How about an iPhone app that can synch with my Devonthink Pro?
I’ve been waiting patiently for this since giving up my Treo & PC combo where I could do this using a product called Info Select.
We are certainly thinking about the subject “iPhone” intensively 
This isn’t a big deal for me, but I’d definitely use it. I was just thinking last night that I wished I could take RTFs with me…
Well I guess I can continue to be patient a while longer - think hard! 
I am carrying most of the files I have got in DEVONthink on my iPhone. Mostly RTFs, PDFs and HTML files. They reside in apps like Air Sharing and Files. The iPhone is the first handheld device where it really makes sense viewing those files. And also the time it takes to navigate to a file is reasonable.
If there will not be (or until there will be) a DT app for the iPhone, it would be great if DT could maintain an incrementally updated folder of the files in a database somewhere on my Mac’s filesystem. Then I could set up ChronSync to make an incremental update to my iPhone.
I am also hoping that these iPhone apps will someday have a built-in RTF editor. Then two-way syncing with DEVONthink would be great. But that is not a must for me right now. I would be happy enough to carry an always up to date export of my DT db with me.
The two things I am looking forwards to in these iPhone file storage apps is syncing with an online storage like MobileMe and viewing of csv/tsv files. I am hoping that future isn’t too far ahead.
Version 2 gives you the option to publish a database to a server, and when accessed from an iPhone it runs a JavaScript app made for the iPhone. It runs in search-only mode on the iPhone, but still it’s pretty slick.
i cant wait! everything i scan with my scansnap gets dumped into DTPO and Evernote, so i can view from iphone. The problem is that all of my “on the go” notes and photos only get into evernote, since I don’t have a way of entering them into devonthink. I would love an iphone app and would pay $30 for the priviledge, if it allowed for selective syncing (I have 3500 pdfs in mine) and had great capture on the iphone side so you could quickly capture a text, audio, or photo note and tag it from the phone.
I can’t wait. And I can’t believe what a patient bunch the DT users seem to be, based on this forum. I’m also following the progress of a potential iPhone app for the GTD app The Hit List. That poor developer is constantly hounded by users chomping at the bit for an iPhone app.
I haven’t seen much of an announcement on this, but development does seem to be official. Is there a date by which we should expect this?
I’ve been trying to synch some notes to my iTouch through various apps, and it’s been really frustrating. I’m about to buy Soho and their iphone app just to try that as a stopgap, or perhaps a permanent mobile solution.
My problem now is twofold:
- I’ve got notes on my device in various different apps based on the strength of the app. This is no good, because a note could be anywhere. For instance pastebot is a great app for getting info onto the itouch very quickly. Goodreader is a very good reader, but it doesn’t have search, and it’s a little bit clunky to enter new items. Writeroom is a great notepad which synchs to a web-based mac counterpart, but it’s text-only. Evernote would be a very good solution for rich media (like web clippings) – it’s searchable! – but it’s not at all reliable when the iTouch isn’t connected to the internet. At all. On a recent journey it was a real letdown for info that I thought I’d be able to search.
And so on… - I guess I’ve already touched on this, but the ideal would be to have rich media notes that are searchable on the iTouch/iPhone, easy to grab info from web pages (as devonthink on the mac is), and it would work even when offline.
Any idea when we might hope for something? Should I hold off on buying soho to tide me over?
This is exactly what we are working on. But remember: DEVONtechnologies is a small company with limited resources. We can only work 24/7 — and developing application isn’t as simple as putting Lego blocks together. I cannot announce an official schedule but this: The alpha tester team has already received more than one alpha and is actively discussing the software here in this forum (on a hidden alpha tester board).
In my experience, “thinking about the iPhone” as far as DEVON are concerned will probably takes a geologic period, if the emergence of a final DT Pro 2 is any guide. Not for nothing did they call themselves DEVONtechnologies
I think they are in serious danger of losing a lot of users and potential users to Evernote, which I am relying on more and more since taking it to premium level. It already has me thinking: do the benefits of Evernote outweight the (numerous) benefits of DTPO? So far, I have to say it’s about evens. However, Evernote have a far greater development ethic and I believe it won’t be too long before I start to migrate all but long-term archived data to Evernote.
DEVON seem reluctant to move beyond being “small” players (Eric’s own description). That means loyal users have a lot of frustration to look forward to, and it would be foolish not to start looking at more modern (ie cloud/sync/portable) alternatives.
