Have been wading through the options of software for managing my documents. Have been using Paperless 2 for a year or so, but it has always been slow and unstable. I recently switched to a new computer, tried to open my backup database and have not been able to.
I may be screwed, as the database was supposedly encrypted, yet I can still open the files in finder and view them. I’m hoping that I’ll just lose the tags/notes/document types and still have all the scanned documents.
Leads me to a question. Website says you can use your own file structure with this software. If I were to add a bunch of tags and notes with this software, are those things that stick with the file itself? Or do I lose those, much like I probably will be, switching from Paperless?
I ask because I recall reading somewhere that Tags and other data now stuck with the files on Yosemite. Not sure if it was accurate.
Question 2 would be that I’m not seeing a huge difference between Office and Office Pro. In the comparison, the only difference is something to do with email. Other than that it appears to be the same. Thought there is a pretty good price difference. Are there other things that are available to Pro that are not available to the other?
Thanks in advance. Also, apologies ahead of time if this is in the wrong forum.
Another thing I’m not seeing and was able to do with Paperless is have a date that reflects the document date. Not when it was scanned, or when the file was created, not when it was last updated, but the date on the letter head. It was also able to figure out what the bill amount was when I scanned a bill. I could then easily match an EOB to a bill just by searching for $132.23.
Yes, you can use your current filling structure and index the files into your database. (You should do some searching about this on our Forums, especially posts by Greg Jones as he uses indexing almost exclusively.)
Tags applied to indexed files will be show up in your filesystem. Tags applied to imported files will be applied to files upon exporting them.
There is no specific date value for this purpose. You may be able to use Tagging to accomplish a similar thing.
You said that tags would be applied to the file upon export. Does this mean that if I was to go and manually move a file in finder to somewhere else, that the tags would not follow? Will the tags only follow if the file is “officially” exported using some export function in the software?
Another question, Paperless has created a ridiculous filing system. Year folder (2011) > Month folder (01) > Day folder (02). I do not want to continue with this system. It would take a year to go through all the folders and pull the files out. Can DEVONthink do this for me and set up its own filing system?
I’m thinking kind of like iPhoto does. You tell it to manage your files, drop a jumbled mess on its lap and it will do the sorting and filing for you.
If so I could at least do this for the initial import, and then turn it off and manage it myself from there on out.
If the file was indexed, the Tags would still be seen in DEVONthink. If the file was imported, then whatever you do in the Finder after the import would have no affect in the database.
If you Tag an imported file in DEVONthink, then exported it (even by simply dragging and dropping to your Desktop), the Tags would be applied then.
There is nothing built in to do this in any automated way. I am curious what your sort criteria would be if not by (a fairly logical) Year > Month > Day hierarchy.
An interesting and robust feature of DEVONthink are the templates – Data > New From Template. The “Register” templates create variously organized group hierarchies in your database. Empty groups, ready to accept your documents. If one of the “Register” structures is not suited for your particular organization ideas, then name a new one. Here’s an old thread that explains how.
I’ll piggy-back on this thread, as I have a similar question and also recently switched from Paperless to DEVONthink Pro Office. In my case, Paperless tended to be decent at dating the document based on the date printed on the document (such as the statement date), and it would occasionally name the document something useful, too. I still had to do a lot of manual entry, though.
I was hoping that DEVONthink would be able to do something similar, but in greater amounts. I’m still growing my database, but so far DEVONthink does not suggest a title, the date and time always seem to be the date and time of the scan, and it isn’t suggesting tags, either. I’ve done some forum searches and it seems that some forum users are using Hazel to scan through the documents and automate document naming. I am familiar with but do not own Hazel… is this something that really requires another bit of software, or can DEVONthink do this, too? If so, how? If not, does anyone know if the developers have talked about adding this as a feature in future releases?