Devonian Times Masthead

The DEVONtechnologies Blog

Articles in the category Tips

September 17, 2013

Create Custom Forms with Google Drive

If you have a Google account and access to Google Drive, create a form there. (I’ll leave the how-to on that to your own research. It’s not difficult.) “Share” the form so that you get the link to the form, and create a bookmark in DEVONthink for that form. When forms are created in Google Drive, you have the option to create a spreadsheet there to collect the responses. Do so, then navigate to that spreadsheet and grab the link for it. Create a second bookmark in DEVONthink for the spreadsheet. (more)

September 11, 2013

When Chrome Doesn't Like Clip to DEVONthink

Even though Google Chrome probably shares more information with its maker than you like, it also does a lot to protect you from the (other) bad guys — and sometimes also the good ones. If our Clip to DEVONthink browser extension doesn’t seem to work in your copy of Chrome and just reloads the browser contents when you click its icon in the toolbar, here’s a possible cure: … (more)

September 4, 2013

Build Group Hierarchies with Templates

One of the most common ways we organize our data is with folders and subfolders (groups and subgroups in DEVONthink). Maybe you are someone that tracks your receipts on a monthly basis. Perhaps you are a teacher that organizes student data in a series of subfolders. Or you may be a real estate agent that creates a folder for each new property you’re working with and you like to have subfolder for pictures, documents, etc. If you ever find yourself reconstructing group hierarchies in DEVONthink, here’s a handy way to create a template that will do most of the work for you. (more)

August 20, 2013

Search Global Smart Groups

You may already know that you can create smart groups in the sidebar of DEVONthink Pro (Office) that collect documents from all open databases. If not: click the action menu button at the bottom of the sidebar and choose New Smart Group. (more)

August 6, 2013

Style RTF Text with Keyboard Shortcuts

Rich text (RTF) is great for text with different fonts, sizes, or colors. The Style panel allows you to save often-used styles and apply them again with a few clicks but it’s not really an example of the Mac’s famous user-friendliness. Power user Alfred Schlatter sent us a tip for adding convenient keyboard shortcuts to styles to make your life with rich text easier: … (more)

July 30, 2013

Rate Your Documents Using Labels

Adding the ability to ‘rate’ items in DEVONthink, e.g. with stars, is already on our to-do list. Forum user Truhe couldn’t wait and simply used labels for his ratings. To create your own ratings use e.g. the Unicode characters ☆ and ★ to name the labels from ★★★★★ to ☆☆☆☆ and set the colors to support the rating. To enter the stars use the menu command Edit > Special Characters, switch to Bullets/Stars and double-click the symbol you’d like to insert. (more)

June 26, 2013

DEVONthink and Bookends

DEVONthink and Bookends work nicely together: DEVONthink Pro and up come with a smart template for quickly linking to references in Bookends, accept references dragged over from your collection, and Bookends can store “item links” for any document in DEVONthink. Just recently Sonny Software released Bookends 12 with an exciting set of new features. Check it out! (more)

May 21, 2013

Clip and Search with PopClip

PopClip is a marvelous little app that gives you an iOS-style contextual menu for selected text with the usual options: Copy, Cut, Paste, etc. But beyond what is available out of the box it can be easily extended. Install the DEVONthink Pro (Office) PopClip extension from our Download Extras page and clip selected text to your inbox or search your databases for the text with just one click. (more)

April 30, 2013

Send Screenshots Directly to Your Inbox

If you make screenshots and find yourself dragging them to DEVONthink Pro or ProOffice every time, here’s a shortcut for you: You can change the Finder’s location for screenshots to any folder you like. Change this to the Inbox folder and the picture is imported immediately or at least as soon as DEVONthink Pro (Office) is being opened. (more)

March 14, 2013

Switch From Google Reader to DEVONthink Pro

Today Google announced that they would shut down their online RSS reader service Google Reader on July 1, 2013. So if you are a Google Reader subscriber looking for an alternative you may not yet know that DEVONthink Pro and Pro Office are excellent news reader, too! (more)