What other apps do you pair with DevonThink

[MsLogica]

I dumped Bartender 5 when they were shadily acquired last year and changed their data policies. I think they backpedaled/clarified, but the damage was done. I manually went through and re-arranged my menu bar, removing what I could etc. Turned out I didn’t really need Bartender after all!

I never had lots of apps, but I circle round a core few now. I use NotePlan like others here, which I love. For those wondering as I see it’s been asked, if I have tasks relating to files in DT I link to the DT file directly. If it’s more complicated than that, I leave myself a quick instruction on what I need to do (in reality I have a lot of structure in my database so I do know where to look, but it’s useful when I’m busy).

Drafts for creating notes that haven’t become “permanent” yet, Tot for notes that are just quick scribbles and not meant to be saved, I send Drafts notes to DT when I’m ready.

Alfred because it’s amazing.

Popclip because it’s also amazing.

PDF Expert (free version) on iPad because I read all my PDFs on iPad and I like the app. I do also use DTTG to read sometimes, I’m not rigid in my preference.

I have Obsidian running, but I use it only to sync my Readwise account with DT. Obsidian has a Readwise plugin that writes Readwise highlights to markdown files. I have the folder indexed by DT, and I then manually import and move them to the right folder. I don’t use it for anything else and rarely interact with the app itself.

I think that’s about it really. I’ve been experimenting with a local LLM since DT4 was announced, and the results have been terrible so it’s mostly to amuse myself rather than any actual work. (I consider the results worse than bad because I’ve run two scientific queries and it’s made up citations but used real authors, which I feel is more dangerous than just making up random people AND random papers.)

I installed Homerow recently (a mouse replacement app that maps clickable areas in your screen) because I’ve been having difficulties with mice, but I’ve struggled to find it an efficient replacement for a mouse (I suspect it just needs developing as a habit and I could brute force myself into using it, but I don’t want to). In the meantime, I’ve switched to a Logitech MX mouse after some trial and error (it was the fourth option I tried) and it seems to be doing the job.

[kewms]

DEVONthink, Scrivener, and a browser cover almost everything for me. Goodnotes for notetaking, primarily because it plays well with Apple Pencil for the iPad. Capacities for task/project management. Preview/Acorn/Affinity for images, depending on exactly what I need.

[brookter]

@davem

But where LaunchBar becomes indispensable is using ‘instant send’, which I have mapped to double-tap ⌥. In this mode, it picks up whatever is selected - text, files, etc - and invokes LaunchBar with that item set. You then can operate on that item - browse the directory for a file, for example - or press the ⇥ key. This allows you to select a verb to operate on the noun you’ve set - so I can browse to a different file location, and then move or symlink the file in one go. Or I might send an image to a resize or automator script, or some text I’d selected to a new file in DEVONthink, without using any other tools. It’s insane how powerful and intuitive it is.

You can do this in Alfred, too, I think – it’s called Selection Hotkey, and the default shortcut is cmd-/. Invoking that on a file or text selection etc brings up the universal action panel.

I haven’t used it much, and reading your post prompted me to look into again – thanks!

[brookter]

@MsLogica

I have Obsidian running, but I use it only to sync my Readwise account with DT. Obsidian has a Readwise plugin that writes Readwise highlights to markdown files. I have the folder indexed by DT, and I then manually import and move them to the right folder. I don’t use it for anything else and rarely interact with the app itself.

Have you seen Brett Terpstra’s new script to bring Readwise notes into DT? I’ve been using it and found it very helpful. The link is on the page below – there’s supplement a day or two later.

Readwise highlights to DEVONthink - BrettTerpstra.com

[bjornivarsson]

Thanks for pointing out that one can now create TOCs for PDFs in DT4! That’s really useful!

[Stephen_C]

@brookter

You can do this in Alfred, too, I think – it’s called Selection Hotkey, and the default shortcut is cmd-/.

Yes—that invokes what Alfred terms a "Universal Action” which, depending on the settings for the Action, may act on any of selected file(s), URL(s) or text. It’s very versatile and (in my opinion) useful.

Edit: By way of example, it’s exactly what I use to start an oft-used Alfred workflow which when I highlight text in a Day One diary entry searches my diary entries in DEVONthink to find any occurrence of that text.

Stephen

[toao]

you might want to look at Ice, which is an open source alternative to bartender. works really well (for me)…

[toao]

avoiding some repetitions, besides DT at the core of my processes are:

• BusyCal
• BusyContacts (a “hidden” gem for me - pretty much a personal relationship manager)
• MailMate (works really well with busycontacts and is in general a great Mail app on the somewhat geekier side)

very convenient utilities I would not want to work without:

• popclip
• BetterTouchTool
• ice (bartender replacement)

[jonmoore]

@chrillek

Raycast relying on React might make it more difficult to write extensions for it. And as to the DT extension: It’s basically using search and osascript to get the records from DT. That is quite limiting, imo – not possible to display the database name along the records, eg. Also, I’m not a big fan of promises and async stuff in this context – if a user searches for something, that is very much a synchronous process. No need to jump through all these async hoops, I think.

