I use DEVONthink on a daily basis and my entire tech set up is built around it. But I do find utility in using other applications, such as MarginNote 3, where I happen to be working on a certain research project.
The problem: At the moment, what I do is create a group with a bunch of replicants. I read and annotate inside this group. The files are stored under my own sorting system.
If I export a given replicant to MarginNote 3 and later re-import it, DEVONthink thinks it’s a new file.
what might be the best way to handle the situation whereby the file would be updated without having to locate the original and replace it manually (time-consuming), and without creating duplicates after processing the PDF in another software?
Is there a better way to handle my database for such purposes? Or perhaps there is a way to automate this using custom scripts (I have no programming background)?
That’s odd, compared to other software using “Open With…” command. Using that one? All external software I use opens the file in place from DEVONthink, then when saved, saves back into the DEVONthink location. How odd Margin note not doing that. Maybe because opening the Replicant? I’m away from my desk to experiment this one.
I tried it again on the original file with the same result (negative).
I tried the same with PDF Expert (bought it ages ago); changes do reflect in this case, after closing.
Perhaps the reason is that MarginNote needs to import the file in order for it to be manipulated in the way that it allows (which is why I’d like to use it on top of my DT3 system, if possible.)
I don’t have Margin Note software. Best I can recommend, based on what you report, is to look at their User Manual for specifics about how the app opens files, duplicates what it opens, etc. And/Or check on their forum or support for an explanation on why it apparently does not edit the file opened, but a duplicate.
I don’t understand what the difference between “importing” and “opening” would be. In my mind, there is none.
And I just downloaded MN3 and opened a PDF document stored in DT in it with “Open with…”. Then I created a basic annotation in the PDF in MN3 and closed the file there again with Cmd+W. No visible changes in DT, but when I opened that file again in MN3, the annotation is there.
Therefore, I’m not sure where you see a problem with simply opening a file from DT in MN3. Perhaps you do more complicated things or it’s related to the fact that you are using replicants.
Making DEVONthink work with other softwares workout PDF duplication
?
Why would this be a problem for DEVONtch to solve? It seems pretty clear it’s something for MarginNote to respond to? We don’t control MarginNote and its behaviors.
Also, is the PDF indexed or imported into DEVONthink?
Yes, MN3 will save the changes, but I’d have to export it back to DT3 eventually, and DT3 will regard it as a new file.
The difference between import/ export vs “open in” seems clear to me: the first sends the file as is to another software, whereas “open in” allows me to make changes in, say, PDF Expert, close it there and find my annotations in DT3. The same isn’t true of MN3.
The latter software is useful for research purposes because you can visually structure various excerpts from multiple files.
I’ve been using DT for a very long time but am not nearly as knowledgeable as many in this space. That said, what you’re saying is impossible as far as I’m aware. Unless you’re talking about two instances of the same pdf. You can’t have one file indexed and imported at the same time.
MN 3 internally makes a copy of any file it opens in its own database.
It saves all annotations (or whatever you do with this file) as well in this database
A hint that this might be happening:
Open a PDF from the desktop in MN3
Annotate it there
Save it
Open the same file again in Preview
No annotation visible (at least not a “Text box” that I added in MN3)
So, it looks very much like MN implements its own silo, just like Drafts. Then, of course, this file looks like a “new one” to DT. Because it is.
Update: "Export"ing an MN3 database results in a folder containing a bunch of SQLite files. And the PDF files I opened in MN3. Which seems to corraborate my theory.
Finally, the issue is not at all about making “DT work with other software”. It is about the software you’re using behaving well. Which, in my mind, implies not silo-ing files.
Some more background: MN3 is scriptable. And the scripting dictionary seems (!) to indicate that this app does not use PDF annotations at all, but rather its own Notes objects.
So, it is not surprising that the annotations made in MN3 do not show up in other apps – they are something else entirely. Not usable anywhere but in MN3.
AFAIK, “open in” is a must to get approved in the iOS/iPadOS store. Perhaps a complaint to Apple could, eventually, solve the problem. I remember a time ago, when I did some apps for a company, I got some complaints from Apple and was given some time to solve it or go out of store.
MN3 for Mac feels to me like a crude copy of the iPad version. It’s not entirely unexpected that the iOS/iPadOS sandbox has been copied into the Mac version as well. I haven’t tried the recently released MN4 so cannot speak for it.
