Knowledge Management (KM) or “bucket” apps searchable through iOS (and macOS) Spotlight?

BG13 · February 20, 2021, 6:33pm

Hello everyone,

I’m looking for an app that I can dump knowledge (both text and pictures as needed) into that makes itself searchable through the iOS and macOS spotlight, and preferably with some kind of automation support even if rudimentary.

The only absolute must is that all text in there must be searchable through Spotlight.

Currently I’m using Drafts for this and it works ok, but it doesn’t always show up with I search (usually have to tap on “show more results”) and I love the app and it’s great, but some things I need pictures for or would like to reference a file it something.

The last time I tried Notion I don’t think text was indexed in Spotlight. Maybe that’s changed.

I tried DT and DTTG some years ago but it wasn’t my cup of tea. Too complicated, syncing wasn’t very fluid, and in general it seemed more for managing files than notes with occasional pictures and files.

ryanjamurphy · February 21, 2021, 5:04am

Have you considered using Alfred and then finding a workflow for Alfred that fits your existing apps?

Else, Obsidian operates on markdown files on your file system.

Technodad · February 21, 2021, 4:08pm

You may want to take a second look at DEVONThink and DTTG for mobile. The recently-released V3 has added syncing via CloudKit, which sped up sync and eliminated clunky reliance on file syncing e.g. through Dropbox. It supports Spotlight indexing - in fact this is controllable in V3 in case you have things you don’t want showing up in Spotlight searches.

I use DT Pro extensively both for text and PDF articles for both my work and personal knowledge store, as well as my Paperless hub. I use its search and automatic content categorization frequently for finding content I’ve filed. I typically start my text notes in Drafts and use a Drafts Acton to file them in DT, but many people use the built-in text / Markdown authoring tools for text creation.

There’s a free Take Control ebook on DT v3 on the Devonthink site if you want to refresh on the new capabilities before diving in.