Make an Annotation with Links, Notes, Tags v2

[korm]

@NZT-48

i’ve just tried using this script

Which script – this thread is so old and hoary that it’s not obvious what you’re referring to – sorry

i’m wondering if there’s a way to fix the way that the script captures quotes.

Em … doesn’t it? My script and Frederiko’s each capture the selected text and inserts it into the annotation file. Could you be specific on what you want?

[Frederiko]

@NZT-48

i’ve just tried using this script and like it very much. i’m wondering if there’s a way to fix the way that the script captures quotes. i work as a reporter and have a fast-pace work environment, so it’s a bit of work to change every quote and apostrophe. thx.

I am guessing you are referring to the fact that the quotation is not always accurately quoted. This can be a problem especially with pdfs where the underlying text layer is malformed. The script needs to be able to comprehensively clean up underlying text but this can be pretty complex because there are so many possible permutations. Some day I might tackle it.

Perhaps if you post a screenshot of some of the original text and the generated quotation text I can see if there is an easy fix. No promises.

Frederiko

[NZT-48]

@Frederiko

I am guessing you are referring to the fact that the quotation is not always accurately quoted. This can be a problem especially with pdfs where the underlying text layer is malformed. The script needs to be able to comprehensively clean up underlying text but this can be pretty complex because there are so many possible permutations.
…
Perhaps if you post a screenshot of some of the original text and the generated quotation text I can see if there is an easy fix. No promises.
Frederiko

thx v. much. just so you know, it seems that whenever i use the script apostrophes, quotes, ellipses and sometimes m-dashes always seem to get mangled. but it happens w/ every pdf doc i use, and i read disparate articles w/ different formatting - in other words, the script is performing this way across the board w/ quotes from every pdf.

i’m sorry to trouble people about this, because i’m sure it takes much time and effort to create such a script. but the thing is, i heavily rely on that formatting - esp. quotes & apostrophes - so it takes a great deal of time to clean it up, and i’m often facing daily deadlines so the clean up impedes my delivery-deadline. i’m attaching a screenshot, as you requested. thx for any help & solution you can provide.

[korm]

Sometimes it is not easy, and often it is not successful, to fix these things in a script.

Over here, I used TextSoap – which has a service that will accept the select text and scrub it of non-Ascii characters etc, and fix quotes.

[NZT-48]

@korm

Sometimes it is not easy, and often it is not successful, to fix these things in a script.

Over here, I used TextSoap – which has a service that will accept the select text and scrub it of non-Ascii characters etc, and fix quotes.

is that the approach you’d recommend? or maybe, since the syntax-errors seems fairly consistent, it’s possible to first see if can be fixed in a script, and then revert to that suggested app. a good approach? thx.

[BLUEFROG]

since the syntax-errors seems fairly consistent, it’s possible to first see if can be fixed in a script

Unless there is a reasonable guarantee the errors or the source of the errors won’t change, this approach can lead to endless patching (which also can lead to things breaking later). Something to be mindful of.

[Bill_DeVille]

I’ll second the implication of korm’s and BLUEFROG’s comments.

A lot of time and effort would likely be saved by using Text Soap or similar utility to clean up non-ASCII characters than by trying to do that by scripting.

[korm]

@NZT-48

is that the approach you’d recommend? or maybe, since the syntax-errors seems fairly consistent,

Appearances are deceiving when it comes to programmatic character fixing. Besides – why ask someone to volunteer to write new code when there’s already software in the market that does what you want?

[NZT-48]

@BLUEFROG

since the syntax-errors seems fairly consistent, it’s possible to first see if can be fixed in a script

Unless there is a reasonable guarantee the errors or the source of the errors won’t change, this approach can lead to endless patching (which also can lead to things breaking later). Something to be mindful of.

i see. thx. that’s why i asked. like i said, there seems to be a fairly consistent pattern to the errors, which is why i thought it might be relatively easy to fix at the script level. i tried the textsoap app. i might need to learn a bit more about how to make it work better as it seems a bit clunky; i just need to better understand how to train it to learn the particular, repeated errors and correct them as part of my profile. the point is, w/o a script fix, users would have to: copy & paste the text in text soap, run the app, then copy & paste the corrected text back into the tag - doc. is that right? thx again for the help.

