So we move to one of my favourite topics - that of Duplicates and Replicants. Why is it one of my favourites? The answer to that is simple - because I didn't think I'd get the hang of them! In truth, they are simple to use as long as they are explained adequately - so let's go.

Duplicates

Duplicates are quite easy to describe really. When you right click on a file that you have in one of your databases and select Duplicate To, you have the option of choosing a location that will house a duplicate, or copy, of that particular file. These files are two completely separate entities and any changes you make in one, will not be replicated to the other.

Ah-ha, did you see that word there? You know, replicated? Well I'm sure you can now guess what a...

Replicant

....is. By right clicking, selecting Replicate To and then selecting a location, you will be creating a replicant of the current document. Or a pointer, if you will. You could have one file, being referenced, or replicated to several different locations.

I use replicants a lot, yet all for the same purpose and that is to ensure I have information on the move using DEVONthink To Go, which is the iOS companion application for DEVONthink. In order to have data appear on my mobile devices, I need to replicate data to my Mobile Sync folder in it's given database.

As you can see in the screenshots above, the Tutorial group has been replicated to the Mobile Sync group. If I make any modifications to this group then they will be replicated straight away in the Mobile Sync group. Tutorial 2 isn't replicated to this group so won't appear on my iOS device when I initiate Synchronisation.

All replicant instances are displayed in dark red, or display an icon to the right of them, dependant on your own preferences. I like to see the colour difference myself.

Bookmarks

I'm throwing an extra section in here for now as this is such as short post and that is bookmarks. If, as I do, you use DEVONthink to manage material related to individual projects, then you will find yourself collating a lot of material online. Now if the information is static, that is you know that the information is not liable to change, then it's nice and clean to save that web page using the Clip To DEVONthink web extension we touched on in an earlier post. If, however, the content is dynamic, such as a news feed or forum, then it's a better idea to keep a bookmark. Simply right click on the group that you would like to house the bookmark and select New, Bookmark. You will be presented with a window that allows you to put in the specifics of the site you wish to bookmark.

When you click on the bookmark, the website will appear. The pane that it will be displayed in will differ according to your Display Preferences, which we cover in a later post.

So there we are. A short one on this occasion. Next time, we'll look at how to Search for data within DEVONthink. After all, what's the point of having all of these fancy methods of storing data if we can't grab it when we need it most!