Does anyone know why DevonThink wouldn't open a data base I had previously created?

As I try to calmly, and rationally, decide whether to keep my new Mac, this doesn't help.

Daly

After I sent an email to DevonThink support, I went back to the program, and realized the trial had somehow stopped because a lot of features were just faded out. So I checked the site, and found out the initial trial can be supplemented easily with a 30 day trial license.

Here's what the site said: "Requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later. 150 hours of non-continuous runtime free trial, 200 email messages and 20 OCR runs per day.
Get a trial time extension."

So I asked for the 30 day license.

Then I realized it is far short of 150 hours since I downloaded the program, let along have 150 hours of non-continuous runtime. I have not even had the computer in my possession for 150 hours, haven't processed any email messages, or done any OCR runs. Oops.

Daly

Daly de Gagne wrote:

Does anyone know why DevonThink wouldn't open a data base I had previously
created?

As I try to calmly, and rationally, decide whether to keep my new Mac, this
doesn't help.

Daly

I don't know why your database won't open, Daly, but I firmly believe you will find that the developers are responsive and will give helpful support. The only small rider to that may be if they are on vacation - the heart of the company is European - but even then their response is reasonably rapid. That's my experience.

Daly de Gagne wrote:

Does anyone know why DevonThink wouldn't open a data base I had previously
created?

As I try to calmly, and rationally, decide whether to keep my new Mac, this
doesn't help.

Hi, Daly.

I would strongly suggest a post to the support forums. These usually get a response. Also, please remember that the more detailed information you give, the better the feedback (what kind of license you downloaded the program under, how you created the new DB, what happens when you try to open it, etc...)

Tom S.

Problem solved. I got the 30-day free license.

The initial download stopped working *before* it was supposed to according to information provided by the company in the first instance.

I have several days before I have to return the Mac, so will give this program a good shot - it seems like one of the ones which is well thought out.

Daly

Daly de Gagne wrote:

After I sent an email to DevonThink support, I went back to the program, and realized
the trial had somehow stopped because a lot of features were just faded out. So I
checked the site, and found out the initial trial can be supplemented easily with a 30
day trial license.

Here's what the site said: "Requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later. 150
hours of non-continuous runtime free trial, 200 email messages and 20 OCR runs per
day.
Get a trial time extension."

So I asked for the 30 day license.

Then I
realized it is far short of 150 hours since I downloaded the program, let along have 150
hours of non-continuous runtime. I have not even had the computer in my possession for
150 hours, haven't processed any email messages, or done any OCR runs.
Oops.

Daly

Daly de Gagne wrote:
>Does anyone know why DevonThink wouldn't open a
data base I had previously
>created?
>
>As I try to calmly, and rationally, decide
whether to keep my new Mac, this
>doesn't help.
>
>Daly

I've just spent 40 minutes going through the downloaded documentation for DevonThink trying to find out why sometimes tags appear under the tag group with a tag icon, and why sometimes they do not show up in that group at all, although they are applied to an item. Sure would appreciate it if anyone can tell me how to get all tags I make to show up in the tag group. Otherwise it seems kind of pointless if I can't see all my tags in a group, and use them to access everything with a particular tag.

Thanks.

Daly

Daly de Gagne wrote:

I've just spent 40 minutes going through the downloaded documentation for
DevonThink trying to find out why sometimes tags appear under the tag group with a tag
icon, and why sometimes they do not show up in that group at all, although they are
applied to an item.

http://www.devon-technologies.com/scripts/userforum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11112&p=52123&hilit=tags+folders+difference#p52057

Tom S.

Daly, would you mind, if you gave me your email? I'd like to send you an ebook that explains pretty well how things work in DevonThink... Maybe it helps... cicero@gmx.com

Andreas

Andreas, thank you.

It is daly.de.gagne@gmail.com

Daly

Harlander wrote:

Daly, would you mind, if you gave me your email? I'd like to send you an ebook that
explains pretty well how things work in DevonThink... Maybe it helps...
cicero@gmx.com

Andreas

Thanks, Tom.

Out of what you referred to me to, I realized that the program automatically creates a tag out of a group name.

So I went back to the program, and saw that tags I had made, which were different from a group name, showed up in the tag list with a tag icon.

Very simple. Yet even what you referred me to required me to draw an inference. I very much appreciate your giving me the reference; it allowed me to find a solution. But the article on tags - there were a great deal of words, most of which didn't seem all that clear. The resulting discussion on tags sort of confirmed that in a way.

And so that's my point - if there is a giant program, then all the more important to break information to its simplest pieces.

In the PC world, UltraRecall is famous for wordy descriptions in its help file about what features will do, yet neglecting to specify in a simple way exactly how to use the features.

