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Search windows allow you to search your database in almost every way possible and assist you with intelligent functions for broadening and adjusting your search terms.


Search Term

In the top part of the search window you find the search term field as well as the Spelling and Context buttons. To enter a search term and run the query with the default options, simply type your search words into the search term field and click the magnifier button (right of search field). Like in many other Mac applications, the pop-up menu (behind the magnifier icon at the left side of the search term field) gives you access to the last 25 search terms.

DEVONthink Personal uses Boolean operators, parenthesis, and quotes to allow complex structured search terms. Read more about operators and how to use them to write a search term in the appendix.

To broaden or adjust your search words, enter a word and click either Spelling or Context to show a list of all words in the database that are similar to the entered word either by spelling or by context. Choose one or more words (use Shift and/or Command to select multiple words from the list) to use them as search words. Mutiple selected words are combined using the OR operator (spelling) or AND (context). The word you've entered will be shown on the top of the list, so you won't lose it for your search run. This functions use all open databases for retrieving similar words.


Search Options

The left side of the search window gives you even more control over the way DEVONthink Personal searches the database. Adjust these options to best fit your needs.

Search for: Choose what exactly you're looking for or select All to search all parts of a document:

  • All: Searches all elements of a document.
  • Content: Searches the content of a document.
  • Name: Searches the name of a document.
  • URL/Path: Searches the URL and Path fields of a document.
  • Comment: Searches the Comment field of a document.
  • Meta Data: Searches the meta data associated with a document.

Comparison: Make DEVONthink Personal treat regular letters and their counterparts with umlauts or diacritics equally. Check Fuzzy to make searches fuzzy (e.g. 'Hello' and 'Hullo' would both be found). Note: This option is only applied to words but not to wildcards.

State: Limits the results based on their status (flagged/unflagged). Choose Any to find results regardless of their state.

Unread: Limits the results based on whether they have been marked as read or unread. Choose Any to find results regardless of their read status.

Locking: Limits the results based on whether they are locked or not (on/off). Choose Any to find results regardless of their locking flag.

Label: Limits the results based on their label. Choose Any to find results regardless of their label.

Search in: Limits the scope of the search run to all open databases, a selected database, or a selected group.

Note: To search for all documents with a given status, locking state, or label, simply leave the query field empty and use the above options to define what you are looking for.


Search Results

After a successful search run, DEVONthink Personal lists all found documents below the search term field, and displays them in a list together with their score (relevance compared to the query), their icon, location in the database, modification date, document kind, and size. Sort the list in any way you want by clicking the column titles, click them again to reverse the sorting order. Modify the shown columns using the contextual menu or View > Columns. Point the cursor to a result and the appearing tooltip will show you the full title, location, and other meta data; click a document title once to rename the document.

Below the list of found documents, DEVONthink Personal gives you a preview of the documents you select in the list. If you cannot see the preview area, drag its handle up from the bottom of the window. Also, you can do almost everything you could do in any other DEVONthink Personal window, such as drag a document to another window (or Finder), or export them using File > Export.

See also/Classify drawers are supported, too.

Due to limitations in Mac OS X's PDFKit, highlighting of occurences of the search term in the document is not tied to words and so also sub-strings are highlighted.


Smart Groups

When you are satisfied with the search results you can save the query including all settings as a smart group. Click the + button next to the search term field and enter a name for your new smart group. The new smart group that searches this database is created in the top level of the database.


Toolbar

The toolbar of the search window offers many tools that are also present in DEVONthink Personal main or document windows. Here's a short list:

  • Go: Selects the first/previous/next/last item.
  • Actions: Provides some commands for modifying the selected documents, similar to the action menu in other views. Generally, the action menu contains a selection of the commands also available via the contextual menu.
  • Open: Opens the selected document(s) in separate document windows.
  • Open Externally: Opens the selected documents in an external application.
  • Launch URL: Opens the Internet location stored in the URL field of the selected documents, such as a web site URL in Safari.
  • Copy URL: Copies the Internet location stored in the URL field of the selected document to the clipboard.
  • Group: Groups the selected documents in a new group.
  • Delete: Moves the selected documents to the trash.
  • Export: Exports the selected documents.
  • Info: Opens the Info panel.
  • Print: Prints the selected documents.
  • Zoom: Zooms in, zooms out, zooms to view width, or shows the document in 1:1.
  • Full Screen: Shows the selected documents in full screen mode. Press Command-F8 to return to windowed mode.
  • DEVONagent: Opens DEVONagent. If the view/edit pane or frontmost window displays a web page, it opens the same URL in DEVONagent.

Note: Not all of these commands are always available. You can customize the toolbar by selecting View > Customize Toolbar or by Control clicking (right-clicking) the toolbar background and selecting Customize Toolbar from the contextual menu.


Shortcuts & Modifier Keys

  • Tab/Shift-Tab: Switch focus between the search field and the search results.
  • Control-Tab: Cycles through all panes.
  • Control-Shift-Tab: Cycles through all panes in reverse order.


Contextual Menu

You can manipulate the search results by clicking them with Command pressed to open the contextual menu, which offers various additional commands.

  • Open: Opens the selected documents in a separate main window.
  • Launch URL: Opens the documents or web pages pointed to by the URL field of the selected documents.
  • Copy URL: Copies the Internet location stored in the URL field of the selected document to the clipboard.
  • Refresh Feed(s): Manually refreshes the selected news feeds.
  • Reveal: Show and select the document group.
  • Duplicate To >: Duplicates the selected documents to the group you select from the sub-menu.
  • Replicate To >: Replicates the selected documents to the group you select from the sub-menu.
  • Move To >: Moves the selected documents to the group you select from the sub-menu.
  • Label >: Changes the label of the selected documents.
  • State >: Shows or changes the state of the selected documents.
  • Locking >: Locks or unlocks the selected documents.
  • Move All Instances To Trash: Moves all instances of the selected documents, such as including all replicants (if any), to the trash.
  • Group: Creates a new group in the top level of the database and moves the selected documents there.
  • Send by Email: Sends the selected item by email.

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