As a daily user of Devonthink pretty much since it hit the streets, I’m a fan of just about everything that DTech does. But I’m lukewarm on the current iteration of the Global Inbox. Getting stuff into it is exceptionally easy, which is why DTPO has a permanent place on my dock. Getting stuff out is less comfortable.
I can use the Sorter, and do. But most of the items that end up in my Global Inbox come from the Finder’s Downloads folder. I have Hazel set up to route all PDFs and documents that land in Downloads through to the DT Inbox.
In DTPO 2b5, there seems to be no way of opening the Global Inbox in a separate window. Nor is there any way of telling whether what’s in the Inbox already exists in a database somewhere. So when I open the Inbox and look at its contents after a day’s hunting and gathering, I can’t tell whether I’ve already dragged some items out and forgotten to delete them in the inbox, or they are brand new. Result: lots of flicking to and from other databases, lots of duplication.
I’d suggest that the Global Inbox should have the capability to be opened in its own special window. This window should somehow tell you at minimum whether an item already exists in another database - perhaps a flag? At best, it would tell you how many versions exist elsewhere, and where they exist. Ideally, the window should be capable of remembering its size and position - culling an Inbox tends to be a routine practice, and having a consistent window location would help the routine.
I’m with others in thinking that the current sidebar implementation isn’t ideal, either. It is just plain baffling to close the sidebar and see Nothing, which is what happens if you don’t re-select a database before closing the sidebar. Maybe DT just needs to revert to the last open DB when the sidebar is closed, if another DB hasn’t been explicitly selected.
In short: thanks for the work, love the Global Inbox concept, but this user thinks it needs tweaking.
Matt
