Home | Appendix

Quick links: |  | Undo, Cut/Copy/Paste, … Summarize, Tags, Set Name Find, Spelling, Insert Dictation & Emojis

|  |  | The Edit Menu

The Edit menu contains all commands and options relating to editing. You'll find the classic Mac cut/copy/paste and find/replace commands here, as well as many more. Undo, Cut/Copy/Paste, … Undo/Redo: Use these commands to undo or redo the last action, e.g.,to undo deleting a file. Undo and Redo work for most actions. Cut/Copy/Paste: Cut, copy, or paste as standard behavior. Copy with Source Link: Copies selected text and a link to the current document. This text and link can be pasted into other applications. Copy URL: Copies the URL of the selected or frontmost document to the clipboard. Copy Item Link: Copies a URL to the clipboard that links to the selected document or group. These links can be used to create a back link to the document in applications that support live hyperlinks. For PDFs, hold the Shift key to reveal alternate item links. If a thumbnail is selected, Copy Page Link is available. If text is selected, Copy Selection Link will appear. If an annotation is selected, Copy Annotation Link will be shown. With selected content in text documents, Copy Paragraph Link will appear as the alternate command. Paste with Source Link: When copying text from files in DEVONthink, use this command to paste the text in rich text and Markdown documents with a link back to the source document. Paste and Match Style: Pastes text from the clipboard, matching the styles in the current document. Delete: Deletes the selected piece of text. Complete: Tries to auto-complete the partial word before the insertion caret. This standard Mac function uses the currently active dictionary, chosen in the language dropdown of the Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammar panel. Select All/Deselect All: Selects or deselects the complete content of the frontmost document. Hold the ⇧Shift key to reveal the Deselect All option. Summarize, Tags, Set Name Summarize: Summarizes the selected piece of text. Unlike the Mac's Summarize service, this command takes advantage of the built-in AI of DEVONthink, and uses the complete "knowledge" contained in the open databases for improving the results. The better your databases, the better the results. Tags: Use this command to quickly enter tags for the current document. This displays the Tag bar, if necessary. Set Name As: Applies the selected text as the document's name. Find, Spelling, Insert Find: This submenu contains standard Mac find commands, like those available in TextEdit. Searches on the current document are displayed in the Search Inspector. Two commands of note are: In Database: Brings the search field of the frontmost window into focus. Scroll To Selection: In long documents, this command scrolls the current document to selected text. Spelling and Grammar: Provides the standard macOS functionality for checking text for spelling or grammar errors. To choose the language used for spell checking, or for auto-completion (see above), open the spell checker panel with Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammar and choose your language of choice from the pop-up menu. Substitutions: Shows the standard Substitutions preference panel and switch the available options manually on and off: Smart Copy/Paste, Smart Quotes, Smart Dashes, Smart Links, Data Detectors, and Text Replacements. Data Detectors analyze shown text and make context-sensitive actions available, e.g., when you hover the cursor over a phone number or postal address.
Note: The Spelling and Grammar and Substitutions commands can be temporarily applied to the current document. If you'd like these to be persistent choices, you can make global changes in Settings > Editing.
Transformations: Use this submenu to change selected text to all lowercase or uppercase, or to capitalize every word. Speech: Starts or stops speaking the selected piece of text. Insert: Inserts items, like pictures, checkboxes, bulleted lists, etc. The options available are dependent on the current file type. Dictation & Emojis Start Dictation: Starts the Mac's dictation function. Emoji & Symbols: Shows the standard Special Characters panel for inserting characters and emoji that you cannot enter directly with your keyboard.