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Search pdf text devonthink pro3/7/2023 ![]() Once imported into DTP, these abstracts can be parsed using smart folders (enduring searches) that make your literature library a dynamic resource for writing.I have a single DTP database that has indexed the various folders critical in my writing process (e.g. I’ve made heavy use of a particular built-in Devonthink Template that automates the migration of abstracts from Bookends to DTP (with a link back to Bookends). Although Tinderbox is great for visually organizing your notes, it can’t compare to the search capabilities of DevonThink Pro.Since switching to Bookends, I’ve found myself spending less time in Tinderbox and even more time in Devonthink. My old workflow required Keyboard Maestro to extract abstract information to Tinderbox. I wrote about Sense-making of the Academic Literature back when I was using Papers. There, I open the file with Adobe Acrobat (any app able to add headers and split documents will work). I then move the extracted markdown files to the HighlightsX sub-folder.Within Bookends, I export the annotated pdf to my desktop. Within the moved folder I make two new sub-folders: 1. I move the folder from the DTP Inbox to my Desktop. By default, Highlights.app saves my extracted highlights files to the DTP Inbox. Here is what I’ve been doing.Īfter highlighting a manuscript in Highlights.app, I extract my highlights (along with color tags) to Devonthink Pro using the built in export function. Instead, I’ve been experimenting with an alternative that is much quicker (as suggested by Andrew in the comments of the entry)-saving the entire manuscript as single-page PDF documents. Although I’ve continued my extraction of highlights, the extraction of full text (by highlighting the entire document) proved much too time consuming. If not, then buy it and thank me later.In Reading, Extracting And Storing Scholarly Information To Supercharge The Writing Process, I wrote about how I extracted both highlights and full-text of entire manuscripts in order to give me granular access to information. If you already own Devonthink Pro Office, then you own some great OCR and PDF management tools. These work well and maintain all of the OCR text (unlike Evernote). Since I prefer to keep my documents in a manually managed directory system I need to use the Devonthink export tools. The manual step for me is the Export from Devonthink. If I scan a bill or receipt, I can easily find it again later. That said, the OCR text is embedded with the PDF, unlike the way Evernote does OCR just for searching purposes. It's similar good but not as good as Evernote. ABBYY Finereader even recognizes text that is somewhat stylized. One benefit of the OCR process is that all scans become searchable text. However, many of the documents I scan are sensitive so I prefer to drop them into an encrypted DMG file for long term storage. Devonthink "learns" what files go together and will begin to automatically file them for you. You simply need to create folders and move a few related files. Devonthink has almost mystical powers to auto-categorize and file documents. I could keep the documents in Devonthink (that was how I used to manage my scans). Each subsequent scan job is queued in Devonthink and processed in order. The scanning process could not be more simple. The files are named with timestamps and dropped into the Devonthink global inbox. This workflow allows me to scan multiple documents without ever having to touch the mouse or keyboard. On the Devonthink end, I have the OCR work automated. I created a Scansnap Manager profile that shunts the scanned document directly to Devonthink. I use the amazing and simple Fujitsu Scansnap for document scanning to PDF. Here is my Devonthink Pro Office workflow for document scanning and OCR: ![]() Now, Acrobat may be faster but if the application supports queuing, then speed is irrelevant for most workflows. Nothing beats the ABBYY Finereader OCR quality. I've worked with many PDF OCR products, including the grotesquely expensive Adobe Acrobat Pro ($499). ![]() ABBYY Finereader ($99) is included with the application as a plugin. However, there is one workflow that Devonthink Pro Office accels at: PDF OCR. I've been leaning more towards application agnostic file storing. ($149) I'm still a fan of Devonthink Pro Office (the newly renamed top tier version) but I use it less and less for filing documents. Back in 2006 I briefly discussed the use cases for Devonthink Pro.
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