unwieldy… and my best option is to look for certain topic filtered by location or period… otherwise the reference files from several jobs, on the same subject, will pop up and the list will be hard to look through.
Ultimately the creation date, modification date, location where the note has been created are all metadata… the parameters of the file if you will. I find it very convenient being able to use that particular metadata to filter information better and find information faster. May be just a habit I worked myself into, but it does go well with the nature of my work.
I was considering quarterly tags. As in “2014Q1” for example. Would at least narrow things a bit, though it still won’t be the same thing.
I’m new to DT and I do need to dig in deeper, but right now I’m under impression one cannot search for multiple terms in DTTG. Maybe it’s possible with tags… is it possible to look for all notes with tags, for example:
“2014” and “February” and (“1st week” or “2nd week”)
I think the Boolean operators are not available in DTTG…. On the top of that it would still be somewhat cumbersome, to count days on the spot just to calculate which week it was etc.
I know it all sounds very complex… but it’s a quite simple process of finding information:
Look for a term (a client name, a subject tag etc.) and find a note that is related to the subject.
Look at the date and tags and recall it was during a week long seminar on technology X.
Look for all the notes from that week.
Because some notes and files had been added on the go, in a hurry… the tagging is not always consistent. But the date stamps and geolocation will be. This is the beauty of solutions such as Evernote (the old one a least) or DEVONthink that the consistency isn’t necessary to find the right information quickly.
There’s an extensive help for search when you press the question mark in the search box itself.
Yes, that’s a nice alternative approach, I’ve setup multiple of such constructions and broke them down after it didn’t work, but at least tried and as a benefit learned more from DT(TG). And of course those that did work are still in use.
That doesn’t mean the sky is the limit, but waiting for some feature request to be build really depends on the urgency and resources available to the developers.
I do get search hints and they do mention Boolean operators as available. Should’ve looked closely from the start. I do not see the question mark in the search box though (even hints mention it, but it’s not there).
(The screenshot of the search tab from my iPad below)
As far as I know there isn’t an option to turn it off. It might return if you close DTTG (swipe upwards in iOS) and/or subsequently reboot your device.
If it doesn’t, perhaps @BLUEFROG knows what’s going on when the the question mark in the DTTG search box goes missing.
It’s back. Closing DTTG didn’t help immediately, but after I entered one of the databases and selected a note, the question mark has reappeared. Now it is available all the time, even if I close and reopen DTTG. I wonder what might have happened.
Now to figure why items flagged as Favorites on Mac do not show up in Favorites on iOS…
Because Favorites aren’t synced between DEVONthink and DEVONthink To Go at this time.
Again, don’t go into things with an expectation of full parity betwen the platforms. DEVONthink To Go was not released as a full iOS clone of DEVONthink on the Mac.
Some things are planned.
Some things are on a list of possibilities.
Some things are infeasible due to some missing requirement or technological problem.
Thank you for the reply. I’ve realized flagging and adding to favorites are separate things. I’ve flagged all the notes I want to have quick access too and added a smart group in my mobile apps.
Favorites I now treat as a temporary list of notes I’m working on and remove them as soon as I’m done with the edits. It could be a bit simpler to add and remove from favorites (single swipe level, rather than swipe and select “…” then the menu. Especially that the folder being separate for every device doesn’t allow for quick&easy setup on the desktop app.