[NZT-48]

@jprint714

I’ve been debating whether to keep everything in one DB or to split things up – mostly to better streamline the kind of granular tagging that this encourages. For now, it seems best to keep everything in one DB since some of the topics are overlapping (and tags are supposed to be for “abstract concepts,” right?). So, I’m wondering: (a) If this organizational set up seems like a sound approach – or if others would advise something different, and (b) if keeping the all-in-one research DB seems best, if one should consider creating further sub-group tags to differentiate between these different projects – just to achieve better organizational order?

as a relatively new devonthink user, & one who’s just started using this script in this forum, i’ve been wondering the very same thing. any good advice? thx.

[korm]

My general rule of thumb for databases is to create new databases for broad subject areas. Let that database grow. Split the database when the subject matter material in the database seems to be diverging into other broad subject areas. Prune the database of irrelevant material (e.g., smart groups can help you get rid of aged material).

It’s hard (and valueless) for anyone to give more specific advice because none of use knows your data and what you are planning to do with the documents. I.e., no one can tell you to merge or split databases – you have to know your stuff and figure out the best course of action. Other than a relatively small amount of time (in comparison to the hours you’ll be using the database) splitting/merging is no big deal.

[NZT-48]

@korm

My general rule of thumb for databases is to create new databases for broad subject areas. Let that database grow. Split the database when the subject matter material in the database seems to be diverging into other broad subject areas. Prune the database of irrelevant material (e.g., smart groups can help you get rid of aged material).

It’s hard (and valueless) for anyone to give more specific advice because none of use knows your data and what you are planning to do with the documents. I.e., no one can tell you to merge or split databases – you have to know your stuff and figure out the best course of action. Other than a relatively small amount of time (in comparison to the hours you’ll be using the database) splitting/merging is no big deal.

i see. thx. that’s very helpful. i was thinking of creating sub-categories w/in the “issues” section of the script, just to create a bit more separation and order for subject areas. i understand you don’t know my data / documents. like the jprint714 user, i’m using both for a combination of small projects, and one big one that overlaps in some areas. so, i’m wondering if the creation of sub-categories approach is a good one, or if there’s another org strategy i ought to consider. thx.

[john_maassen]

Thanks Korm and Frederiko these scripts are really useful

[NZT-48]

@NZT-48

i was thinking of creating sub-categories w/in the “issues” section of the script, just to create a bit more separation and order for subject areas. i understand you don’t know my data / documents. like the jprint714 user, i’m using both for a combination of small projects, and one big one that overlaps in some areas. so, i’m wondering if the creation of sub-categories approach is a good one, or if there’s another org strategy i ought to consider. thx.

i realize i’m quoting myself here. but i just tried to create this set up, and discovered it cannot work; one cannot create tagged sub-categories - or at least they can’t work w/in this script. any other ideas for how one can achieve this? or is this something that would have to be created at the script level? would appreciate any helpful input. thx.

[NZT-48]

@Frederiko

You can also change the name of the sub group tags by editing these lines:

property groupTag1 : "Issues"
property groupTag2 : "People"

thx for this. upon reflection, i realize i wasn’t clear enough. in order to better groups my tags - by project or by follow up research - i was attempting to create subgroups w/in subgroups. i.e., assigning subgroups, by topic, w/in the “issues” subgroup. i also did the same for the “people” subgroup. then i realized it doesn’t work. so, i’ve just created topical prefix. it’s not perfect, since it still means all of my tags are bunched up in the same batch, and thus it creates a long list of tags, and the tag names are now longer, but it’ll do for now. does anyone have any other suggestions?