I felt more at home with Alfred, though the documentation is lacking useful information for extension writers with both products. Imo, of course.

Apologies, I missed this message.

I’m glad I read it, as it reminded me of a definitive difference between Alfred and Raycast, and why I have them both installed.

Raycast’s superpower is that its API is effectively a modern web stack API. React is a JavaScript library, and node.js makes it possible to use React for desktop applications. This is one of the things that makes Raycast brilliant at controlling web apps.

Alfred’s superpower is that it’s macOS native in the manner in which its Workflows are made to bear fruit. Below shows a favourite nodal Workflow I use for searching and adding raindrop.io bookmarks.

The nodes doing the work are running shell scripts, AppleScript’s, ruby, python etc.

Here’s one of the shell scripts in this workflow.

And here’s one of the OSA AppleScript’s in the same workflow (that utilises shell scripting within it).

One of my favourite aspects of this nodal approach to building a Workflow, is that helps with both writing the Workflow and making changes to Workflows you’ve written yourself or ones you’ve downloaded. The nodal approach helps break things down into nice, discrete chunks, which are dispersed throughout this Raindrop.io example.

The Alfred approach to custom workflows, means that it’s better able to provide support functionality to well written macOS application that have hooks built into them for scriptwriters to exploit.

In regard to the plugin/Workflow documentation being lax with both Raycast and Alfred, it’s worth taking a look again, as the situation has improved over time. But one of the biggest stumbling blocks with either application is that they both require secondary scripting knowledge across a number of domains. However, Alfred does make it far easier for non programmers to ‘hack around’ whilst leaning on documentation, interacting with an programming-centric Ai and so forth. The fact that Workflows are broken down into smaller discrete nodes makes this task far easier than attempting the same with Raycast.

The only reason I haven’t subscribed to Raycast till now, is because I’m also looking at Bolt.ai, which is part of the SetApp bundle. SetApp requires an Ai add-on to my current “power user” subscription, but the extra cost works out significantly less than a Pro + Advanced AI Raycast plan.

For Ai, I currently use Gemini Pro, all the main Ai models via Kagi via a web browser and Github Copilot within VS Code (I ain’t too proud to lean on an Ai scripting friend, although, yes, it’s useless at AppleScript!), so why do I need any other Ai options. The main reason is to break free of the web browser without having to use, e.g. a costly API plan with OpenAI. Both Raycast and Bolt.ai offer this ability, meaning, for example, that I can access any Ai model directly in my macOS programs of choice, such as DEVONthink. It’s not quite the same as using an API key, but Bolt.ai in particular allows one to trigger Ai queries directly “inline” within your application content. A secondary benefit with both Raycast and Bolt.ai is that you can use DALL-E for image generation, Kagi only allows text IO from OpenAI etc. Gemini is getting better at generative image creation, but it’s not as good as OpenAI options.

And apologies again, as I digressed a little from the comparison of custom plugin creation for Alfred and Raycast, but that’s because I believe Ai is going to be a significant competitive playing field for Alfred and Raycast going forward. BTW, Bolt.ai isn’t a launcher per se, but parts of it’s feature-set provides similar benefits.

[Mitch_Wagner]

Capacities is an interesting choice for task management. What made you choose that? It’s not primarily a task manager though if I recall correctly it can be used that way.

[Timotheus]

DT and Scrivener are at the core of my activities. DT for archiving (only rarely for other things, to be honest); Scrivener for writing complex documents, and also as a text database for annotations on all kinds of things. In addition, Nisus as a dedicated word processor, Bookends for bibliography, and Adobe Lightroom for photos. These five are absolutely essential to me.

Moreover:

• The Proton suite (Mail, VPN, Pass, Drive) because I care about privacy.

• Tuta Mail, again because I care about privacy. I don’t really need it, but I love it

• BusyCal for work related appointments and activities

• ChronoSync for syncing between desktop and laptop

• Anki for vocabulary exercises

• Quitter, which automatically hides or quits apps after periods of inactivity

• Memory Cleaner

That’s about all. There are others, many of them already mentioned here, but they are not essential to me. I could easily do without them.

But I could not do without my Oxford spiral notebooks. I always have one at hand. Works better for me than note taking applications.

[Ja_acov]

Could you use DT for writing? Thank you

[MickeyT9]

Yes, I’ve read through most of it, and I’m astounded that for the most part, I have ‘no idea’ how or why people are using all of these apps I’ve never heard of!!.. Although, I do have quite a few… but then, I doubt very much whether I’m using them in any way shape or form, that people in this thread appear to be using them for?.. I feel like such a dunce!!..

I’m only beginning the “get my money’s worth” out of using DEVONthink in 2025, but now that the ‘rent-ware’ model has been introduced, I’m loathe to becoming too invested in using it now.