Daly

Daly de Gagne wrote:

Very simple. Yet even what you referred me to required me to draw an
inference. I very much appreciate your giving me the reference; it allowed me to find a
solution. But the article on tags - there were a great deal of words, most of which
didn't seem all that clear. The resulting discussion on tags sort of confirmed that in
a way.

I have to be honest. I referred you to the discussion because I didn't trust myself to explain it. To this day I really can't tell you why it was necessary to have tags that aren't groups since, as you found, they are effectively the same thing. At least it seems that way to me.

It took me weeks to figure that program out and get it to the point where I wanted it. I'm still finding things out here and there. I know it sounds odd but the thing is, rather than being frustrated, I actually like spending time doing that. I loved every minute of it.

Tom S.

The e book on Devon, of which Andreas sent me a copy, does a much better job of describing how tags work. This book reads like it is written by a real technical writer who knows his stuff.

I like a hierarchal structure, as provided by groups.

As I understand DT I can replicate, ie clone, files so they appear in more than one place in the structure.

But the book gives an example of groups having the main categories, for example: recipes/East India/dahls - each of the group names becomes an automatic tag but does not show up in the tag list.

Now the writer says you can use to tags for something which gives a different take on the information - individual recipes could be tagged as appetizers, or "prepare before," etc.

The tags you make yourself which do not correspond to a group name show up in blue, and in the tag hierarchy as a tag.

I might use a group or folder hierarchy to organize subject areas within psychology.

But that will cover many writers - so do I replicate everything touching on a writer to a separate psychologists' or writers' group, or do I just tag everything "writer?"

In ways it is six of one and half a dozen of another. In EN, I only have one main notebook, so tags do everything.

I like the idea of having both groups/folders and tags - although in an objective sense, am not sure it makes any difference if tags can be shown as hierarchy.

Daly



Tom S. wrote:

Daly de Gagne wrote:

>Very simple. Yet even what you referred me to required me to
draw an
>inference. I very much appreciate your giving me the reference; it allowed
me to find a
>solution. But the article on tags - there were a great deal of words, most
of which
>didn't seem all that clear. The resulting discussion on tags sort of
confirmed that in
>a way.

I have to be honest. I referred you to the discussion
because I didn't trust myself to explain it. To this day I really can't tell you why it
was necessary to have tags that aren't groups since, as you found, they are
effectively the same thing. At least it seems that way to me.

It took me weeks to
figure that program out and get it to the point where I wanted it. I'm still finding
things out here and there. I know it sounds odd but the thing is, rather than being
frustrated, I actually like spending time doing that. I loved every minute of
it.

Tom S.

There's been quite a lot of discussion on the DevonThink forums about when it's better to use the tags approach and when it's better to use a group/folder hierarchy. None of the discussions has resolved the issue in my mind. The ebook overall is good, but I don't think it has really resolved the issue either.

The introduction of tags to DevonThink is very recent, in the latest whole-number version in the last few months, and I don't think the developers have so far finessed their tags functionality as much as they could. My guess is they believed it was necessary to introduce them because there was a lot of - possibly misplaced - user demand. Personally, I have stuck with groups/folders. In general, I like tags and the philosophy behind them, but in DevonThink at the moment I think they can get in the way.

H

HI, Hugh and Daly.

If I take a group in a hierarchy - lets say "status/in progress" - and I exclude the "status" group from tagging (right click -> exclude from tagging), isn't "in progress" essentially a non-hierarchical tag? Other than the color in the tags list, I guess I never saw the difference.

Tom S.

Daly,

I am sure you have already found this article, but - if I am wrong - here's a nice explanation, what makes DevonThink work for many people...

http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2005/01/tool_for_though.html

Andreas

I, too, find tags get in the way of how I work with DevonThink. I like the nested folder hierarchy, I replicate like crazy, and I use Smart Groups when necessary, because frankly I'm worried that my aging memory will cause me to forget to tag each item properly.

DT's replicate function makes it the closest thing I've found to Ecco Pro, in which an item could be in multiple folders at the same time, and a change made to the item in one folder would be reflected in that same item in any other folder in which it resides. (And the columns=folders aspect of Ecco is similar to what DT may have been thinking of when they introduced Tags=Groups.)

In any event, I like DT a lot, use it regularly, and haven't even scratched the surface of what it can do. The learning curve is steep, but so far, it seems pretty bullet-proof. And I suspect Daly's initial feeling of having so many choices of how to organize his file is a reflection of how powerful and customizable the program is. Much like Ecco. Even today, more than a dozen years after it was discontinued, there are still people on some Yahoo Discussion Board arguing about TLIs and parent items ...