There are a few settings in DEVONthink not available through the application Settings. Most of them are intended to facilitate customer support but they might be interesting for you as well.

Note: These hidden preferences could be changed or removed with any update.

## How to use the hidden preferences

You can toggle or set values for hidden preferences using the `defaults` command in the Terminal application or clicking the special ON and OFF links for the desired setting. When setting these preferences via the Terminal, DEVONthink should not not be running or the changes may not be preserved when quitting.

To set a preference using the Terminal, noting the commands are case-sensitive, they are written like this (excluding the parentheses): `defaults write com.devon-technologies.think (the preference name) (the preference type) (the value)`. For example, the following command enables the `` preference by setting a `-bool` (boolean type) to `TRUE`:

Terminal

    defaults write com.devon-technologies.think ShouldScaleAttachedImages -bool TRUE

Some hidden preferences require you to specify a numeric value, e.g., CounterDigits. These types of preferences also need to be set via a Terminal command. Use the `-int` (integer) type before specifying the number, like so:

Terminal

    defaults write com.devon-technologies.think CounterDigits -int 3

Other preferences use a `-string` type. For example, there is a preference to allow DEVONthink to detect other plain text formats as plain text, `AdditionalPlainTextExtensions`. As this command replaces the existing list of additional plain text extensions, we recommend that you first read the current list (empty by default) before adding your own to them.

Terminal

    defaults read com.devon-technologies.think AdditionalPlainTextExtensions2014-07-31 08:25:27.101 defaults[21950:3312262] The domain/default pair of (/Users/eb/Library/Preferences/com.devon-technologies.think AdditionalPlainTextExtensions) does not exist# This "error" shows there are no additional formats specified.defaults write com.devon-technologies.think AdditionalPlainTextExtensions -string .otl.todotxtdefaults read com.devon-technologies.think AdditionalPlainTextExtensions.otl.todotxt

## Available hidden preferences keys

Here is a list of the available hidden preferences. Each one includes a description, its data type, and an example value:

- AdditionalPlainTextExtensions: Adds additional plain text extensions, separated by dots. In Terminal: `-string .dxf.nc` .
- AVSkippingInterval: Specify the numbers of seconds to skip forward or backward when using the right and left arrow keys with Shift held in audio/video files. The default is 15 seconds. In Terminal: `-int 5`.
- AdditionalXMLExtensions: Adds additional XML file name extensions, separated by dots. In Terminal: `-string .mathml` .
- BatesNumberDigits: Specifies the number of digits used for the Bates Numbering via the placeholder or scripting. In Terminal: `-int 4`.
- CounterDigits: Specifies the number of digits used for the Counter placeholder. In Terminal: `-int 5`.
- DatePlaceholdersWithoutLeadingZeros: Disables date and time placeholders from using prefixing zeros. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off.
- DisableActivityWindow: Disables automatically showing/hiding of the Activity window. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- DisableAutomaticUpdatingOfIndexedItems: Disables automatic updating of indexed items. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- DisableBadgeLabel: Disable the badge label on DEVONthink's Dock icon. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- DisableFileSystemEvents: DEVONthink no longer listens to file system events. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- DisableFileCoordination: DEVONthink no longer uses file coordination, registering its interest in certain files and waiting for replies. This can cause very long delays if the coordinating process isn't responding quickly. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- DisableHighlightColorMapping: Uses the same colors when highlighting documents in dark and light mode. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- DisablePDFDarkMode: Disables the dark mode appearance for PDF documents. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- DisablePDFValidation: Disables validating PDFs created by merging, converting, or clipping. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- DisablePreprocessedClipping: Disable additional processing of a web page's content before sending the clipped file to DEVONthink. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- DisableRelativeDates: Disable displaying relative dates, e.g., "Today" in the item list. This will instead always show absolute dates, e.g., "2023.02.14". In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- DisableTagAutocompletion: Disable displaying the popup of tag suggestions when entering tags, e.g., in the Tags bar. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- DontAutomaticallyEnableOperatorsOptions: After a toolbar search, disables automatically enabling the Operators & Wildcards option in the Search inspector. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- DontSetFindPboard: Disable using macOS' shared pasteboard, avoiding search terms from being automatically used in other applications. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- EnableApplicationFiles: Applications can be imported/indexed. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- EnableFSEventLogging: Enables logging of filesystem events when requested by our support team. This setting should not be needed for general use. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- EnableEvernoteRTFDImport: Enable this to import notes from Evernote notebooks as rich text files. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- EnableSearchFieldAutocompletion: Enable this to have DEVONthink attempt to complete search strings as you type them in the toolbar search field. Note this option only works when the search options Live while typing and Partial matches while typing are disabled. (Read more…) In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- ForceEditablePDFs: Some PDFs contain objects that are problematic for Apple's PDFKit. DEVONthink opens these files in a read-only state. Enable this option to disable this behavior and open all PDFs as editable. Note: This does not eliminate the potential for problems with certain PDFs. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- IndexRawMarkdownSource: Index the source code of Markdown files instead of the rendered content only. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- MaximumNumberOfRecentDestinations: Specify the number of recent destinations shown in the Recent Destinations section of the context and popup menus, e.g., in the Move To popover. The default value is `10`. In Terminal: `-int 15`
- MaximumNumberOfRecentSearches: Specify the number of recent searches available in the toolbar search field or the Search inspector. The default value is `10`. In Terminal: `-int 15`.
- MonospacedSidebarFont: Use a monospaced system font in the sidebars of main windows. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- MonospacedViewFont: Use a monospaced system font in the item list of main windows. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- PersistentSortingOfSearchResults: Retains the last sort method used in database search results. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- PlainTextIsMarkdown: Treat all plain text files as markdown. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- RawMarkdownPasting: When pasting rich content into a Markdown file, the formatting is converted to Markdown. Enable this to ignore formatting and paste as raw plain text. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- RawOPMLImport: Imports `.opml` files as native files instead of parsing and creating groups, feeds, etc. from them. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- RichNotesWithoutAttachments: Services create RTF instead of RTFD. In Terminal: `-bool FALSE` or choose: On | Off
- ShowAdditionalInfoInPathBar: Shows some details about the selected item in the Information Bar. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- SyncDebugLog: Enable additional sync logging for debugging. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- WindowToolbarStyleExpanded: Enable the expanded toolbar style on macOS Big Sur. This shows the title bar above the toolbar instead of the new unified default style. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off
- WindowToolbarTitleHidden: Disables showing the window title in main windows. Note this only works if the `WindowToolbarExpanded` hidden preference is not used. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off

Server

- ServerDebugLog: Enable additional logging for debugging DEVONthink's webserver. In Terminal: `-bool TRUE` or choose: On | Off