In Devonthink 2 I had a great workflow. Tags were at the top on my universally alphabetically sorted databases by being renamed to -Tags. In Devonthink 3 my workflow was never as smooth. Whilst the left hand pane now has Tags at the top, that doesn’t help me because I close that pane when I have my desired database so as to have files visible too in “my” left hand pain (hence “To Document…” being much more useful to me than “To Group…”). I personally obviously don’t like unified tags because of closing the left hand pane.
Is there a logic for usefully being able to rename Inbox to -Inbox, but not Tags to -Tags?
The only way I can get tags to the top (so that they are not off the screen and involve scrolling) is by having a small first level group with Tags and the first level group name further down the alphabet (eg ZInvoices). That’s ugly and involves extra key strokes to get past the first level Group. Why was it possible in Devonthink 2, overlooked in Devonthink 3, and now overlooked again in Devonthink 4? Is the assumption that everyone has unsorted lists (I think not the case), that they use only unified tags (unlikely), have only a small number of first level groups so that tags are easily visible in sorted lists (possibly the case), or that tags don’t really matter to most users (again possibly the case)? Or perhaps that because there is a left hand pane everyone should be using it all the time so that the middle pane should not have first level groups (which might make sense if files could be seen in the left hand pane, which they cannot)? Or that widescreen view is not much used (although it isn’t actually widescreen when the left hand pane is closed)?.
Am I maybe missing something obvious?
Are you just looking for Settings > General > Interface > Keep groups on top when sorting?
If so, that has been around for the past 7 years in DEVONthink 3 as well.
Thank you, as always, for responding! My problem is best illustrated by my Health database at first level. The Inbox in nicely at the top, but Tags not so, and it looks even worse if I open Tags, which then dissects my list of top level groups. If there could be a “keep Tabs at top” option that would be great…
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Both sorting by kind or using the option suggested by Jim should do this.
Oh yes! I’m so pleased and indeed both solutions work perfectly. And I see that if I sort by kind, it also sorts alphabetically, which is is exactly the behaviour I want. (So, indeed, I have no need to rename the Tags group). Thank you to you both, and sorry to have started this off with a slightly grumpy post! I should know by now, after using Devonthink for very many years, that there usually is an elegant solution to things.
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I realise that when I raised the issue a few years ago I asked the wrong question (how to rename tags). Wrong questions get wrong answers!
Thinking further, Jim’s suggestion will work for all databases, and selecting sort by Kind allows to apply to just one database
You’re very welcome!
Indeed, this is true. Many problems people have with DEVONthink have simple, logical solutions.
By the way, it seems that the two solutions have somewhat different outcomes. Having a particular database “sort by kind” sorts groups alphabetically too, but not individual files. Whereas “Settings > General > Interface > Keep groups on top when sorting” works on all databases and allows me within a database to select Sort by Name, which will allow files also to be sorted alphabetically. Is that a proper summary?
Yes, that is correct.
Groups on top are sorted alphabetically with all but the Unsorted method.
I spend most of my time in DEVONthink with the same window configuration as you: list view, widescreen, sidebar hidden. Yet I still find the Go > To Group popover extremely useful—it’s one of my favourite parts of DTs interface!
- It has fuzzy search that lets me find almost any group instantly
- ⌥ + Enter opens the target group in a new window
- If I’m somewhere deep in a group hierarchy and want to navigate (instead of search), I use the popover to drill down from the top, as it gives me a quick root view of all open databases.
- I like an easy way to see just the outline of groups. Of course the sidebar does that, but the popover does it without altering my window configuration.
- You can turn it into a floating pane and use it as a drag & drop target. (Though I generally use the Move To popover)
And in relation to your issue: The popover uses the unsorted view. When you don’t use “Unify Tags”, the tags group is listed at the top under each database.
(Edit: Calling it “unsorted” is not right, as the unsorted view lets you sort the item list yourself. The point was that tags are at the top)
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I habitually use To Document as I have documents I need to refer to throughout the day. These are stored in various groups or databases so going to a group would be less efficient for this purpose.
So view data with To Document, but file it with To Group, Sorter, Move To etc?
Yes, that works. I also use the Option key to open a document in a new document window.
In fact I found another way to keep tags at the top. I can unify tags, and then create a smart group called -tags (kind is tag), and that will go to the top if the sort order is alphabetical, whether or not “Groups on top” is selected in Settings. This also allows me to bring other smart groups to the top, rather than their going to the bottom where “Groups on top” is selected.
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