Has anyone used this feature for any function?
It seems like most of us index the attachment folder of Bookends inside Devonthink. With that setup, I cannot imagine what the function of importing rtf references into Devonthink?
(I feel that I might be missing some kind of cool configuration).
I was kinda wondering the same thing…
Although I didn’t find importing rtf files particularly useful, I did like the creation of a hyperlink to the corresponding document in Bookends. This allows fast and easy navigation back and forth between programs which I’ve found cumbersome in the past.
What actually seems to be an unexploited DT-Bookends opportunity is a script populating the DT URL field of each pdf record with its corresponding link to Bookends based on its unique identifier. I know there are several scripts circulating around out there that can do this… If I remember correctly, there is one script that converts Apple comments to urls. Another script creates the Bookends link but only works on one reference at a time which is not terribly useful with 4000 references.
I’m certainly not trying to be overly critical of the Bookends import plugin as it is (I’m sure it works great for some). However, as mentioned in the initial post, it seems to sidestep one of the biggest benefit of integrating Bookends and DT in the first place which relates to indexing and searching documents. I’d be very interested in a Bookends plugin that, perhaps among other things, added the relevant urls to all corresponding DT records in one step. I’d give it a go myself but my Applescript skills are abominable!
In spite of the critique, I’m all for expanding integration between Bookends and DT whether I’m directly benefited or not!
I honestly don’t mind to be critical of it because I am convinced that this script is totally useless for the setup that the majority of the users have in here.
the most common combination of BE and Devonthink is to store the pdf in a specific folder (BE’s attachment folder) and index the folder in Devonthink. This script doesn’t recognize or help link the indexed files with their base in BE.
it is faster to directly search the references in BE (or use the QuickCitation feature) than to find the reference in the imported list, and then jump with the link.
What is the point of importing just the reference? Devonthink is not a text editor where you can cite those references. It would have made some sense if the imported reference at least contains the NOteCards from BE because these notes can be used in the SEE ALSO feature.
As you said, URL link between the indexed pdfs in Devonthink and BE would have been more meaningful because we can jump from the pdfs to their references in BE.
rather, a much more meaningful integration would be if Devonthink can import the files into its database and BE still recognize them. Right now, importing the files makes BE lose them.