I’m trying to watch at DEVONthink (DT) group which is itself a folder watching a Bookends database (this seems wrong but appears to work). The notes appear in Tinderbox (TB) with all the content from the watched group in DT. The problem that I’m facing is that the content of the watched folder really skyrockets the size of the TB file and brings it down to an unworkable crawl. I’ve tried using stamps to remove the read only setting on the notes that TB generates as well as a stamp to set the note text to “” (i.e. blank). This works for a few seconds but once the watched folders refresh, all the content returns. I’ve tried adding On-add actions to auto generated DT container in the hope that this would then automatically remove the text in the notes but this doesn’t seem to work.
The short of my question is, how do I set up things such that the TB file generates notes that contain only the name and note URLs of the watched DT group? Having the option to pre-set the contents pulled from DT would be helpful. Please let me know if I’ve just been blind to an easy solution.
If this is all you need, then perhaps you might consider using DEVONthink’s built-in feature to make a table of contents document for a folder, with exactly the info you mentioned. It’s usually a fairly short document you could watch in Tinderbox or even import. (Beyond the scope here, but the DEVONthink TOC generation could be automated.)
Thanks for this suggestion. I forgot about that feature in DT. I think it’s one shortfall is that it is not dynamic and will not refresh with additions to the underlying Bookends database. Even with automation, if I’m not mistaken, a new TOC would be generated each time.
I’m still fiddling around with what I want my TB file to look like so the TOC solution is plausible though I do think there is something pleasing about having each book / journal having it’s own “physical” presence in TB.
Automation can zero the contents of the TOC file and replace it with new info. Admittedly kludgey but this script can be inserted into a DEVONthink “Smart Rule” and run on demand, on a schedule, or other trigger.