Hi,
i have a folder structure that I would like to keep like it is on my hard drive. I have imported it completely in to Devonthink.
I am putting new files into these Hard drive folders on a daily basis, and I want to avoid Importing the complete folders every day.
Not only is this lots of extra work, it also creates duplicate files.
Is the a way to automatically update the database with the new files in these folders ?
If not is the a way to avoid these duplicate imports ?
If not… is there an alternative software that can do this ?
Thanks for your help !!
If you were to capture your Finder folders using File > Index, that would do what you wish. The structure and content of the database will match that of the Indexed folders and files.
If you then attach (in the Info panel) the ‘Synchronize’ script (found in the Extras folder on the application’s download disk image) to the top-level group(s) of the Indexed content, it/they and the contents inside will be updated each time the group is opened.
As I prefer Import-captured databases because they are self-contained, I would approach the issue in a different way. I would forget about those folders and files in the Finder once they were captured, and afterwards would directly add new content to the database instead of the Finder. For example, If I create a new file from Word, Excel, Papers or whatever, I would Save it to the Inbox ‘Place’ in the Finder, which would send the content to my Global Inbox — from which location I could then move it to a desired group in a database. If I wish to edit a Word, Excel or Pages document that’s already in the database, I can open it under its parent application (Open With) and Save the changes directly back into the database file.
That also solves another problem. It’s very convenient to capture new content into a database from the Web, as well as to write notes within the database and scan/OCR from paper copy into a DT Pro Office database. If I’ve set Preferences with the Select group option, I can choose the database/group destination of new content on the fly, with the option of creating a new group at that time. I can do things within the database that would be difficult or impossible to do in the Finder, such as using a smart template to create new content, and many of the associations I can create among documents won’t work in the Finder counterpart to an Indexed database. If the database is self-contained, there’s no need to go to the trouble of copying that new content and modified organization to a corresponding structure in the Finder.
Either your approach or mine is valid and can be done using DEVONthink — the user can choose, based on the user’s preferences and workflows. For that matter, sometimes it’s preferable to mix Import and Index captures. If you are using a citation manager database, you might well decide to Index the citation manager’s database as a means of sharing the file content between both applications.
Thanks Bill,
that really helps me al lot further
However I have another question:
“if you then attach (in the Info panel) the ‘Synchronize’ script (found in the Extras folder on the application’s download disk image) to the top-level group(s) of the Indexed content, it/they and the contents inside will be updated each time the group is opened.”
–> I can not find the script in the Scripts folder under Extras inside the image…
–> How Do I attach the script once I have found it… to a group
Scripts are available for DEVONthink Pro and DEVONthink Pro Office, but not for DEVONthink Personal, which isn’t scriptable.
In the download disk image for DT Pro/Office public beta 8, see Extras > Scripts > Examples > Synchronize.scpt
ok. i have found ti thanks
Great Support here !
I have devonthink Pro office.
–> How Do I attach the synchronize script to a group ?