I’m figuring out a workflow for a forthcoming MSc course that will also take in personal document management, academic writing and research & writing blogs/review articles for music websites. Hopefully a PhD in a couple of years too.
Like many I have read, I have given up on ‘one app to rule them all’ and am instead aiming for minimum number of apps with maximum integration. My apps and their usages (currently using trial versions of bracketed apps):
nvALT and 1writer: text notes on os x and ios (using keywords in the body text eg. @music@review). Blog posts and shorter review articles also get written here.
atext: text expansion - yet to try this, it may be abandoned?
Omnifocus 2: task management (hyperlinks to relevant files & OF links back to tasks in .txt files)
(Scrivener): academic writing, other long form writing (likely compiling to MS Word)
(Bookends): managing academic citations and pdf storage of research articles
(DTPO):
import personal reference documents
import MSc coursework materials
import (well, create actually) non-pdf research reference documents
index nvALT notes (which are in dropbox)
index bookends pdfs (also in dropbox); also copy bookends citations, and make any pdf annotations in DTPO
I’m still wondering about:
the (meta) tagging aspect, wanting to use it, but there are niggles e.g. nvALT tags can’t be seen in 1writer, what if apps/os x/ios change and tags become incompatible etc.
if keeping research pdfs in bookends and all other research documents in DTPO is sensible (I know I can link them though)
annotating pdfs in DTPO vs Bookends
It seems sensible if I’m goint to commit to DTPO to keep as much as is humanly possible inside it, or at least indexed to it. And if I’m going to use tags then I’ll be needing an open-meta tagging app. I’d be interested in comments from others doing something similar.
Thank you. Fairly new to organising myself digitally which probably shows
Good luck with your studies, you are doing the right thing getting organised early but be prepared to tweak it once you go ‘live’. If it were me I whole keep as much as possible in DTPO as the search function is so good and for its flexibility once stuff is in it. Also the AI of DTPO is incredible. By keeping in I also mean indexing anything you keep outside DTPO. Thus I would not store PDFs in Bookends but keep them in DTPO.
Another thing I would strongly advise is buying DevonAgent, it is by far the best internet search engine and seamlessly integrates with DTPO. My experience is that as your research progresses the more you will appreciate DevonAgent.
Thanks Allsop, appreciate your comments, I’m very much open to tweaking everything - part of the reason for posting!
So the suggestion would be to import pdfs to DTPO and then I assume point bookends in some way to that folder inside the DTPO database? It says here that ‘Bookends can store “item links” for any document in DEVONthink’: blog.devontechnologies.com/2013/ … -bookends/
Thanks again,
EDIT: After looking, it may be as simple as using ‘copy item link’ in DTPO to paste a hyperlink to the pdf in the notes section of the Bookends citation?
I keep all research, in fact all, PDFs in indexed finder folders. Trying to find internal folders in DTPO’s imported data is a challenge, since they are not identical to the group structure you define in DTPO. In fact the internal structure is worse than a rabbit hole.
Another reason I use indexed finder folders to store most of my data is to allow external apps access to the files. But be careful with indexed files. Moving them from within DTPO or within finder requires understanding how they behave from DTPO’s perspective. Do a search on indexed files and read the details.
Yes, I use 'copy itemlink quite a lot and I find it useful for all kinds of things! I have not used Bookends now for some years—since finishing my Masters in 2002—so I can not comment on how things are today but it should work okay.
I do use other apps to perform special functions on files in indexed folders, within finder and external to DTPO. Certainly not all files are the sole purview of DTPO. And in certain cases, for me, passing a file within DTPO to another app using an “open in” kind of link is not efficient. The files are not edited so DTPO does not get confused.
I am curious… why wouldn’t you just do a drag and drop from DEVONthink to the receiving app instead of an Open With? (Granted, it may not work in EVERY app, but on a Mac, it generally does.)
Thanks all for the replies.
I think I’m comfortable importing everything to DTPO that I’m going to work on, organise, tag and manipulate in the program, so pdfs, all research, course materials, reference materials etc.
Maybe I do still want one app to rule them all! Even though the filesystem is complex, it’s still all retrievable right?
My text notes will stay outside but be indexed for the convenience of the nvALT/1writer arrangement.
@pvonk thanks for the comments. In my bookends scenario, I guess I’m just looking for an easy way to switch between the citation and the pdf in DTPO for annotations etc. So that would work with a link in the Bookends notes field to the pdf in DTPO?
Finally apologies to moderators - I just saw the ‘usage scenario’ board I should have put this on
My thought is since I want instant access to them from iOS and don’t have DT to go yet, also I can then access notes via dropbox from anywhere id I’m without my macbook or iPhone?
EDIT - although, there is a version dated 4 Aug 2016 in the app store. I wanted there to be seamless background sync before using the iOS app?
