How to use Global Inbox?

In an attempt to give positive feedback, rather than my whinge in the last post, could I suggest that by default, any input such as from the Bookmark or Archive JS snippets should go to the Inbox of the current database?

I’d also be interested to hear of any circumstances under which a separate global inbox might be useful: I can’t really think of one, especially as it’s yet another little window to be managed.

Regards,
David

I think it would be a mistake for inbox input to go to the open database. If I have one or more (of four current) databases open, and drop an item, I’d have to search the inboxes to discover where the snippet landed.

The Global Box actions now are limited during the beta as already explained in this forum, with a very suitable and easy work-around. That said, I find the Global inbox quite useful as a repository for all my snips, bookmarks, archives, etc. I can easily sort them into the respective database and folder of my choice.

Alternatively, during this beta period, I’m evaluating the Sorter, with a local inbox for each of my databases. This is proving to be a simple workflow.

There are three user-selectable options in Preferences > Import - Destination. ‘Select group’ allows the user to choose a specific open database and group on-the-fly. Takes more time and effort at the front end, but the new content goes to its ultimate destination immediately. ‘Global Inbox’ is default. ‘Current database inbox’ sends new content to the Inbox of the frontmost open database (note that if the Global Inbox is selected and frontmost, it will be the recipient in that case, as it is itself a little database)…

Some people, e.g., GTD proponents, argue that everything that comes in should go into a central Inbox. Deciding how and when to manage that stuff is part of the Getting Things Done process.

If you have a number of databases, most of which are not open at any one time, the Global Inbox is the logical place to aggregate new stuff, as it’s less problematic than dumping everything into the Inbox of whatever database happens to be open at the time. In that sense, the Global Inbox is a dream come true to many of us who were restricted to one open database at a time in DEVONthink Pro/Office 1.x. I’ve got Preferences > Import set to send new content to the Inbox of the 'current", i.e., frontmost, database. Merely by clicking on the Global Inbox I can switch to that destination if I’m adding new content from the Web that will ultimately go to a database that’s not currently open. Want to switch to open database if I come across Web content that I want to place in it? Just click on its name in the slideout. Now that database is frontmost, or current, and the next Web capture goes to its Inbox. The slideout panel is a great database switcher. From my browser, Command-Tab to DTPO2, click on the name of the desired database, then Command-Tab back to the browser.

When the slideout panel is fully developed and the ‘Move to’ procedure is introduced that will move content to its destination rather than copying it, the Global Inbox will become more generally useful to many users. Actually moving a document will allow it to retain its UUID identification, which can be important as a unique identifier of that document.

When I first started using a prerelease of pb4, initially I made little use of the left slideout panel. Then I began to appreciate the utility of the new UI elements it contains (further enhancements are planned). Now it’s an integral part of my DTPO2 views and workflows. It’s well worth the real estate it takes up on my 13-inch screen.

Speaking of real estate, when I’m reading a document rather than just scanning it, I like to do that in full screen mode. To switch to full screen view, press Command-F7 (on my laptop, fn-Command-F7). To toggle back to normal view, use the same keyboard shortcut, or just press the Esc(ape) key. Note: set View > Zoom to Width for your PDF documents. Makes for easily readable text even on my 13-inch screen.

I don’t get it. We have all this perfectly usable functionality in the groups panel but a sidebar that a lot of people find too limited. How hard would it be to simply integrate the two? Is see no reason why the sidebar could not show full open database hierarchies in the same way as the groups panel. Then we could drag and drop in one step in one window.

Well I can’t comment too much on the usefulness since on my system, when I set the preferences to import to global inbox, it doesn’t work. But if I understand what is being debated, there is a reason that the extra sidebar with the inbox is useful. I have a ton of groups. If that stuff that is in the sidebar were up at the top of the group list, I’d have to be scrolling up and down constantly to get to the group I want to move things into. But perhaps a good compromise would be to have two panes stacked… the top most containing whats in the left one, and the bottom most containing the group list of the open database. I can see having about 1/4 of the vertical space taken with the global inbox, trash, etc., and the bottom 3/4 taken with the groups list. I’d like that arrangement better I think. But as it is, I can’t use it anyway because nothing goes in there.

At the moment we are concentrating to all all the promised features, then we will work on the UI. We will not replace the UI with a totally new one as many people are used to its paradigms but we will do a lot of polishing, remove the rough edges, and do usability testing. The sidebar, for example, is a work in progress. First we got the inbox working, now we’ll add more usability features to its user interface. We’re men here, not women (of whom is said to be capable of multitasking :slight_smile:), so we need to do one step after the other.