The crucial test for DEVON, I think, will be how fast they can respond to the challenge of the iPad. If they don’t get an app out in six months they face the same fate of dinosaurs. Which will be sad, because DTPO is a great GREAT application, but its evolution is way too slow.
That’s funny. I used Evernote for a while before I discovered DevonThink, and had the exact opposite reaction. My biggest objections to Evernote were (a) getting my data back out was nearly impossible and (b) its interface became unworkable at a small fraction of my current DTP database size.
Now I haven’t used Evernote seriously in quite a while, so those areas may have improved. But I would advise anyone considering it as their main repository to investigate those issues very carefully.
Katherine
Katherine, I notice that you’ve been a DEVONthink forum member since 27 Jan 2007 and, presumably, a DEVONthink user since then. Therefore your proper experience of Evernote can’t have been pre that date - the Evernote web service was launched on June 24, 2008 - 17 months later. 
You are a staunchly loyal DTPO user, and I consider myself one too. The simple point I am making is that DEVONtechnologies must stop saying they are a small company and hire someone to quickly put web synchronization at the heart of their work. Like all Mac users who are not deskbound I’m excited about the new iPad. But then I think “Uh-oh, but will it sync with DTPO? Probably not.” And I start feeling the frustration I’ve had with DEVON’s sl-ow development ever since I bought into it. 
Not good. Which is why I consider Evernote - a company on steroids if ever there was - more likely to put/update local versions of my data in my pocket and on my iPad. 
I don’t think I was commenting on the Evernote web service, now was I?
My point stands. I would strongly suggest that anyone considering the use of Evernote as their primary repository take a careful look at data portability and scalability issues.
Katherine
PS I’m actually a current user of Evernote. It has a place, certainly. I just find it inadequate for the things I use DTP for.
Katherine, you were attempting to diss Evernote by implying that you’d tried Evernote in all its web glory (that was, after all, the point of my original post) when clearly, before your conversion to DEVONthink, you had no experience of the Evernote that everyone knows.
Comparing DT with Evernote is to compare apples and oranges. They are very different. Better to use them side by side, as I do, exploiting the strengths of each.
The same is true of their development approaches. If I remember correctly, to fund their “development ethic” Evernote’s developers have raised at least $6m in the last couple of years, the latest tranche last September. Fine, and probably putting Evernote “on steroids” for a while, but quite unusual for a developer of their type and size. And perhaps for good reason. If it was equity, they’ll have had to give up ownership of part of their company; if it was also partly mezzanine and debt, they’ll have taken on risks as well.
I know zilch about how DT is funded, but I doubt from what I’ve seen that they’ve “gone for broke” in this way. Two different funding models underlying two different development approaches? But who’s to say that one is better than the other?
H
As things stand, side-by-side is the approach I’ve adopted, although I hate having data in two different applications. I’d much rather use DTPO full time. But who knows? Maybe DEVONtechnologies will suddenly surprise us with a killer app, thus silencing whingers like me.
I’ve pretty much given up on Evernote on the iTouch. At least without the paid version, the reliability of search when offline was disappointing. Notebooks is filling the bill for now.
One thing I think I’d need in a Devonthink solution would be to flag notes that would be portable vs those that wouldn’t. My DPT database would be too big to put on the portable device and contain lots of notes relevant only to my desktop work.
Personally - and your mileage will undoubtedly vary - I can’t imagine using DT on an iPhone. But on a iPad? Absolutely!
I fervently hope that DT will take a hard look at how Apple has adapted iWorks in very powerful and sophisticated ways for the iPad. It would be invaluable for me to be able to have a version of DT on the iPad.
I agree with the last post. I think the iPad is going to be a phenomenal success and may represent a huge shift in computing. I am going to get one and it would be great to have a DEVONThink app.
RickB
Don’t hold your breath, Rick. As far as I’m aware DEVON have been pretty silent about iPad and DEVONthink. Needlessly. Meanwhile, Evernote have stated they will
Want to know what lets down DEVONthink? The small-minded, absurdly secretive attitude of its developers and slow pace of development.
There is absolutely no commercial reason for them to be silent about the iPad. But somehow I don’t think they will ever change. Small, slow and secret are their company watchwords. They are unwilling to invest in their own software to make it usuable in the cloud/sync world in which we all now find ourselves. A real pity, because their software is good.
*For the full Evernote post visit blog.evernote.com/2010/01/27/happy-tablet-day/