I am looking forward to the update to DEVONthink to Go on iOS. Until then (soon?), I have a couple of problems I wonder if people could help me sort out.
(1) Indexing
I have my files primarily in plain text. They are stored in a folder on my hard drive that syncs with SpiderOak. They are indexed by DevonThink. However, when I create a new file in DevonThink, it doesn’t appear in the indexed folder. Is this expected behavior, or is there something I need to do for it to happen. If expected, then I suppose I have to make all of my new files in the other folder first. That would be too bad.
(2) To Go
Sometimes files can’t be opened. Sometimes the app crashes. Sometimes, when I edit a file, it makes a duplicate one (usually with a .txt.txt name) when I sync to the Mac. Sometimes the sync gets stuck. Perhaps I am doing something wrong. I have reduced the amount that I sync, but I still never know when a file will open or not. Thankfully, everything is indexed (see #1) so I can access them through another app, but it is still clunky.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Basically, I have about 10,500 text notes and PDF files I want to sync onto my iPad. Unfortunately, navigating ToGo is quite painful unless you have everything flagged or labeled (a whole other problem). Ideally, I want to sync seamlessly from Mac to iPad, smoothly navigate from file to file, and work in DEVONthink (creating notes, editing them, etc.). But, so far I am finding that I spend a lot of time with workarounds (using other apps when ToGo keeps crashing) or cleaning up the database (when I accidentally create a file in ToGo and it doesn’t get copied into the folder I am indexing, or files are duplicated). I have a feeling I am just not using it correctly.
Item #1 is easy-just select the new documents in the group that is indexed, right-click, and choose ‘Move to external folder’ and the documents will be moved out of the database and into the indexed folder.
As an alternative, you can somewhat automate the process so that when you select an indexed group, a triggered script will do the same thing as described above. Create the following script, save it somewhere to your hard drive, and attach it to the indexed group(s) from the Info pane of the group(s) (click on ‘Select…’ to navigate to the script on your hard drive).
The script-copy this and paste into the AppleScript Editor.
on triggered(theRecord)
try
tell application id "DNtp"
deconsolidate record theRecord
end tell
end try
end triggered
As to item #2 on your list, I suspect that is just the nature of DEVONthink to Go 1.x.
The script for #1 seems to be working perfectly. Thank you so much! Hopefully, this will smooth out my workflow a bit.
As for #2, it is kind of frustrating, but perhaps inevitable with the app in its current state. I certainly do hope for some improvements in the eagerly anticipated update. I am sorely tempted by the Microsoft Surface for the simple reason that I can easily transition from my computer to the tablet (one device), which is something I need to be able to do in my work environment. Obviously, that would mean I wouldn’t be able to use DT (or a host of other applications along with OSX), so it is a difficult decision! This bottleneck, though, is serious enough to get me thinking this way. Nothing against Windows, mind you, but I have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of DT and OSX.
No. Scripts have to be attached to one group at a time. If you select multiple groups (they don’t have to be contiguous) and use Move to External Folder from the contextual menu, you’ll get the same result.