I ‘wish’ I had some clue as to what all of the jargon mentioned in this thread means…

It would be nice if it was ‘marked’ so I could come back to it easily?.. I suppose I could web-clip it in DT3?..

[DTLow]

@MickeyT9

but now that the ‘rent-ware’ model has been introduced, I’m loathe to becoming too invested in using it now.

afaik there has been no ‘rent-ware’ model introduced
I’m committed to DT3 for the storage/organization of my notes/documents/files

[MsLogica]

Renewing a license is not “rent-ware”. There is no obligation to renew and you do not lose access to anything if you do not. “Rent-ware” and “subscription apps” are a different set up, where the user only has access so long as they keep paying. That is not the model here.

I don’t want to turn this thread into another argument about pricing, but I do think that should be made clear to readers of this thread because some of the comments about pricing are factually incorrect and/or spreading fake ideas for no reason.

(FYI, renewing a license is no different to buying a cd-rom of a computer program in the 90s. There was no guarantee the software would work 5 years down the line and it was and is your choice whether you renew the license and buy the next version of the software.)

[JMTee]

Nobody using Things?

[MickeyT9]

@MsLogica

I don’t want to turn this thread into another argument about pricing

obviously this has become a ‘hot topic’.

I must admit, it took me a while to try to understand just ‘what’ is happening to the new DT4, and I’m guessing that I’m not alone from your comment. I’m not sure I fully understand it now?

When I followed a couple of links from an email announcement of a ‘new’ DT, I soon became bogged down in how ‘careful’ one needs to be, to make the jump from 3 to 4. In my mind at least, it just sounded ‘complex’.

Now, as I understand it, one is only paying annually for the ‘right’ to upgrades and improvements. None the less, it’s an optional - annual subscription by another name. If one was to make the jump from 3 to 4 it remains to be seen, whether or not, one was to ‘need’ the upgrades or not… I may eventually end up making the jump to DT4?

This side of the 1st year of implementation, “who knows”?

It’s all conjecture from the consumer at this point. I know that I can’t afford it right now.

I wish DT all the success in the world, because I have a vested interest in seeing the program survive. God knows how many software applications I’ve invested in over the years, and sadly watched them ‘evaporate’… my money along with it. I don’t want to see DT go that way too.

As I get older however, and have less and less buying power, keeping things like Microsoft 365 Family, DayOne, BitDefender and from the programs mentioned above, people have many other annual software memberships - keeping them ‘alive’, just gets harder and harder.

[jonmoore]

Well said, @MsLogica.

And to bring us back to the topic in hand. Here’s another pair of low-cost beauties that I forgot about because they’re so embedded into the Finder, that you forget they’re third party utilities

• FileUtils

This one adds a bunch of options to the Finder/Context Menu that provides those little helpers that save a trip to a Terminal window. I used to rely on Path Finder for many of these utilities and others are things that Apple used to provide but then took away “in the name of progress”. Luckily, we now have ForkLift, a clean, modern version of Path Finder, and FileUtils provides the missing options in the Finder. The Copy Path options are indicative of the developer’s laser focus on providing the depth of options one might require when copying a file path to the clipboard. All the other options are equally detailed.

• And my second killer utility is Dropover

Whilst this one might appear to be functionally similar to Yoink or Dropzone. Its superpower isn’t the nifty way that the “drop pallet” appears exactly where you need it (but that’s super useful interaction design). It’s the breadth of “Actions” you can quickly string together on your files. It’s a one-off payment of $6 via the App Store, and that even includes 10GB of cloud storage for those things you want to share temporarily, but with a built-in expire date on the share. Super useful.

[korm]

Putting DEVONthink 4 to work, I gave it this thread to read, count, and sort the frequency of mentioned apps to date. (Being lazy of a Sunday, I didn’t validate the data.)

Recommendation	Mentions
Keyboard Maestro	7
Alfred	5
PopClip	5
Yoink	5
BBEdit	5
LaunchBar	4
PDF Expert	4
Obsidian	3
MindNode	3
XMenu	3
Apple Numbers	3
Preview	3
NotePlan	2
Raycast	2
BetterTouchTool	2
Apple Notes	2
TextExpander	2
PDF Squeezer	2
Acorn	2
GraphicConverter	2
Reeder	2
Scrivener	2
Ulysses	2
Skim	2
Drafts	2
FileMaker	2
Excel	2
Pixelmator	2
TextSoap	2
Zotero	1
Kindle	1
Calibre	1
Notability	1
Hazel	1
ColorSync Utility	1
Find Any File	1
Word	1
PDFOutline	1
PDFOutliner	1
TextEdit	1
Typora	1
VisCode	1
VueScan	1

[toao]

I guess this list is a good example of the current shortcoming of AIs - it is pretty incomplete and the counting doubtful… e.g. busycal is mentioned at least three times in the thread but does not occur on the list…