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Yet another DevonThink vs. Yojimbo vs. Evernote thread

B

badlydrawnboy

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 20, 2003
1,531
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Here's my situation. I work in local offices, and also at times from my home office. I have a Mac Pro in the home office and a MacBook Pro I take with me to the outside offices. I am transitioning toward a paperless office - for obvious reasons - and have a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300.

However, I can't figure out which program to use to store my data. I need something that can accommodate PDFs, web archives, bookmarks and graphic files. I need it to be accessible from both of my computers, wherever I may be. I need OCR capabilities. I need some kind of import/clipping function from Safari. And I need relatively robust search and organizational capacity.

All of the programs I mentioned above do some of what I mentioned above well, but none of them do all of it well. DevonThink would be my first choice for sure if I only used one computer, but it has no cloud-based sync and is not a good option for using with multiple computers.

Yojimbo is very close - it has MobileMe sync, good import functionality, good organizational options and is lightweight and fast. But it has no OCR capabilities, which is a dealbreaker for me.

Evernote has everything I listed, but I hate that it doesn't have smart folders/collections/groups or any hierarchical method of organizing my data. While I appreciate tags, I don't like that as the sole means of organization.

Are there any other programs I'm missing?

One option I've considered is selling my Mac Pro and upgrading my MacBook Pro so I just have the one computer. But I do a fair amount of digital photography and I'm reluctant to give up the processing power of my Mac Pro.
 
Sounds like you've covered the pros and cons. I am stuck on Evernote as I need notes on iPad, iPhone, Macbook Pro and Mac Pro.
 
I use DevonThink Pro Office (DT) and it does the job you specify very well. My research folders do not reside in the DevonThink database: they reside in a Dropbox folder that I have DevonThink index and synchronise as required. This way all my files are accessible to any of my computers and once DevonThink is installed on a computer I can do my searches etc. at will. These folders are also linked to Bookends.

I dump my non-research stuff in the DT database, but you don't have to. You can place your files anywhere on your computer and have DevonThink index the folders. You also have the option of placing your whole DT database in Dropbox which will synchronise changes to the database automatically but I have heard of the rare case of corruption of the database by this method if you open the same database on 2 different computers at the same time while running Dropbox. Anyway, I hope this helps.
 
SnoFlo said:
I use DevonThink Pro Office (DT) and it does the job you specify very well. My research folders do not reside in the DevonThink database: they reside in a Dropbox folder that I have DevonThink index and synchronise as required. This way all my files are accessible to any of my computers and once DevonThink is installed on a computer I can do my searches etc. at will. These folders are also linked to Bookends.

I dump my non-research stuff in the DT database, but you don't have to. You can place your files anywhere on your computer and have DevonThink index the folders. You also have the option of placing your whole DT database in Dropbox which will synchronise changes to the database automatically but I have heard of the rare case of corruption of the database by this method if you open the same database on 2 different computers at the same time while running Dropbox. Anyway, I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

SnoFlo:

That might be the perfect solution for me, but I have no idea how to go about it. I didn't know DevonThink could be used to index files stored in folders like that.

But I guess I'd lose the convenience of the DevonThink clipping plugin for Safari, which is how I get information into my database 90% of the time currently. I'd have to manually make web archives and PDFs and store them in folders first, right, and then have DT index them?

I'm aware of the method of putting the DT database in the Dropbox, but it's not a good option for exactly the reason you mentioned: all it takes is me forgetting to shut down DT on one computer before opening it on another, and my entire database is corrupted.
 
Ya, that's right, the Safari clipper dumps everything into the database. :eek: The only way I found around that prob is to use Automator to move pdfs from my download folder into my DevonThink indexed folder automatically.

Hmm, well there is a new thing from Devon that's coming out soon called DevonThink Go To. Here's the page: http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonthink-to-go/

I don't know if it will do what you want as I haven't really investigated it yet but it looks promising. The good thing is that Devon listens to their customers' suggestions.
 
