Home | Appendix

Quick links: |  | Sidebar Item List View/Edit Pane Inspectors Toolbar

PRO

|  |  | Web Sharing

DEVONthink comes with a built-in server for broadcasting your databases on a network. While the operation is covered in the In & Out chapter, here we cover the interface shown when accessing shared databases in a browser window. Also note the preferences for setting up shared databases, including setting up users and per-database permissions are covered in the Settings > Server section of the Preferences chapter. The layout of the web sharing should immediately be familiar to users of DEVONthink. While not as full featured as the native application, it behaves in ways similar to DEVONthink's main window. Here we will give you an overview of the parts of this interface.
Note: The permissions given by the administrator of the shared databases determine database visibility as well as what actions you can take. Due to this, some actions, e.g., creating new documents or downloading documents, may not be available. If you do not have permissions to modify the database you're browsing, the cursor will change to show the option is disallowed.
Sidebar A condensed version of the Navigate sidebar found in DEVONthink's main windows, this provides access to the contents of any shared databases. Some basic context menu items, e.g., New Group, New Feed, Rename, and Move to Trash, are available when Control-clicking in the sidebar. Move files by dragging from the item list over a group in the sidebar to file them in a new location. Holding the ⌘ Command key allows you to copy the file instead of move it. If you hover over a section in the sidebar, you can hide the Globals or Shared Databases section. Also, you'll notice this interface has been built in a responsive manner. This causes the sidebar to disappear when the browser window becomes to narrow for it be effective. You can still use toolbar buttons to toggle the visibility, as needed. Item List The item list, like its DEVONthink counterpart (Read more...), shows items in the current location. Items can be selected and reorganized by drag-and-drop, to the sidebar or groups in the same location. Above the item list is the path bath with active links to parent locations. Click on them to quickly jump back to a parent location. To navigate back and forth through locations you've visited, use the and buttons in the path bar. Again, taking its example from DEVONthink's main window, Control-click items in the item list to show these commands in the context menu: New: The submenu allows you to create new items: plain text, formatted note, Markdown, Bookmark, RSS feed, and groups. Get Info: Shows the Inspector pane for the selected file. Label: Apply or remove a color label to a selected file. Mark: Toggle the Flagged, Unread, or Locked state of a selected file. Rating: Adjust the rating for a selected file. Upload Document: Use this to upload a new document to the database. Download Document: Download the currently selected file(s). Move to Trash: Move the selected file(s) to the database's Trash. While you can't reorder the items manually, the item list can be sorted by clicking on the column headers. Click the header again to toggle between an ascending or descending sort. Control-click the headers to enable and disable individual headers. View/Edit Pane When an item is selected in the item list, a preview of any compatible file will be shown here. Many non-proprietary text-based formats commonly can be displayed. Plain and rich text, Markdown, JPEG or PNG files, PDF, etc. are easily searchable and viewable. There is also support for editing plain and rich text, formatted notes, and Markdown documents directly in this pane. Just click in the preview and begin editing. Navigation bar: The navigation bar above the pane varies what it displays, based on the type of file it's displaying. If an item has a URL, it will be active and displayed here. The bar also allows you to move back and forth through previously viewed files via the and buttons. Of special note are the behavior of formatted notes. They are displayed with a handy toolbar providing some editing options, like adding bold or italic type. You can also select text and create a hyperlink with it. Lastly, you can choose an image to insert into the document. For the Markdown fans, you will see the same navigation bar options, showing Edit, Preview, and Side-by-Side modes.
Note: While it is a force of habit — and in general, a good one to be in — you do not need to press ⌘S after editing a file. The changes are saved automatically.
Inspectors Info: A simplified view of the Info Inspector pane found in a main window. Shown by clicking the right-most toolbar button or choosing the Get Info command from the Action button, this shows basic metadata about the item selected in the item listing. If you have permissions to make changes to the current database, it is possible to change some of the metadata, like ratings or labels. See Also: The second view of the inspector shows the See Also pane. This gives you some suggestions about other documents that may be related to to the currently selected item. Clicking on an item in the results will display that document in the view/edit pane. Toolbar There are a handful of toolbar tools in the web sharing interface. Note a few items will be discussed separately. Show/Hide Sidebar: Toggles the visibility of the Globals sidebar. Preview: Toggle between standard and widescreen view, with the preview on the bottom or right, respectively. Action: Displayed with a gear icon, this shows the same options as the context menu in the item list. Add: The submenu allows you to create new items: plain text, formatted note, Markdown, Bookmark, RSS feed, and groups. Move to Trash: Put the selected item in the database's trash. Refresh: Manually refreshes the current item list. Download Document: Downloads the selected items in the item list and downloads them to the downloads location for the browser you're using. For some formats, a ZIP file may be created and downloaded. Language: Switch the interface language between English, French, and German. Search: Search for files in the open databases by entering search terms. Search prefixes can be used and are covered in more detail here: Read more... Show/Hide Inspectors: Toggle the Inspectors panes.