I’ve been a long time user of Yep which doesn’t force you to import the data into a “database”, it’s more of a tool which sits on top of Finder to organize / search files.
I’ve been testing and really liking DevonThink so I’d like to make the transition, but I’m very nervous about importing all my data into DevonThink and losing my ability to navigate to find / open files from Finder (vs. opening up Devon Think (or Spotlight/etc.)).
I was curious how others are handling this.
My biggest concern is with “moving” files. I had all my files / PDFs in folders within Finder. When I Indexed those folders in Devon, it properly created groups for each of them. If I move a file within Finder, I can fix things fairly easily within DevonThink by “updating indexed items”.
However, if I’m in DT, and I “move” an indexed file (or folder) from one group to another, it reorganizes itself within DT, but Finder keeps the “old structure”.
I could make the leap to importing all my files, but it’s a big leap for me.
If you choose to create Spotlight indexes of the contents of your DEVONthink databases you can do Spotlight searches of your DEVONthink documents, whether they are in a currently open or closed database. Perform the Spotlight search, then choose the option to view all results. A Finder window will then display the results, and all items within DEVONthink databases display the blue Ammonite shell icon.
Select a search result and press Space to see a Quick Look display of the document, or double-click it to open it within DEVONthink.
Your choice of Imported or Indexed databases depends on your workflows and personal preferences. Either will work, although I find the extra effort to maintain purely Indexed databases to be irritating and prefer using DEVONthink’s richer environment for organization of my documents.
I don’t Index anything unless I have a continuing need to share Finder files with another application (I don’t have such a need.)
That’s where I think I’m ending up with a few key exceptions where indexing seems like the better choice.
Programming files
Home Inventory type documents that are used by other programs / Quicken Data files
Files I have stored on an external NAS / Hard drive.
Again, the quirk is just to remember to do all my “filing” and “moving” from within Devon and avoid the finder (which I’ve got very used to doing)…
I also need to work on my process to best and most quickly file things…
One more question for you:
Are you familiar with 'Mail Act-On"? It allows you to quickly file e-mail into folders with a few keyboard strokes (searching for the right folder). Is there a similar shortcut / keyboard search where I could easily be on something on my inbox, click a keyboard short cut, and start to type the first few letters of the folder/group and “file” it?