Organizing Groups

I’m very new to Devon Think so maybe I’m missing some of the issues I noticed, but…
Since groups are basically just folders in a finder metaphor, it seems it could be a little difficult to sometimes quickly access a document or sub folder because everything has a rather generic look.
I’m used to using some less powerful programs like Notepad Deluxe which does have a cool database palette and folders which can be color coded for easy categorization and visual identification. It would be nice if Group folders could be made a little more unique, whether that would be adding a color label or even an icon. Pinpointing the document I need quickly without having to do a search is important to me and seems it could be an issue with a very large single database.

Also a sub group folder seems the only choice for further categorizing where I place my documents. Wouldn’t it be a good option to be able to make a document a child of another document rather than having to always create a subfolder for the two or more documents that you would want related to each other?

Cinelog:

[1] Color labels will be available in DT 1.9, which will likely be released in the next few days. My own database contains thousands of documents, with over 12 million words of content. The search capabilities of DT are literally miraculous and I usually use search to find a particular document quickly. But something I’m currently working on is usually filed in a group that I can find quickly. Another great approach for projects is to create a project document containing hyperlinks (Wiki links) to each of the individual documents for the project – that’s a current feature of DEVONnote and will be in DT 1.9. Click on a link and there’s the document! This is a great tool for organizing information.

[2] The group/sub-group metaphor in DT really works well for me. But DT’s contextual recognition capabilities will ferret out related documents however they are filed – try the “See Also” button, which often provides me with new insights about topics that I thought I understood well!

I’ve been using DEVONthink for a couple of years, including prerelease versions of DT Pro for some time. It’s the best research assistant I’ve ever had. The developers are continually adding new capabilities. This is a deep and rich application, and it’s fun to keep learning new tricks to speed up my work. :slight_smile:

Hadn’t even noticed how this feature worked. It is very impressive.

Hyperlinks do seem to be implemented in DT 1.8x which I am testing now and the “project document” suggestion you made is interesting. I’ll see how that works for me in addition to your other tips.

Even with the few interface quirks I am experiencing, DT is certainly powerful and I am expecting it will be my tool of choice. Really looking forward to version 1.9.

Not sure about DT PE but in DT Pro it’s possible to paste to the icon image displayed with Show Info, like how it works with Finder. I’ve done that with several groups to make them more distinctive. For document items I’ve been using labels.