Readwise Reader - Bear notes - DT/DTTG workflow

DEVONthink
1

Hi, I just wanted to share my use case of DT/DTTG, Readwise Reader and Bear notes.

For PDF reading and annotating I mostly use DT & DTTG, but I’ve been using Readwise Reader for some months as a read it later / annotating tool, mainly for webpages, newsletters and Youtube.

The main objective is:

  • Read/watch.
  • Reflect on the content.
  • Save a note with a summary, highlighted content and notes, and link to the original/annotated content.

Before Readwise, I had a clunky process that printed the page or email to PDF, but the result was generally not good. And I didn’t have any solution to Youtube videos, just watch and take notes on the side.

➜ My new process is as follows:

  1. ⁠Use Reader to highlight and process articles. I also add some GPT-generated notes, mainly custom summaries. When ready, I move it to the Shortlist ★.
  2. Shift+Option+C → Copy Markdown to clipboard will generate markdown with my highlights and notes. The markdown export function uses a template you can customize to your liking. You can also find this option in the “Document” tab on the right side panel—just click on “Export” at the bottom.
  3. ⁠Set up new Bear note and paste the markdown content. I actually built a brief Shortcut that automates this step, and adds some metadata I use on my notes such as the context tag.
  4. Shift+L → Copy READER URL and paste it on the Bear note, to link to the processed article within Reader. (Haven’t figured out how to do this automatically in step 2)
  5. ⌘+P Print with Annotations to DT. Sort it to an appropriate group, get the DT link to the file, and add it to the Bear note.

I can follow these steps on mobile if necessary, but normally I run step 1 on iPad / iPhone, and the rest at my desk.

Caveat: Reader’s highlighted text is not a “proper” PDF highlight, so Devonthink or Preview can’t do anything with it.

Hope it helps!

2

I’m reluctant to add Readwise Reader and Bear notes to my workflow
I’ll review your use cases, but I’m wondering if they can be accomplished just using DT/DTTG

1 Like
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Interesting, Thanks for sharing. I am curious why you don’t just paste the markdown into DT/DTTG? Why the need to go via Bear?

2 Likes
4

I think most of it can be done inside DT, with some (a lot?) fiddling.

For example, I guess you could add some rules to send newsletters to DT. But you can’t highlight, unless you print it to PDF. And if you do, you start having problems such as the font size, especially on smaller screens.

I used to do this in the past, but I do lots of reading in my phone, it was a nightmare of constant pinching and zooming.

Web page highlighting is great with the Readwise extension on desktop. And if formatting gets in the way, or I want to read it later on my iDevice, “Add to Reader” does a pretty good job in parsing the page and reflowing the text for readability.

And Bear for notes is a joy. I just love it. I have 10.000+ notes and it handles them flawlessly. I’ve been through a lot of note-taking apps, and I settled on Bear.

In the end, the UI of Bear and Readwise Reader are, for me, so much better for their respective use cases, that I’m willing to endure the added complexity.

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Actually, you can! its just that Bear is my note-taking app, that’s why. But if you use DT/DTTG or else, that’s all right.

1 Like
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I’m not a Bear user but I’ve been wondering how to get my Readwise highlights into DT. I’ll have to try this technique. Thanks.