I’ve been using DEVONagent 1.5 but have just downloaded 1.6. In both versions, I have been able to Edit and Add Search Sets, but have not been able to use the search set I highlight in the list in the drawer in a search.
I can’t find a way to “save” that search set as a preference or any other way so that I can actually use it when I want to. Ditto for any of the other search sets you have created. I’ve read the relevant sections of the manuals and tried every possible menu. Am I missing something very obvious to everyone else?
In the past, perhaps in a past version of DEVONagent, I was able to create a search set called “Basic Search Engine Search” and now the name of that search set is printed on top of every new search form as follows: “DEVONagent: Basic Search Engine Search.” I can’t even go back to the “Default” set.
How can I make a search set the one that is actually applied in a given search? How can I change out of a search set that seems to be permanently selected?
Otherwise I really love DEVONagent and DEVONthink and have found them quite useful in my research.
Simply select the search set you want to use with the little pop-up menu in the entry field for the search term. It looks like a small magnifier followed by a triangle pointing downwards.
Here’s the passage from the manual:
“To search with DEVONagent, simply open the application, choose “File > New Search…” if necessary, select a search set from the search field pop-up menu (the little triangle), enter the search term you want DEVONagent to look for into the search field and click “Start”.”
To add, modify or delete DEVONagent search sets, go to the menubar and select Tools > Edit Search Sets.
Click on the “+” symbol to add a new search set. Give it a name and click on the plugins that you want activated. Decide whether or not you wish to have it follow links. When finished, close the window, go to the menubar and select File > New Search. Click on the Spyglass symbol and you will see that this new search set is now available to you.
Power example: You can even set up an automatic search set that will search for your desired information on a predefined schedule, and archive the search results. Each week, for example, your automatic search agent would add just the new information on your search topic to the archive, keeping you up to date on that topic.
Thanks for the question and answer. As a new user of DEVONagent I was having the same difficulty locating the how to for this particular function. This may be a sign that the documentation of this simple but important subject is not covered adequately or more likely not highlighted in a way to make it obvious.
Thank you, everyone, for your instructions and suggestions.
I’m glad my question raised the documentation issue. In addition to strengthening the mention of search sets in the Search section, how one actually uses the search sets should be added to the Search Set section. And I agree that it would also be helpful added to the pull-down menu, right under “Edit Search Sets.”
Until I looked more closely, I thought the Spyglass was the letter Q for “Query.” And on my screen, the little upside-down triangle is so small it looks like a hyphen. Maybe making that triangle a little bigger and perhaps another color would help new users.
Also, there is no subscript that shows up when I pass my cursor over the Spyglass and arrow as it does for other functions such as “Delete the current selection” under the Delete button. Perhaps the subscript should say “Select or change Search Set.”
One of the reasons it is not obvious where to look to change the search set is that the search terms from one’s last search show up on every new search, even when one asks for a new search screen. I believe that the one time I figured out correctly how to select a search set in the past I saw the selected search set printed faintly in the space for entering search terms. But that clue disappears once one has made a search and is replaced by past search terms.
The problem is, that this is not logical. No one expect this in the main menu as it a window-specific choice. It’s not a command that “acts” on something selected.
It’s exactly the same symbol Apple uses in the Finder and in Mail for the pop-up menu in the search fields. This is why we are really confused that you didn’t recognize it. It’s there also in iTunes and iPhoto. Ah, and even in Safari!
Once you realize that the triangle functions like the search in firefox, itunes, and other applications, it becomes very useful and simple to use.
But I spent 40 minutes reading about search sets in the manual before I gave up and looked to this forum.
I am a fairly sophisticated user and I also looked to change the default search set from the menu. Whether it is logical or not, I will be a number of individuals try that first -before they discover the triangle.