No problem. Personally I find the groups panel fine for most purposes and am in no great rush. Sure, I might use a universal notetaking feature and it would be nice to clip RTF selections with the bookmarklet, but on the whole I’m pretty well satisfied as things are.
It’s just that it seemed to me like a no-brainer that the sidebar should work in a similar way to the groups panel and I was honestly wondering why it doesn’t.
Cheers and keep up the good work, one step at a time. :slight_smile:

Hopefully with some attention given to focus/navigation issues previously discussed. Thanks, Eric!

Hi,
Is it possible to have an update on this please? In pb7 I see that the move to list is still blank and it still doesn’t appear to be possible to move an item from the Global Inbox to a group in a database without having to have two windows open. I did see a release note that stated that it is now possible to move rather than copy from the global inbox but I don’t see a way to enable this - dragging an item from the global inbox to another database still copies it rather than moving it.

Thanks

Mike

Try Command-drag.

Thanks sjk, that did the trick for dragging from the Global Inbox, although it would be great if there was an option to remove the need for the Command key, as this is now a different key sequence to all the other moves that I do (within the same database)…

That’s been suggested/discussed in some other thread(s). I don’t recall the details, though an inter-db move with DT is like an inter-volume move with Finder; both require explicit intent with the Command key. A preference to change that in DT is similar to wanting Apple to add Finder preferences for changing modifier key behaviors with drag operations. Seems unlikely to happen, in both cases.

I’m not sure that I agree that this is necessarily an inter database move. The Inbox isn’t a database per se and the way it is used (i.e. to store items temporarily before they can be moved to a more appropriate place) is not the same usage as a database (which is used to store items long term).

There may well be some users that need to copy the same item multiple times from the global inbox, however I would suggest that they are in a minority.

As it stands, given this, the lack of “move to” and the need to open multiple windows to move to a group in a database, I still find the Global Inbox to be a hindrance rather than a help and it seems that the development of the remaining functionality is delayed (as in March it was going to be in the next beta). If “move to” could be added in such a way that it replicates the behaviour of “move to” in the per-databases inboxes then that would mean I could use the global inbox for most of my workflow.

I agree. Excuse my forgetting the context was the global Inbox when composing that last reply. :blush:

There’s another problem with using command-drag to move items from the global inbox - if you select more than one item from the inbox and drag them to another database, both items are copied (correctly). If you select more than one item and command drag however only one of the items is moved - the other is left without being copied or moved.

Select multiple items, start dragging them, and then press the Command Key.

Hope that helps.

Karen

I just posted on this somewhere else on the forum. Glad I’ve found a home.

I totally agree with all the above. As a new user I assumed this was just something I needed to learn… but thankfully it’s just not very friendly.

Looking forward to the next version.

Perhaps a member of the DT team could explain the reasoning. It might be a good idea…

Would it be possible to have an update on this from Devontechnologies please?

Cheers

Mike

Unlike other DT Pro/Office databases, the Global Inbox resides in the User Library and has a fixed non-selectable location. It should be used as a temporary holding place for new content, which can be moved to and filed in another ‘regular’ database.

From public beta 7 forwards, the ‘Move To’ command has the same functionality in the Global Inbox as in other databases.

Select one or more items in the Global Inbox, Control-click (right click) and navigate to a desired destination in any open database. The item(s) will be moved from the Global Inbox to the desired location. (Prior to beta 7, ‘Move To’ copied rather than moved selected items, and required manual deletion of such items from the Global Inbox.)

DEVONthink Pro/Office Preferences > Import - Destination provides three options.

By default, the option to send new content to the Global Inbox is checked. The second option, ‘Select group’, will present a HUD allowing the user to select a desired destination in any open database. The third option will send new content to the Inbox of the frontmost open database.

In most circumstances in which new content is added to a database the user choice of destination in Preferences > Import will be honored. However, there may be some circumstances in which that might not be desirable, such as management of a queue of images sent by a scanner for OCR.

The Sorter allows the user to drop new content from the Finder into the Global Inbox (or other destination set in an empty slot) whether or not DT Pro/Office is running.

And if one uses the Save or Save As command from almost any other application, such as a word processor or spreadsheet, to the ‘Inbox’ destination of the Finder the content will be sent to the Global Inbox. (It’s not possible to Save or Save As to any database other than the Global Inbox.)

Thanks Bill. To clarify, I was referring to the “move to” list in the “See also & Clasify” window. This is the most useful feature of Devonthink (IMHO) but it still doesn’t work for the Global Inbox.