Howto get an updated version of a server hosted doc in DT DB

DEVONthink Tips
1

Hi,

Problem definition: There are a number of documents hosted on servers that get updated almost daily. I want to have a local copy of the most current version in my DT DB such that is being indexed and can be searched. It would be sufficient to trigger the update manually.

Initially I did manually download the doc every time I wanted to have the new version and then imported it into the DB, but this is very labor intensive. I’m looking for a more automated way of doing it.

As next step I tried bookmarks with a link to the particular docs. Sometimes the download manager downloads the file when I click on the bookmark in the DB sometimes not. The place it downloads the file is in the group Downloads under the global Inbox.

That does look promising, but needs some fine tuning. Here are my Qs I would need help for:

  • is bookmark the right way of keeping track of remote docs in the local database?
  • Is there a way to instruct the download manager to download the doc exactly with the same tags and visually at the same place/the same place in the group tree as the bookmark? (instead as of now to the same place -> Global Inbox/Downloads)
  • what needs to be done in order to reliably download the doc when clicking the bookmark?

Many thx,
Cheers

2

That’s not (yet) possible. The best solution right now is probably to…

  • initially download the docs using the Download Manager
  • afterwards select the downloaded docs you want to update and run this script

However, this will not retain the tags/hierarchy.


tell application "DEVONthink Pro"
	set theSelection to the selection
	repeat with theRecord in theSelection
		set theURL to URL of theRecord
		if theURL is not missing value and theURL is not "" and (add download theURL) then delete record theRecord
	end repeat
end tell

WARNING: This script deletes all selected items having a valid URL so that the download manager will add them again and not duplicate them.

3

Can’t you auto-mount (via macosx sharing) the server folder with the document you need to update and then index the document?
In that case I think DTP should consider it just like any other file on your hard disk.

Regards,
Francesco