Forum Posts Feed
Devonthink To Go or Bookends on Tap
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Posted by Dellu
Mar 27, 2017 at 02:45 PM
I have both Bookends and Devonthink on my mac.
I keep my pdf files in Dropbox. They are managed in Bookends and indexed in Devonthink.
I also have PDF expert on my IOS.
I have struggled to maintain a workflow between my ipad and mac because the syncing feature of PDF expert is weak. I have also tried iAnnotate. Both are not good for a larger collection of pdf files. Both are incapable of searching the file names unless the files are downloaded to the ipad.
Now, i am thinking to buy one of the two apps for my ipad.
Do you guys have experience with them? Which one works better for huge collection of files. The plan is just to search, read and annotate the pdf files. I don’t really care about the reference management. Can I search the file names (on the cloud) without downloading the files locally into the ipad in DTTG?
Posted by Paul Korm
Mar 27, 2017 at 09:49 PM
Then in my opinion you’re better off with DTTG. DTTG can do download on demand—in that case it only syncs metadata (name, tags, etc.) but not the actual file until you tell DTTG to get it for you. Read DTTG help for the full scope on how that works.
http://www.devontechnologies.com/download/extras-and-manuals.html
BUT—since your files are on Dropbox, indexed in DEVONthink, then when you grab one on demand you’ll get that instance added to DEVONthink to Go. This doesn’t mess up your indexing in any way, but for some folks it can be a little hard to get their mind around what’s happening.
@Dellu wrote
>The plan is just to search, read and annotate the pdf files. I don’t really care about the reference management.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Mar 28, 2017 at 07:41 AM
I’d agree with Paul on this. DTTG is your (highly flexible) friend.
Posted by Dellu
Apr 7, 2017 at 04:24 PM
Thank you guys.
I should have listened to your advise. I honestly do not understand how Devonthink would work for syncing and reading. My primary worry is that I don’t import my pdf files: and I index them. Plus, I want the files to be available on the ipad for offline reading (on demand downloading doesn’t work for me).
After some contemplation, I went on to buy the BE on Tap (=BOT). One reason is I love the BE of the mac. it is such an amazing software, I somehow hoped that the same would be the ipad version. Well, it is not.
1) iCloud is the only syncing option: other clouds are not supported
2) even for iCloud, the Pdf doesn’t seem directly download to the ipad. It takes a couple of seconds, even up to minutes to open the pdf. It seems actually to download on demand.
3) using iCloud drive in the mac messes up the default pdf readers. For some reason, Apple forces the *open with* option for the default applications if the file is stored in the iCloud drive. I cannot directly open my pdf files in Preview or Pdf expert. They always open in Bookends. This is not horrible. I don’t like reading in BE: i read in PDF expert.
I end up removing the app—moved back to PDF expert’s cranky syncing system.
Posted by Paul Korm
Apr 7, 2017 at 08:39 PM
Dellu wrot
>My primary worry is that I don’t import my pdf files: and I index them. Plus, I want the files to be available on the ipad for offline reading (on demand downloading doesn’t work for me).
Well, then DEVONthink to Go is still the solution for you. Indexed documents are copied to DEVONthink on iOS, but they remain indexed on the desktop. DEVONthink takes care of updating the desktop version when it synchronizes with DEVONthink to go.
And, better still, since DEVONthink to Go supports iOS Document Provider you can work with your document in other iOS apps and the changes wend their way back down to the original indexed document on the desktop.
(Every developer is responsible for the way they implement Document Provider—so perfect two-way communication with DEVONthink to Go is not always the case. In my opinion, so far, the most reliable 3rd party app for most use and that supports Document Provider the way Apple intended, is Documents by Readle.)