Thanks so much for your reply, especially since this is now an old thread. Your response raised a question for me–this is based on MJ’s response in your original thread. So if it allows you to “pull together the information content . . . of different filetypes that had to be opened under their parent applications,” does that mean that when you import them into DT, they are converted, such that they no longer link to or create a file association to the original application that created them? Do you keep the original files once you’re imported, i.e. the same data would be now occupying the HD space?
The one task that originally drew me to DT is a bit of an odd one that I would suspect is not a way that most people are using the software, but then again, who knows. I’m a writer, and up until recently my writing lay in the realm of business (business/marketing plans & related material) and PR/marketing/advertising/copywriting. But I’ve always known that I wanted to write something else, something outside the purview of my business work, but until recently, didn’t know what that was. Now I’m playing with several fiction story ideas.
So whenever I read–anything, I jot down interesting words, those that are evocative, extraordinarily descriptive, action-oriented, etc., so that I can refer back to them when I write. I also keep interestingly worded phrases or descriptions, ways of describing things that I wouldn’t necessarily have thought. An example might be something like an author describing how the atmosphere in a forest “feel” a foreboding sense of fear in some way or another. I can’t think of a concrete description of this here, but I’m sure you get the idea. So for this purpose, I’m not searching my own writing, but examples of things that I’ve typed in from other authors–not to plagiarize, but to provide inspiration as a different way of thinking of something as I try to describe something in my own stories. Anne Rice is a good example here as she has an uncanny knack for describing things in some of the most brilliant ways that I heretofore would have never imagined.
Up until recently, I’ve just kept them in a very simple note app called NoteLook. The upgrades have been problematic for many people, causing them to loose data, so I’ve never upgraded it. It also has very limited search capabilities, hence my search for a more appropriate and powerful program. I found DEVONthink in the Srivener forum as many writers there use DT for different processes of the writing cycle for things that Srivener either doesn’t do, or for things that are much better organized and searched for in DT.
I’ve only played with DT for a few days now, but so far, I’ve already imported all my writing notes into it, and added to those lists; created some “catchall” files; created a job search database where I have files for prospective companies/industries, cover letters, job postings, etc. I have not really utilized the powerful search features much at this point, but from everything I’ve read, it seems like DT might be the most ideal product that I could have found for this specific task–my writing examples database.
Based on how you’ve used it, would you agree with this? Any suggestions or ideas that you would recommend?
Thanks!
