In DevonThink Pro 1.x, I’ve been using screen capture to place images on the clipboard, then adding them to Devon with command-N. Although screen capture is set to capture these images as PNG, when they’re added to Devon, they’re imported as PICT images.
In DevonThink Pro 2.x Beta, the same procedure adds these images as PNG. The difficulty arises with importing a DTP 1.x database with DTP 2.x Beta or opening and converting a DTP 1.x database wtih DTP 2.x Beta. The PICT images in the existing database aren’t imported/converted, and It appears that the Beta can’t import or display PICT images.
This may be a Leopard problem instead of a Devon problem. I upgraded one machine to Leopard and DTP 2.x Beta in one fell swoop. I"m hoping the scenario is that PICT support was left out of the Beta and will be added to the finished product, but I haven’t been able to find anything on the forums about this.
So, is this a Devon problem or a Leopard problem? If it’s a Devon problem, will PICT format support be added to DTP 2.x?
Thanks . . . any guidance sincerely appreciated.
DEVONthink 1.x & 2.0 should be able to import all image formats supported by Mac OS X/Quartz/QuickTime.
I would have thought so, too, but PICT files just don’t work in Devon 2.x. My converted databases are missing all the illustrations and when I add new images, they’re stored as PNG.
I did some further work on this, and found that if I run Devon 1.x under Leopard, there is no problem. The databases perform exactly as they do under Tiger and all the illustrations are there and displayed properly. I’m not absolutely certain that adding new images from the clipboard with Command-N creates PICT files, but I’m pretty sure I tested that, too. (I’ve trashed the Leopard upgrade on my Power Mac, so my experimenting has come to a temporary halt. Leopard’s got some definite advantages, but it creates problems with my Nikon scanners; and I haven’t tried upgrading the Macbook yet.)
I’m wondering if this PICT format is some sort of an anomaly left over from prehistory. Preview can’t open this format, even in Tiger; and Leopard’s Quick Look and Preview won’t work either. I suppose I could run all of these files through Graphic Converter and then import them, but I keep the illustrations with the text archives by sorting by date. To fix that, I could use the “Touch Creation Date” script, but it’s going to be a lot of work, and it will trash the original creation date (which generally conforms to a publication date). I’m guessing there was a legacy library involved in the original clipboard handling routine and PICT support has been left out in newer compiles.
Off topic completely, I really like this new version! I’d thought that the new data storage format and the ability to keep multiple databases open would be the clinchers, but, after working with the beta for a bit, what really impresses me is this idea of connecting the concept of groups with the concept of keywords. I’m anxiously awaiting the tool that facilitates keyword manipulation, but I think I see where this is going, and I really, really like it! Thanks for all your hard work . . .
It’s definitely a relict of the classic Mac OS (and old Carbon applications). Maybe Leopard’s ImageKit doesn’t support this anymore because DEVONthink 2 uses this framework to display images (contrary to v1.x). Just send some files to cgrunenberg - at - devon-technologies.com and I’ll check this.