Reference material is a big challenge, and I find if I don’t set myself up for success from the beginning, then I am most definitely doomed to fail. I found DEVONthink some years ago and really like it for managing my reference material.

I realized a while ago that creating a place to store material related to a project when I create my project is critical—if it doesn’t happen then, when will it happen? As I have a strong tendency to reach for my iPad or my iPhone rather than a Mac, I solved this problem with a little help from Shortcuts and X-Callback URLs!

When you import the shortcut, it asks you for a DEVONthink destination. I keep all of my project material in one database, so I used that as my destination. You could also use a group - or remove the destination components entirely to put everything in the global inbox.

Copy the item link in DEVONThink so you can get the ID for Shortcuts. — Copy the item link in DEVONthink so you can get the ID for Shortcuts.

When you run the shortcut, it asks you for a name, you can cheat and add lots of names though (use a return to separate them), and it will run through each item.

For each one, you can choose if this is a project or a task. For projects, the shortcut automatically creates a group, and for a task, you get the choice of markdown, text, or a group.

The shortcut creates the DEVONthink item first, then creates the project or task in OmniFocus with a link back to the DEVONthink destination in the note. It’s a simple system but works well for me!

You can download DEVONthink And OmniFocus here.