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Quick links: |  | Bookmarks Formatted Notes and HTML Web Archives RSS Editing Bar Context menu Item Linking

|  |  | HTML-Based Formats

HTML-based files in DEVONthink include bookmarks, web archives, formatted notes, and RSS articles. These are formats that are viewable in web browsers and are also mobile-native. Bookmarks Bookmarks are exactly the same as the ones found in your web browser. With DEVONthink's ability to act as a browser, bookmarks can be a valuable part of your experience. When using File > Import > Bookmarks, you can bring your bookmarks into DEVONthink easily. Though this depends on the capability of the individual browser, you may be able to drag links directly into your database. You can also capture them with DEVONthink's browser extension, Clip to DEVONthink.
Note: If you import your bookmarks from a browser, this is a copy operation not a sync, i.e., if you modify bookmarks in your browser, this will have no effect on DEVONthink's contents. However, you can do another import to add the new bookmarks to your database without duplicating the previous ones.
In addition to importing bookmark files, they can be created via Data > New > Bookmark. Just provide a URL and title. If you don't enter a title, DEVONthink will attempt to detect and use the page title. Formatted Notes and HTML Formatted Notes: allow to write simple formatted text including embedded images that can be viewed on any system with just a web browser. While the range of formatting options is smaller that that of rich text they are much more compatible to today's standards. You can find all available formatting commands in the Edit and Format menus. When creating new formatted notes, DEVONthink will use the font set in Settings > Editing > Rich Text & Note Font. Captured or imported formatted notes, e.g., from Evernote, use the font set in Settings > Web > Standard Font Technically formatted notes are based on HTML, the language of the world-wide web. Images are embedded directly into the HTML code so that formatted notes are completely self-contained. The HTML code is also cleaned from unnecessary tags and an identifying meta tag is inserted that lets DEVONthink distinguish formatted notes from normal HTML pages. Form tags, e.g., for checkboxes and input fields are not removed and the status of checkboxes and form fields is retained. Bear in mind, the underlying markup in formatted notes can't be edited in DEVONthink. However, you can open the files in a compatible external editor, if you'd like.
Note: Since images are completely embedded in the documents, the resulting file size can grow large very quickly. Resizing images before adding them is encouraged.
HTML Files: are similar to formatted notes, but they do not preserve the state of checkboxes and form fields. You also cannot add images by dragging them into the live editing view. However, you can edit the underlying HTML code using the Source and Side-by-Side modes found in the navigation bar. Formatted notes can be imported or created via Data > New > Formatted note. When using the Notes from Evernote or Folders & Attachments from Notes options in the File > Import menu, the imported notes are formatted notes. HTML files can be imported or created via Data > New > HTML page. Web Archives Web archives are a special HTML file format intended to create offline archives of individual web pages. The downloaded data preserves the look and feel of the page very closely. It is often a more useful capture option when a PDF would generate a very long page since web archives always view at the size determined by the browsing area. They function in a similar fashion as formatted notes, so you can actually edit the captured contents and save your changes. This can be very handy for highlighting passages or removing unwanted elements, e.g., ads, in a captured web page. Also, since they are HTML files the underlying markup can be edited using the Source and Side-by-Side modes found in the navigation bar.
Note: Web archives can be very useful with web pages using statically linked content. However, some popular and monetized sites get their contents dynamically from other sources, so the actual data is not in the underlying HTML. These pages may have missing content due to this, require an internet connection to display content, and run JavaScript. If you encounter this, a PDF may be a better archiving option.
Web archives files can't be directly made. They are the result of capturing web content, either in DEVONthink or using our browser extension.
Note: Web archives made on macOS Mojave aren't necessarily compatible with earlier versions of macOS.
RSS RSS feeds are special "web pages" that don't show as pages but as a stream of news articles. DEVONthink allows you to keep that news flowing directly into your databases. Supporting RSS, RDF, Atom, and JSON feeds, DEVONthink functions as a basic newsreader. RSS feeds are treated as a special type of file that functions as a group. Feed articles are downloaded to the feed and saved in a format you specify in DEVONthink's Settings > RSS > Feed Format. The default is Automatic and saves summary files as HTML. The styling of the HTML articles is controlled by an internal CSS stylesheet specified in Settings > RSS > Feed Style Sheet. Other formats will get their styling from the source they're downloaded from.
Note: When using an option other than Automatic as the feed format, DEVONthink must download the linked content and convert it to the appropriate format.
RSS feeds can be created via Data > New > Feed. Provide a URL and title. If you don't enter a title, DEVONthink will attempt to detect and use the feed's title. Editing Bar Like rich text files, editing HTML-based files (excluding bookmarks) includes the Editing Bar. Click this icon and the editing bar will appear in place of the navigation bar. The tools available here consist of: Increase the size of the font. Decrease the size of the font. Set characters to be subscript. Set characters to be superscript. Set bold on the text. Set italic on the text. Set underlines on the text. Set strikethrough on the text. Highlight selected text. This uses the currently selected highlight color. Add or edit a link applied to the selected text. Show or hide the ruler. Place tab stops with the mouse, then remove them by dragging them off the ruler. Drag new tab stops (left aligned, centered, right aligned, or decimal aligned) from the repository at the right side to their desired positions on the ruler. Use the mouse to adjust the left and right margins and indent. Show the Fonts panel. Show the Color Picker. Context menu In addition to the context menu commands available with text selections in a document, HTML based files often include these items: Add Page to Reading List: Adds the current page the Reading List as a bookmark. Capture …: Captures the Control-clicked frame, image, link to the inbox of the current database. Capture Page: Captures the current page in the selected format to the inbox of the current database. Copy … Address: Copies the frame URL of a Control-clicked frame, image, page, or video to the clipboard. Insert > ...: Inserts checkboxes into the document. Open … in New Tab: Opens a Control-clicked image, page, or video in a new DEVONthink tab. Open Image in PhotoStickies: Opens the image in PhotoStickies. Open Page in Browser: Opens the current page in your default web browser. Open Page in DEVONagent: Opens the current page in DEVONagent Pro. Reload: Reloads the page from the Internet. Update Bookmark: Updates the URL of this document to the current one, e.g., after navigating to a sub-page. Update Captured Archive: Updates the contents of a web archive file with the live version on the Internet. PRO Add Page to Downloads: Adds the page address to the Download Manager. Download Video: Downloads the video using the Download Manager. Item Linking Web-based formats currently support no alternate item links.