Multiple users with Scansnap iX1600 and DEVONthink 3

I have created a profile in ScanSnap Home to scan directly into DEVONthink (following the tutorials), and it all works very well.

But now my partner also wants to use Scansnap and DEVONthink. I have not yet found a way to automatically segregate these scans in a clever way (so that I would have a DEVONthink database and my partner would have her own). One variation would be to create a new profile with a user specific naming for the documents, but then the document specific naming would be lost.

Has anyone had the same problem or know of any other solution to this situation? Best thanks!

Hi and welcome here :slight_smile: Two options I can come up with: one, you could use a second profile with just a minor change - so one profile could use Generate File name automatically in ScanSnap using a date format yyyyMMdd and the other using yyyy-MM-dd. On import into DT you could use a smart rule which discerns one from the other and puts them in the appropriate database. That same rule could even change the second format to be identical to the first. Or you could use ScanSnap’s integrated OCR on one profile, and not on the other, using a smart rule to put PDFs which are imported and contain words in one database, and performing OCR on those without words, subsequently putting them into the other database.

A second alternative would be to use an additional page for each of you - so have two pieces of paper stored next to the scanner, one imprinted with “234567890” and the other with “098765432” (or something more complex but reliably identified by OCR), using smart rule to sort incoming scans based on whether they contain one string or the other. Perhaps somebody has a smart idea how that page could be automatically removed from the PDF by script?

(In both cases I am assuming you are using the same Mac and the same user account.)

Welcome @kepano

This would be the simplest method and there’d be no real issue with a smart rule in play.

What are you currently using for the filename setting?

Hi Blanc,
Thank you a lot for you answer and your suggestions. I think I will go with the naming suggestion, while I would still need to work out the smart rule definition on the dates, but I assume this is something which should be doable. Thanks a lot!

Hi Bluefrog,
Thanks a lot for your answer and the suggestion. I am currently using the “generate filename automatically” option in ScanSnap Home, with date and title automatically being extracted out of the document. Thanks a lot for your answer!

You’re welcome.

I am currently using the “generate filename automatically” option in ScanSnap Home, with date and title automatically being extracted out of the document. Thanks a lot for your answer!

Have you tried the Document Date in DEVONthink?

  1. Duplicate an existing file with a known date.
  2. Choose Tools > Batch Process.
  3. ChooseChange Name.
  4. Control-click the text field and choose Insert Placeholder > Document Date and one of the options.
  5. Press OK.

What is the result?