Hello,
Would people please help me learn the best way for me to work with the DEVONthink user interface?
MY LAYOUT
I often use the widescreen layout with options set to show documents only and not to unify databases. I also like to hide the toolbar to keep my working environment as simple as possible.
CHALLENGES 1
Sometimes I like to hide the sidebar so I can focus better. The only way that I can find to do this is to show the toolbar and click the sidebar icon there. Then, of course, I hide the toolbar again. Three steps. When I want to show the sidebar again, I have to repeat the same three steps.
QUESTION GROUP 1
Is there an easier way to hide and show the sidebar? Is there a reason why there is no menu option (with a keyboard short-cut) in the âViewâ menu? Should there be one?
CHALLENGES 2
When panes are added or removed, the widths of panes are changed to be wider or more narrow than my preferences. For example, hiding the sidebar increases the width of the document pane. Showing inspectors decreases the width of the document pane. The way search results are handled is different: the search results list replaces the document list. But it keeps the same width, which is too narrow for me to read enough of the search results to see what was found. When I perform a search, then show inspectors to see where in a document the searched-for words appear, both the search results pane and the document pane are too narrow to be usable. So I widen the window. That widens the document pane, but not the search results pane, so I have to adjust the width of the search results pane manually.
So, after each of these operations (show or hide the sidebar, show or hide inspectors, search), I often have to adjust the width of the window and/or the panes. And since these operations are often done in pairs (hide then show the sidebar, search then end search, show then hide inspectors), I often have to adjust the widths of the window and/or the panes twice.
QUESTION GROUP 2
Is there another way to perform these operations without automatic changes to pane widths? Is there a preference setting that would help but that I have not found or understood yet? What do other users do? Just leave the sidebar and the inspector pane showing all the time? Could the developers consider another approach, e.g., preserving the width of the document pane throughout these operations and putting some functions (search results, inspectors) in their own windows or panels instead of in panes in the main window?
CHALLENGES 3
Sometimes I use standard view. When I perform a search in standard view, the search results appear in a full-height pane just as they do in the widescreen view. And the document list disappears just as it does in the widescreen view. As before, the search results pane is too narrow to be usable, and the document pane also becomes too narrow. But there seems to be an opportunity here âŚ
QUESTION GROUP 3
Instead of inserting a full-height pane, would it be better to put the search results in the same space that was used by the document list in standard view? Then one would not have to adjust the window or pane widths.
CHALLENGES 4
When I am editing a markdown document and I show the editing bar, some buttons on the editing bar, including the âEdit list âŚâ button, are never enabled.
QUESTION GROUP 4
Am I missing a way to enable these buttons? Are these buttons just not used with markdown documents? If not, is there a reason to show buttons that cannot be selected?
Many thanks for any help!
Rick
