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Quick links: |  | Bookmarks Formatted Notes and HTML Web Archives RSS Interface 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, so they will work nicely in DEVONthink To Go too! 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 Sorter. 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.
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.
Formatted Notes and HTML Formatted Notes: Formatted notes are a simple web-based note format, like a mobile rich text format. These files can be viewed with most web browsers. Similar to their text-based counterparts, they support adding images and formatting text, though the range of formatting options is smaller than that of rich text. You can find all available formatting commands in the Edit and Format menus. Newly created formatted notes use the font set in Editing > Format > Rich Text & Note Font. Captured or imported formatted notes, e.g., from Evernote, use the font set in Settings > Web > Standard Font Images are embedded directly into the HTML code so that formatted notes are completely self-contained. However, the resulting file size can grow large very quickly. Resizing images before adding them is encouraged. 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. HTML Files: HTML files are similar to formatted notes, however they do not preserve the state of certain elements, e.g., 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. HTML files can be created via Data > New > HTML page or clipped. Formatted notes can be 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. 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, capturing to PDF may be a better archiving option.
You can't natively create web archives files in DEVONthink. They are the result of web clipping, either in DEVONthink or using our browser extension. 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 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. When using an option other than Automatic as the feed format, DEVONthink must download the linked content and convert it to the appropriate format. 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. Add a new RSS feed via Data > New > Feed. Just provide a URL and an optional title. If you don't enter a title, DEVONthink will attempt to detect and use the feed's title. Interface 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 an underline 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 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: 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. Inspectors: Beyond the standard inspectors, a few others have specific utility with these formats: Links: The Document > Links inspector is a great place to check out (and interact with) links in the documents. Annotations: If you are annotating any of these formats, the Document > Annotations inspector lets you see, select, and even delete annotations. Properties: For clipped content, certain attributes may be shown in the Info > Properties inspector, e.g., keywords or the page's description. Item Linking Web-based formats support two specialized link types. Selection Link: Link to the paragraph of the selected text on a document, e.g., formatted note. This displays as highlighted text when the link is used. Note this is a cosmetic effect and not an annotation. Copy Link With Highlight: Available in the context menu for selected text when viewing bookmarks in DEVONthink, the passage is shown highlighted on the web page when the link is used.