New to DevonThink; help needed.

DEVONthink Scenarios
1

Hi,

I’m new to DevonThink; got it as part of the MacHeist bundle currently running.

Right now, I’m trying to wrap my brain around what it can do. Specifically, I’ve been using Sticky Notes/Chronos Notes for several years to hold and catalogue things like web purchase receipt pages, interesting emails that I think I might have use for later, etc. What’s not immediately clear to me is what Devon Think offers that Chronos Notes does not. And if I switch, is there a way of getting my current Chronos Notes database into Devon Think?

All my best,

Steve

2

Hi:

Never got a response to this, and thought I’d repost. Any takers?

Thanks in advance,

Steve

3

Hi, Steve. If you search for “sticky” you can find a number of posts on the forum.

This two may help: http://www.devon-technologies.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1942&highlight=sticky, http://www.devon-technologies.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1591&highlight=sticky

4

Thanks a lot for the reference, Bill. I think that what I really need to do is dig into the Devon Think docs and see what it’s “about” before comparing it to Chronos Notes.

Thank you,

Steve

5

Hi Steve: fwiw, and imo only, I think you’ll short-cut a lot of digging in the docs by checking out this official tutorial/screencast. Lots of :bulb: in that video. Spend the 20 minutes first; then the docs should be much more helpful.

6

I am a long time user of DTP, since the early betas.

I own 5 or 6 of the current “state of the art” info-managers including, of course, DTPO.

I owned sticky brain and evaluated SOHO notes. DTP is heads and shoulders beyond SOHO. So much so that it may seem a bit intimidating.

I am still discovering uses and functionalities of DTP after many years of use.

There are myriad ways to integrate DTP into workflows and much more will come after Leopard has been released and matures a tad, later this year with DTP 2.x.

DTP can already “do so much” it’s almost not an application as much as an environment.

The applescript support is excellent, which accounts for a lot of it’s utility, IMO.

Anyhow, it cannot do all things for all people but if you take the time to concentrate on a few core functions at first, it can be worth it’s weight in gold.

cheers

7

Great tutorial video! Thanks a lot for the tip!

Take care,

Steve

8

Okay; what I’d like to know is, if there’s anyway to import a Chronos Notes database into Devon Think.

Thanks in advance,

Steve

9

Steve, that probably depends on the export function in Chronos Notes. If it allows you to export notes as text or rich-text files, then DT will certainly import those.

If you have other file types, like PDF, bookmarks, web archives, etc. it will depend on what condition they are in after export. I took a fast look at the SOHO Notes page, and there’s no information offered on exporting files.

See the Help files for your Notes version and they may help you with the export process. The Export command is most likely in the File menu. --Will

10

You need to export your notes, files etc from Chronos and then import into DTP.

The chronos database per se can’t be imported.

DTP will accept .txt, .rtf, webarchives, pdfs, rtfd, bookmarks etc readily.

If you keep some sort of structure in the exported notes (e.g., have them in appropriately named folders) it will aid their management in DTP.

These can then be imported into DTP in groups or individually.

You can also export to a single folder and import that into DTP.

HTH