I am transitioning from EagleFiler, where it’s advisable for all docs except TextEdits, to perform an Update Checksum after saving a session with a file in, say, BBEdit or Numbers.
I appreciate that DEVONthink 3 takes care of that (updating etc) behind the scenes.
But I haven’t yet completely understood the model for how - and where - documents such as those (text in BBEdit and spreadsheets in Numbers, for instance) fit into the DT world.
Yes, I know that DT is an excellent way to store such files. But how does editing them from within DT work, please?
It seems as though I can just double-click on a (BBEdit) text file and work on it in/from (?) DT as though that file were in the Finder. Then I save it - back into DEVONthink - and I’m done. I don’t have to export a file to work on it, do I!
Is that the way that all files edited externally work with DT, please?
A few certain file types are editable in DEVONthink.
Others, like proprietary Office formats, may be displayed in DEVONthink but are only editable in their own application.
And opening such a file is no different than opening one from the Finder: open it externally, edit, save, done.
PS: Check out the Help > Documentation > Documents chapter.
FWIW, in case you are not aware … the behavior is different if you are working with indexed or imported files. Editing on the former (indexed file) will also change the file at the Finder level. Editing on the latter (imported file) will only change the file inside the DT database.
This would be true if you’ve maintained a copy of the file outside the database or chosen to not move the file into the database when importing it. Otherwise, the file imported into the database is the only copy to edit.
So launching from within DT is really like launching from Finder as far as editing, saving-to-have-available-next-time and file integrity etc are all concerned?
No. An import copies the file into the internals of the database. A move has to be explicitly done, either via Command-drag and drop or File > Import > Files and Folders with the Move to Trash option enabled.
Maybe off-topic to the original question, but you could also use the Global Inbox in Save Dialogs add-on to get stuff into DEVONthink as a move instead copying:
Right-click the Inbox and make an alias, which you can then drag to the desktop or anywhere else. I added a nice icon and it looks like this on my desktop:
my files are all IMPORTED. Originals deleted.
So launching from within DT is really like launching from Finder as far as editing, saving-to-have-available-next-time and file integrity etc are all concerned?
Yes, as discussed. But watch out for one subtlety: Opening a file using DT’s own editor, versus opening using whatever editor the Finder will use.
For example, I have Finder set to open PDFs with PDF Expert. Depending on how I configure Devonthink preferences, double-clicking on a PDF file in DT will either open it using PDFExpert, or open it using DT’s own PDF editor. The distinction can matter because the interface and capabilities of the two editors differ somewhat. (Whichever way is set to open as default, the other method of opening is still available in several ways.) I occasionally get confused about how I opened something.
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