Omnivore and DT via Obsidian

DEVONthink Tips
1

I am experimenting with using Omnivore (an open source read it later platform) with DT and so far I am really like the ability to import from Omnivore (via Obsidian) with my highlights intact. Omnivore is a better interface than DT for reading/highlighting and with DT I am able to permanently preserve my highlights.

For those interested, here is the article explaining how to connect Obsidian to Omnivore: https://docs.omnivore.app/integrations/obsidian.html#scheduled-sync. From there you just need to index the particular Obsidian folder.

In my case, I am using the following syntax:

# {{{title}}}

{{{content}}}

---

{{#highlights.length}}
## Highlights

{{#highlights}}
> {{{text}}} {{#labels}} #{{name}} {{/labels}}
{{#note}}

{{{note}}}
{{/note}}

{{/highlights}}
{{/highlights.length}}

{{#fileAttachment}}
---

![[{{{fileAttachment}}}]]
{{/fileAttachment}}

This pulls in the full text of the article with highlights intact. And brings the highlights as separate text at the bottom of the file. It does not work well with pdfs, because I cannot get it to actually embed the file in DT the way it does in Obsidian, but it is workable.

Just putting this out there for anyone interested.

2 Likes
2

Obsidian does not embed the file in a document. In fact, it’s using file transclusion, already a feature of DEVONthink. However, they are also using their own (and rather unwieldy) proprietary syntax, according to your example here.

From Documents > Markdown Documents in the built-in Help and manual…

Screenshot 2024-03-21 at 4.26.04 PM
Screenshot 2024-03-21 at 4.26.04 PM1624Ă—1834 555 KB

The biggest difference is they have implemented a PDF reader view in the rendered Markdown.

3

Sorry for the lack of clarity . . . I meant “file transclusion”. I read the help file several times and tried multiple variations but did not get any to work. Not a big deal because, I won’t probably use omnivore for pdfs anyway.

4

It does, it’s done by {{{content}}} - the part you’re referring to is probably ![[{{{fileAttachment}}}]] which is indeed doing transclusion of any fileattachment the Obsidian way.

5

Of note, the syntax @sacoward mentions in the original post is just the template from Omnivore that every article uses when synchronized from Omnivore to Obsidian. So, the format is defined by Omnivore, not Obsidian. Once saved into Obsidian, the article is in Markdown format with transclusion for the PDF.

6

It does, it’s done by {{{content}}}

That is not embedding content in the sense the OP mentioned. Embedding content like a PDF would mean adding it as base64 data to the Markdown source.

From the Omnivore’s own support notes…

image
image1466Ă—230 12.9 KB

is probably ![[{{{fileAttachment}}}]] which is indeed doing transclusion of any fileattachment the Obsidian way

That is a very unwieldy and proprietary syntax specific to Omnivore and Obsidian. The MultiMarkdown syntax is plain and simple.

Welcome @thomasj3
Thanks for your comments.

7

The actual markdown text that is created from the “Article Template” above in the Omnivore plugin is (using an example file)

![[Omnivore/attachments/75ce0c2d-9b35-45ed-9f6b-76d93f273fd4.pdf]]

In Obsidian the pdf is viewable inline.
In DT I just see

Screenshot 2024-03-21 at 6.53.06 PM
Screenshot 2024-03-21 at 6.53.06 PM1076Ă—644 82.2 KB

Here is the full MD file content:

---
id: 75ce0c2d-9b35-45ed-9f6b-76d93f273fd4
---

# Test Document



---

## Highlights

> This is a test!!!!! 


---

![[Omnivore/attachments/75ce0c2d-9b35-45ed-9f6b-76d93f273fd4.pdf]]

“Omnivore” is the group the MD file is in and the pdf is located in the “attachments” folder

8

1. PDFs aren’t support for viewing via transclusion in DEVONthink. See the Help image I posted previously. Obsidian has implemented a PDF viewer, as I also mentioned.

“Omnivore” is the group the MD file is in and the pdf is located in the “attachments” folder

2. Your path is incorrect regardless.
![[Omnivore/attachments/75ce0c2d-9b35-45ed-9f6b-76d93f273fd4.pdf]] would be linking to a document in an attachments sub-subgroup of an Omnivore subgroup of the group containing the Markdown document.

![[/Omnivore/attachments/75ce0c2d-9b35-45ed-9f6b-76d93f273fd4.pdf]] would link correctly if the Omnivore group was in the root of the database.

9

Thank you for the clarification with regards to viewing pdfs via transclusion. I misunderstood your previous response and the details in the help document.

It is odd that the pathway is incorrect (in that it works in obsidian), but that makes sense.

10

A future release might support this.

3 Likes
11

…and transclusion of audio/video files too.

3 Likes
12

Super-helpful! … Thanks @sacoward … I’ve been looking for something like this!

13

@CoachKidd if you find syntax that works better, please post it!

Thanks!

14

@sacoward I’m only using Omnivore for web pages… I use Zotero for PDFs for annotations and have DT index the Zotero folder for searching.

What I haven’t figured out yet is how to have DT search through the annotations in Zotero.

Hope this helps.

15

@CoachKidd I have only been using Omnivore for that as well. I use Pdf Expert or DT to annotate PDFs.