SnoFlo said:
Ya, that's right, the Safari clipper dumps everything into the database. :eek: The only way I found around that prob is to use Automator to move pdfs from my download folder into my DevonThink indexed folder automatically.

Hmm, well there is a new thing from Devon that's coming out soon called DevonThink Go To. Here's the page: http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonthink-to-go/

I don't know if it will do what you want as I haven't really investigated it yet but it looks promising. The good thing is that Devon listens to their customers' suggestions.
Click to expand...

Thanks for getting back to me. The DT To Go is interesting, but doesn't solve my problem. I need full read/write access to my DT database from another computer, without having to worry about database corruption.

I can't say I agree about DT's responsiveness to customers. People have been asking for a version that permits what I just described above for years, and it hasn't happened. Yojimbo and Evernote can do it, so why can't DT?
 
OCR using ScanSnap

Could you use the Scan to OCR option in the ScanSnap program that comes with the Fujitsu scanner, and then manually add the ocr'd pdf to Yojimbo? You could even make an Automator workflow to add each file in a directory to Yojimbo. So if you save all your orc'd documents to a particular directory the automator action would add them all to Yojimbo. (I imagine. I haven't ever created a workflow using Yojimbo.)
 
Evernote is great as it runs on everything. Also be very careful about going bonkers on hierarchical 'folders'; why was the relational database manager invented? Most information collected in this kind of app has many information dimensions so high level notebooks (as few as possible) and then TAGS is the way to do it IMHO. With Evernote you have an email address to email new notes! You can share notes too!
 
Evernote lacks encryption and that might be a problem for many users. Evernote's solution for encrypting selected text is very primitive and is not good enough for many users. I've been using Evernote for a while and currently looking for an alternative.:confused:
 
old thread, but good topic.

evernote
evernote is free, and the premium plan is inexpensive. for collecting data in a virtual junk drawer, it has no peer. but, it is sorely lacking in organizational capabilities.

devonthink
devonthink has a high learning curve in my opinion. it is expensive and so is the ipad app. i have heard great things about it, i gave it a try, and generally liked how it worked. but i am unwilling to pay in order to find out if the ipad app is worth using (review details suggest that it is not). without an ipad app it is dead to me. if you don't use the ipad, devonthink seems to be the most robust option.

yojimbo
yojimbo sounds cool. but, it has terrible reviews for the 9.99 ipad app. like devonthink, it is dead to me.

notebooks
it is ok. i could never get the nested folders in the ipad app to sync well with scrivener, though. it doesn't have an osx counterpart, so that might turn a lot of people off.

*in short, i don't know of any master "one note" type program that syncs between your computer and ipad. in my case, i tend to use a combination of elements (text editor for writing and editing projects), dropbox (place where elements files are synced), goodreader (place to read and annotate pdfs), evernote (place to dump everything from web clippings to emails), and notes plus (for handwritten notes). in osx i use scrivener (syncs well with elements) to organize writing.

you could say this is unwieldy, but to be honest, i doubt an uber organizational program exists out there to satisfy me, because i really want flexiblity. and, it makes sense to pick the programs that excel in their individual categories (ones for writing, reading, etc.).
 
You may also want to consider SOHO Notes. I've been using it for many years and it's had its ups and downs in the quality / reliability department (judging by the reviews on MacUpdate). It has mostly worked fine for me, with only the occasional MobileMe sync hiccup. They have a demo you can download and try out yourself.

I also use Evernote, but it has come nowhere near replacing SOHO Notes for me. Its inability to deal with styled text on both the desktop and mobile clients drives me absolutely nuts. Its tables and checklists feel like they're right out of PageMill 1.0 or something. The lack of subfolders was a major pain but, thanks to this thread, I finally discovered Nested Notebooks, so I'm glad they're making some progress.
 
As far as I know, DevonTechnologies is working on a synchronization solution for their next major update. Don't know whether it will be a WAN- or LAN- level solution, but I am sure the issue is covered in their forums.

