I am finding my way around DTP with the help of this forum and the great tutorials and looking forward to putting it to full use.
I am setting up DT to help with a history project and need to be able to export a list of the files and documents classified in each group. Is this possible? I see I can export the text and/or images, but can I get some sort of report that lists the files.
Perhaps the Export > Listing script in the Script’s menu?
I guess I will have to learn about scripts, then. I was think of a kind of index, i guess.
Scripts are a rich part of DT. When you say “index”, what do you want it to contain - what data?
I have hundreds of letters. After transcribing, I need to search for certain terms (words, places, dates, etc). DT will show me the results, but I would like to be able to print out a listing of all letters from 1916, or all letters with key sentences including the word “rain.”
This is something I could do with my Windows software AskSam, although the interface was not nearly as attractive or user-friendly as DT. Ask Sam showed a table, spreadsheet style, that gave user-designated categories. For instance, if I did a query for “rain” I might get a list of five hits showing:
date of letter - to - from - sentence using the search word “rain”
This was very helpful b/c it helped me zero in on what I needed to look at further. I could also use the listing as a kind of index to my analysis as well.
I hope I have explained this better here.
There would be several ways to get your index, and I’ll suggest a couple simple ones. First, use the Search window (Tools > Search) to locate the information you want. Search has many parameters and options, all of which are better explained in the Help file than here. Note, though, that you can configure the Serach window to show various columns with information about the documents that Search locates.
If nothing is selected in the Search window (Edit > Deselect All) and you then print the window (File > Print) – say, to a PDF – you’ll receive a listing of all the results for that search. This might serve the Index need that you described.
An alternative is to save the Search as a smartgroup. Click the “+” sign next to the search box and a new smartgroup will appear in the global sidebar in the lower left portion of the main DT window. The smartgroup is saved with the parameters and options for that search. When you click the smartgroup you’ll essentially get the same search results displayed for you. (Note that search results are dynamic - when documents that meet the search requirements are added/deleted to the database, the results shown in the smartgroup will change).
I’d suggest starting with these features. No scripting required.
Thanks so much, korm. I will give your suggestions a try. I don’t really need anything fancy, so even a screen-capture would be ok. I like the idea of the Smartgroup with auto updating. I need all t he help I can get.
Tx again.