Hidden preferences

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:

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:

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.

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