Devon is an amazingly powerful piece of work though it may take time to recognize and appreciate that power. At first it may deceptively appear to you as a glorified Finder. It is actually much, much more than that, and its artificial intelligence features, while not flawless, have often helped me retrieve and utilize knowledge that I would have otherwise been oblivious to.
 
DevinThink Pro tutorial

Someone mentioned the learning curve with DTP, and I have to agree. I am kind of stymied in by the product - don't really know how get started and learn what it can do for me. Good news is that I got at a heavily discounted price. But . . I wonder if anyone can recommend a good tutorial for it. I have searched for online courses, to no avail. I have looked at the Devon Tech website, but either the links don't consistently work or the turorials are not really step by step videos. Help! Or should I just dump this and move on to another program? My primary use would be for gathering information / research to author a non-fiction book.
 
steveoc said:
I recommend Take Control of Getting Started with DEVONthink 2.
Click to expand...

First watch the Getting Started Tour that DT offers to play when you open DT. Then click on Help-->DT Pro Office Help and you will see an area New to DevonThink. View those.

Then read the book above with DT running so you can practice and see some of the power of the program. I had DT running on the left 2/3 of my monitor while Take Control was running on the right 1/3.
 
MathRulz said:
First watch the Getting Started Tour that DT offers to play when you open DT. Then click on Help-->DT Pro Office Help and you will see an area New to DevonThink. View those.

Then read the book above with DT running so you can practice and see some of the power of the program. I had DT running on the left 2/3 of my monitor while Take Control was running on the right 1/3.
Click to expand...

These links seem broken?
 
I love the newest version of DT. They made a major step forward in sharing.

My wife and I each have an iMac. I have the DT database. With the new version (I think 2.5)... I put a copy her hers... and set up the new sync function. Every hour they sync up. We are both free to edit or arrange, but she doesn't do that. She just knows she can open it on her iMac and she always has an up to date copy of the entire database.

I wish iTune and Aperture could sync this cleanly.

/Jim
 
beachmusic said:
What does this mean please?
Click to expand...

Sorry... sloppy writing.

I installed DevonThink on her computer... then copied my existing database over to her iMac. I set up the new syncing feature... and now, if either of us make any changes to our copy of the database, then it automatically syncs to the other machine.

I have been very impressed. Since we are not in the database very often... I set it to sync once per hour. She will probably not even manage the database at all... but she can still clip things directly in, and then I will file things away for her. The big win, is she can go into the database and look up anything on her own computer at any time... and it will be up to date.

/Jim
 
Hey posters and readers, I have a few questions for those with great work flows.

I have a ScanSnap 1300 which also has Abbyy finereader limited version, only OCRs from the scanner.

I own many apps from bundle sales etc... Paperless, iDocument, Together, DevonThink Pro, and paid Evernote

My first inclination is that although some of these apps have divergent GUIs or are specialized, they all do the same thing. But they all do them differently.

Is there one to rule them all?

Quick thoughts, DevonThink Pro for research, Together or Paperless for bills and receipts, and iDocument for book and magazine PDFs.

I'd prefer to use one app but if separating things this way is more efficient then so be it.

Any thoughts?
 
spacepower7 said:
Hey posters and readers, I have a few questions for those with great work flows.

I have a ScanSnap 1300 which also has Abbyy finereader limited version, only OCRs from the scanner.

I own many apps from bundle sales etc... Paperless, iDocument, Together, DevonThink Pro, and paid Evernote

My first inclination is that although some of these apps have divergent GUIs or are specialized, they all do the same thing. But they all do them differently.

Is there one to rule them all?

Quick thoughts, DevonThink Pro for research, Together or Paperless for bills and receipts, and iDocument for book and magazine PDFs.

I'd prefer to use one app but if separating things this way is more efficient then so be it.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

I've tried Evernote... but really didn't like it. It was good for syncing across multiple devices... but I really didn't need that functionality.

DevonThink has been my staple. It does everything I need. With the new syncing... they solved my biggest problem... how does my wife view the database from her own machine.

/Jim
 
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