I really like how DT2 imports OmniOutliner documents now. That’s great. However, I’m noticing two problems.
First, it seems to import as if the Outliner document were an “image.” That is, the OmniOutliner document is not searchable with DT2. Is this going to be improved? Otherwise this severely limits the usefulness of importing OO docs in the first place.
Second, when I export something in Outliner format, DT2 uses an old format (.ooutline) rather than the more current format (.oo3) which has been “current” for a few years now. Can we have the export function actually export to the current Outliner format?
I realize I may not be understanding the ramifications of this, but what do Quicklook and Spotlight have to do with DP2 importing an Outliner document as text versus an image? They may have an impact, I’m just not seeing what it is.
Second, exporting to OmniOutliner format is incredibly useful, for exactly the reason stated above: DP2 isn’t an outliner! As it is now I can export a scanned text PDF from DP2 to Outliner and then do the things I want in Outliner to transform that scanned document into a really useful outline. This is incredibly helpful—and exactly because DP2 isn’t and needn’t be an outliner.
My only request was that DP2 use version 3 formatting which has been around for years now instead of the old version 2 formatting when exporting. Wow, the possibility this might be eliminated altogether seems . . . well . . . I have no nice way to express it. Let’s just say it would be incredibly disappointing—and almost certainly missing the point about why this is such a useful feature.
DEVONthink is (like the Finder or Spotlight) using the plugins provided by third-party developers for QuickLook or Spotlight to display & index unknown file formats. And OmniOutliner is an unknown file format, at least for DEVONthink
There’s still the OPML export and that’s a standard format. This should do more or less the same things.
Thanks for the quick reply. I understand a wee bit better about the Outliner issue.
The main thing is now I can change how I think and plan for using DTP2. Instead of bringing in Outliner documents I’ll make sure to save as a PDF or RTF first from within Outliner—then I can still maintain searchability in DTP2. So there’s a decent workaround for me.
On the other issue, yes, exporting as OPML actually works quicker/better as an import into Outliner 3 compared to the Outliner export. So I’ll just use the OPML option in the future!
Again, many thanks for your quick responses and explanations.
BTW:
Is Spotlight enabled on your system and OmniOutliner installed in /Applications? Because then DEVONthink should be able to index the OmniOutliner files (and therefore search them). E.g. what’s the word count of the imported documents?
Yes, Spotlight is enabled on my system. OmniOutliner is in Applications.
However, for the particular database I was playing around with I turned off the Create Spotlight Index option. That database had very sensitive data, so I want to protect as much as possible. However, I don’t need OmniOutliner documents in it.
I’ve created a brand new database, without the Spotlight Index option turned off. I’ve added several OmniOutliner docs. Word counts are not showing up for any of them. I’m guessing, however, that it may take awhile before all of it gets “spotlighted” and the word count actually shows up. (Not sure about this.)
If it should show up right away, then it’s not happening. If it should show up (the word count) within 12 hours (more or less) then I’ll just keep a watch on this database and what happens.
DEVONthink doesn’t need Spotlight’s index, only its plugins (provided by Apple and third-party developers). The option to create a Spotlight index (in the “New Database” panel or the database properties) enables Spotlight to index & view the files inside the database but doesn’t have any impact on DEVONthink’s searching or word count.
