I’ve written often about my love of Devonthink. Over the years, it has become an indispensable part of my digital life. Only recently, I discovered the power of Devonthink’s RSS capabilities. Devonthink RSS is the topic of today’s entry.
RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering changing web content. Many news-related sites, blogs, and publishers syndicate their content as RSS feeds. Many of my colleagues use freestanding RSS readers like Feedly to collect their content. I’ve tried many of the stand-alone readers, but Devonthink is clearly superior because of its search and AI capabilities.
Here how I use Devonthink RSS.
Set up a dedicated Devonthink Database (I call mine “Scientific RSS”). Once your database is set up, adding a feed is easy. In the Devonthink menu, choose Data>New>Feed. You will see the following box:
Can’t find the URL for your favorite journal? Try this page first: RSS feeds of journals. Alternately, search Google using the journal name and the term RSS. Copy the RSS feed URL of your publication source in the “URL” box in Devonthink. Add a name if you want something other than the automated choice. Click the Done button, and your new feed will be added to the database. Each time you launch the Scientific RSS database, your RSS feed will be updated locally.
Here are the journals I receive via RSS feeds:
Once you’ve imported the RSS feed, Devonthink shows its power. You can read through each journal separately by choosing the journal name in the leftmost column. But the place Devonthink shines is in its search capabilities.
Here’s an example. I am fascinated by the microbiome so I’ll give you an example of a search I conduct regularly.
In the top-right search box I type “microbio*” (the * denotes a wildcard search so it will find all of the following terms: microbiome, microbiota, microbiology, etc.). I then constrain my search to the Scientific RSS database by clicking on the database name. This search shows all the abstracts across all the journals I follow.
I can further narrow my search by adding another search term. Recently, I published an article on HealthHippieMD on short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). If I wanted to find the latest information from my favorite journals, I would add the operator “and” and the search term “ SCFA” to microbio*. This significantly narrows the search, and yields a fascinating recent manuscript in Plos One about the microbiome, SCFA, and Alzheimer’s Disease (see below).
Devonthink power doesn’t end there. Devonthink’s artificial intelligence compares the new abstracts to all the other information in my possession. In the lower right -handbox, Devonthink lists all the related information in all my databases, including manuscripts, web pages, and abstracts. I am able to view any of the related information with a single button click.
I have set up numerous “Smart Searches,” which are robust, persistent queries. For example, I might have a Smart Search for articles that mention Alzheimer’s and the microbiome. Using the Smart Searches, I free myself from manually entering search terms each session. I am in the process of setting up queries to match those in my writing database.
Devonthink RSS is an efficient, centralized way for me to control a huge amount of literature on topics of interest and make connections that might otherwise not be obvious.
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