Making an Alias of a Group

Allsop · May 28, 2016, 5:00am

I am feeling rather foolish about this but then I was never one for hiding my foolishnesses Somehow a long time ago I made an alias of my DEVONthink Pro Office Inbox and put it on my desktop where it appears as a folder so that whenever I put any file into the alias as soon as DTPO is opened the contents of the alias folder is transferred to the Inbox. Now I want to do the same for a different Group but the trouble is I can not remember how I created the Inbox Alias in the first place, hence the foolishness . Anyone know how this is done?

Greg_Jones · May 28, 2016, 11:32am

It sounds like you might have instead attached the DEVONthink import Folder Action script (1) to the Finder folder (2). If so, those import scripts are coded to import/index to a specific DEVONthink group (selected group, import group set in DEVONthink Preferences). I don’t recall if it is possible create a folder action script that is hard coded to always import to a specific group in a database.

DEVONthink menu>Install Add-Ons…>Folder Action Scripts
With a folder selected in the Finder, right-click menu>Services>Folder Action Setup…

Allsop · May 28, 2016, 1:34pm

Thanks Greg but it is definitely an alias—see screenshot.

Greg_Jones · May 28, 2016, 2:08pm

That’s a special folder of the Global Inbox (located in the ~/Library/Application Support/DEVONthink Pro 2 folder), created so that Inbox can (optionally) appear in the Finder’s Sidebar. You are not going to be able to duplicate that functionality with other database groups.

Allsop · May 28, 2016, 2:12pm

Thanks again, at least I know now! Might suggest it to the guys that the ability to make alias’ of groups would be a good thing. Cheers.

BLUEFROG · May 28, 2016, 2:39pm

The Global Inbox is a real location on your filesystem, so there is something to create an alias to. Groups do NOT exist, so this is not possible.

korm · May 30, 2016, 1:04pm

Yes, hard-coded import to a specific group is possible with a folder action or ordinary script. Would also be possible with a Keyboard Maestro macro that incorporates such a group-specific import script. Or could be done with a Hazel rule that uses such a script.

Another approach is to use the Groups and Tags panel which can be kept visible and on top of all OS X desktops.

Or, also, to index a folder (say, on the Desktop and/or added to Finder’s sidebar) into one or more databases and use it as a sort of specific-group inbox. Just use the contextual menu in DEVONthink to move documents from there into the database.

Or just use Sorter.

Lots of options here, @Allsop