Also, is there another, easier way to select multiple tags under the main Annotations tags? Like you @Frederiko, I also have a “followup” tag (as you have in your illustrated example) along w/ a few other more specific research-related tags, so…I would love to figure out how to include these various tags, apart from having to write out each tag name, separated by a semi-colon (IF possible!).

@Frederiko

No its not possible. Autocomplete only works on the first tag. The only reasonable alternative way would be to have several tag fields in the same way as sub group tags are handled.

i tried to do this, too. i’m still tinkering w/ this script - tag system, and even tried to place my research-related tags in the “issues” sub-groups with an “r” prefix for research. is there another way to “have several tag fields in the same way as sub group tags are handled”?

@Frederiko

For various reasons, including the type of documents that I work with and I was finding that that my annotations lacked sufficient context when I returned to them, I have moved to almost exclusively using the version of the script that clips a whole page or more from the pdf. I can then markup the clipped page with the highlight and pdf annotation tools. That way I see the annotated passage in context and the full document is a one click away. Its definitely a more useful approach if you are working with documents, such as historical manuscripts or diagrams, where ocr is not very useful and where one or two lines of description do not fully convey the complexity of the annotation.

Frederiko

does that mean you’re no longer this script and are taking a different approach? or are you using another script for longer sections of text that you quote? just wondering what other script you’re using. thx.

[kseggleton]

For those of you using PopClip I have created a simple PopClip extension that triggers the “Make Annotations” script when you highlight text. The proviso is that the script has the hotkey of ‘Command-Option-A’ set in DevonThink Pro. If you use a different hotkey for the script then you will need to modify the Config.plist file in the PopClip Extension bundle.

The PopClip extension is here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86554049/Annotate.popclipext.zip

[jprint714]

Terrific idea, and thanks so much for doing this! I did install it, but unfortunately it didn’t work. Anyway, I (we) greatly appreciate the effort. This script is so important for my workflow. I hope they continue to develop it further – it’s so great and important to the DTP community.

[jprint714]

Super quick question… The window for this script automatically has the “Notes in comment” box unchecked. I’m wondering what are the advantages / disadvantageous with this – that is, why it helps to have notes will be placed in the spotlight comment field or to be left out for the purposes of this annotated - tagging function.

Thanks very much!

[NZT-48]

i’ve been using this script for a while now, and have found it extremely useful. i’ve had one technical problem: for some reason, i’ve had to repeatedly re-install the script to get it to function. is this a problem with the script or something with my DTP in particular? i’m just wondering how best to fix it.

also, i’ve come to realize that the script works best when one project is confined to one database, in order to be able to utilize a robust tag system. i think korm says it best here:

@korm

My general rule of thumb for databases is to create new databases for broad subject areas. Let that database grow. Split the database when the subject matter material in the database seems to be diverging into other broad subject areas. Prune the database of irrelevant material (e.g., smart groups can help you get rid of aged material).

It’s hard (and valueless) for anyone to give more specific advice because none of use knows your data and what you are planning to do with the documents. I.e., no one can tell you to merge or split databases – you have to know your stuff and figure out the best course of action. Other than a relatively small amount of time (in comparison to the hours you’ll be using the database) splitting/merging is no big deal.

i’ve come to agree with this. but here’s the thing… i’m writing a book, and so each of these databases would interface; the databases would essentially be chapters in a book. to that end, i need to replicate certain files and notes between databases, but it seems that i’m unable to do that. can anyone recommend a solution to this situation? a colleague suggested considering indexing files, but i don’t think that would work for my configuration. still, i’m happy to entertain other ideas. thanks.

[korm]

You shouldn’t need to repeatedly “reinstall” scripts – though I’m not sure what specifically “reinstall” means on your kit. If the problem persists, it’s a good candidate for opening a ticket with Support.

It’s not possible to replicate a file between databases. If it is essential to have access to the same file in more than one database, then index it in each database. The indexed instance is exactly the same file in each database, so this approach amounts to the same result as you would have if multiple-database replication were possible.