I have a database called ‘Ongoing’ which takes in everything selected and copied via the system Services menu. I then switch to the db and categorize to groups in the History window.
Before that though I select these added articles and notes and label them as ‘unread’, so even when they’ve gone to a group they won’t be overlooked later.
What I’d like though is for this initial labelling to happen automatically for added convenience. I tried making a group labelled ‘unread’ and setting that as the default import group in the prefs but the label doesn’t carry through to the files, so the History window shows no changes.
This is just a personal way of working - via the History window - and I’ve gotten used to it and am pretty happy with it. So my request is to be able to specify new files with a label on import.
you could use the state for this which is off by default. Just make the state of your incoming group visible and then the state of every new item will be visible and off by default.
Thanks for the reply, Christian, but that didn’t work as intended. Showing the state changes the icons of the group and its contents to a tickbox but doesn’t change the contents to the group’s label. In fact I need to keep the original icon to see the file format so for me this is a step backwards. Or maybe I’m misunderstanding your reply?
If you wish to see the file type, there’s another way to accomplish that. You can add additional columns alongside the Names column in a view.
Select View > Columns > Kind. Presto! A new column appears, and of course it is also sortable. Remember that you can widen/narrow a column by dragging its header border.
If you adopt Christian’s suggestion, you can change the state (check) items that you have read.
As I often dump in hundreds or thousand of new documents (usually from DEVONagent searches for big batches like that) I don’t pretend to read everything as it’s introduced to the database. I’ll use searches and See Also when I’m looking for interesting references.
For a minute I was beginning to regret asking this request but on reflection, and a little testing, it’s become interesting - to me anyway.
I do try and read whatever comes in and so need a way to easily recognise what needs catching up on, so it’s an interface and personal preference issue. I could do as you suggest, Bill, but on a laptop where view is at a premium I want as few columns as poss and show the max in what there are (titles and comments mostly, plus the info window to the side). The other thing is I happen to find glancing at icons easier than reading ‘rtf’ and so on.
Switching to a state view was interesting - the group transferred its state to the file but when the file was moved to another group that state was kept, just as Christian said. I’d rather the state was dependent on the group if initially set for the group. But even if it did my unread label wouldn’t be there to indicate ‘unread’ once the file was moved to another group.
As said, it’s just a personal way of working and I still can’t find another way round my own system - except to keep on selecting what’s been brought in and control click to give them an unread label. Months of habit.
But thanks for the alternative viewpoint. Good to see how someone else is importing. I kind of wonder what preferences or thoughts others might have on it? At the end of the day though I’d still like a pref to specifically label imports.
Here’s another possibility: First, save this script:
on triggered(theRecord)
tell application "DEVONthink Pro"
set label of every child of theRecord to 1
end tell
end triggered
Then attach it to your incoming group via the Info panel. Afterwards the script will always set the label of the contents of the incoming group after selecting the group in split or 3-pane views or after opening the group in its own window.
Circus Ponies Notebook has an option to annotate clipped entries before they are posted to the database. It’s an opportunity to add a meaningful name, and clean up any irrelevancies in the text. I’d welcome a similar capability in DT.
