I try both iA Writer and Typora to edit and read Markdown files stored in DEVONthink.
Typora has always worked reliably. Changes made either in Typora or directly within the DEVONthink database are reflected promptly on both sides.
However, I occasionally encounter an issue with iA Writer: I edit and save a Markdown file in iA Writer, but the corresponding file in DEVONthink does not appear to receive the new revision or update. In other words, the changes made in iA Writer are sometimes not detected or reflected by DEVONthink.
You need perhaps to provide more detail. Like indexed or imported document? If indexed – where is it located and is this location synced by another app like Dropbox or iCloud or so. Also for indexed files, you could try to use the menu Data/update indexed objects (not sure about the exact English words here).
Both of these are Markdown editors, and they read and edit files stored within DEVONthink. They do not store the files separately within the applications themselves.
Thanks. Since these files were created directly in DEVONthink and are not indexed, does “Update (Indexed) Items” still apply?
Also, what puzzles me is that Typora seems to work reliably with the same DEVONthink files, while iA Writer occasionally saves changes that DEVONthink does not detect. Could this be related to differences in how the two apps write or replace files, combined with the less reliable file system events in macOS 27?
Another thing to consider is that Typora probably(?) auto saves at short intervals. When I use IAWriter, I have to remember to press CMD-S as IAWriter only seems to auto save when you close it or move to another document.
I remember long ago seeing edits disappear. The problem was the external editor I was using saved the original file as *.bak and wrote a new file with modifications.
DEVONthink worked fine, the editor operated correctly, but what I saw wasn’t what I expected to get. Turning off the automatic *.bak copy cured the problem.
It’s a bit silly to say people have “never” had an issue, when this is a MacOS27 issue and it’s only been out only a handful of weeks and it’s unlikely we’ve surfaced all its bugs and quirks yet.
The issue with file system events seems to be a recurring theme due to the restructure of file system internals for Apple Intelligence. While I’m sure developers are doing all they can to try and understand the impact this has had on their apps (iA writer included), I assume this is actually quite opaque since it’s the OS that’s causing issues. I’ve seen reports now on this for a couple of apps I use. Having said that, I’ve mostly been happy with MacOS27 so far. At least it’s not as bad as OS26
One thing this issue has got me thinking about, alongside my general wariness of all new apps now because we don’t know what’s been “vibe-coded”, is how to streamline app use even further (and if it’s worth it). The more complicated Apple makes each OS, the more it’s likely to cause unexpected bugs in the way apps interact with each other (I’m going to assume bugs that directly affect one app are picked up during beta, so this is more about how our individual combinations of apps work together). Is the answer to only use one or two tools that never talk to each other so that you limit your exposure to “edge case” bugs?
