I am getting some odd behaviour from the Things 3 Quick Entry with Autofill when using with Devonthink. I have the same set up (same software) on two Macs, but on one of them I am not getting expected behaviour.
Using:
Devonthink 3 v 3.9.6
Things 3 v3.20.1 (32001500)
MacOs 14.3.1 (23D60)
Test 1:
What I did
select item in Devonthink Inbox
invoke quick entry with autofill
What I expected
quick entry dialog to appear with x-callback URL to item in Devonthink
What happened
quick entry dialog appears but is empty
Test 2:
What I did
select item in Devonthink group (i.e. NOT inbox)
invoke quick entry with autofill
What I expected
quick entry dialog to appear with x-callback URL to selected item in Devonthink group
What happened
quick entry dialog appears as expected
Test 3:
What I did
select item in Devonthink Inbox (again - after performing the above)
invoke quick entry with autofill
What I expected
quick entry dialog to appear with x-callback URL to selected item in Devonthink
What happened
quick entry dialog appears but has x-callback URL to previously selected item in Devonthink from Test 2 NOT the item I am selecting
Test 4:
What I did
select different item in different Devonthink group (NOT inbox)
invoke quick entry with autofill
What I expected
quick entry dialog to appear with x-callback URL to selected item in Devonthink
What happened
quick entry dialog appears but continues to have the same x-callback URL as in test 2.
Any further use of the quick entry with autofill dialog in Devonthink persists in keeping the same link regardless of item selected until one or both programs are closed.
Using autofill with other applications (e.g. Finder items or Mail) works as expected.
I’m baffled by this behaviour as with my other Mac (MacBook Pro M1) using the same software combination this behaviour is NOT replicated. It’s not clear to me whether this is a Things issue or a DT issue (I have raised a ticket with Culturedcode too). But the fact that this is only happening on one Mac and not the other makes me wonder if there is something else impacting here. Any thoughts or advice would be most welcomed.
I see the same thing, but never noticed it and don’t know if it’s “expected” or not. I use the “Share” button in DEVONthink to put things into Things with a link to the document.
Thanks - yes, the share sheet works fine, but it links to the actual file in the DT3 database (and then opens up in the DT3 applications. It’s a slightly less useful step in my workflow if I have to then open the e.g., markdown document in a different app than DT3 where all my work is. But it’s a workaround for sure. thanks!
Like I say, on another mac it works absolutely fine and had done on the mac I use daily until recently. I wondered if recent updates had hit the behaviour, but then the other mac has the same software set up, hence I’m baffled…
That doesn’t answer the question whether DT is allowed to automate Things. Check “Automation” in the Preferences asked there the entries for DT and Things.
Thanks @chrillek - it’s not clear to me where you mean. I’ve checked DT preferences and do not see a reference to ‘Automation’, nor do I see that in Things. Can you be more explicit?
I’ve narrowed the problem down to the global Inbox. I used to have unified inboxes, but if I uncheck that in DT prefs, then I can get expected behaviour in the dbase specific inboxes, but still have this odd behaviour in the global inbox.
I have tried to rebuild the inbox, but to no avail - I still get the odd behaviour.
I’m now wondering if I should delete that inbox, but I’m open to other suggestions!
Yep - all the same. As I note above, I seem to have narrowed down the exceptional behaviour to the global inbox - if I have used the Things 3 quick entry with autofill elsewhere in another database, or even in the inbox of another database, then it pulls in the last callback from that action.
If I have not yet used quickentry anywhere in DT3, then it won’t create any callback URL.
So I wonder if there’s an issue with the global inbox on my (home) mac. My work mac does not display the same behaviour.
What would happen if I simply deleted the Global inbox database in Finder and then reopened DT3 - would it create a new one?
On neither. I tried turning that on on the mac with the odd behaviour, but it made no difference. But since neither mac has full disk access turned on… I’m wondering if a clean uninstall/install of DT3 might be the route here?
I’ve enabled full disk access on both machines now - but it has not changed anything.
It’s definitely isolated to the global inbox (not the database inboxes if they are separated). I’ve wondered if there’s another programme conflicting but it seems odd that the function works everywhere else in DT.
Culturedcode have come back to say: “ I checked with our engineer, who also uses DT from time to time, and he confirmed that this is not a Things bug. It’s due to how DT sends information to us”.
