Readers of this blog know how important DEVONthink is to my workflow. I use it as a central repository on my Mac for almost every piece of information in my professional and personal life, including as a place to store personal and business records, deposition data, jury verdict reports, legal research, trial notebooks, and more. I’ve been using DEVONthink 2 for over 7 years, during which time the program has seen frequent updates and improvements. Now, though, DEVONtechnologies has released an entirely new version of DEVONthink for the Mac.
DEVONthink 3 is too deep of an application for me to cover all its features, do it justice, and still live my life, but here are some bullet point highlights of my favorite additions and changes, after using the DEVONthink beta for the past few months. I’ll also cover my two gripes. Please note that these opinions were formed using the betas. I have tried to identify any changes in the final release that affect any of my points, but if I catch anything later I’ll be sure to update this post.
Improved User Interface
Some users complained that the interface of DEVONthink 2 was unattractive. I wasn’t one of them, finding it to be beautifully utilitarian. But if you were hoping for a more modern-looking interface, DEVONthink 3 might satisfy you. DEVONthink 3 is an insanely feature-rich application, so there’s no way it is ever going to be sparse and contain lots of white space, but it is prettier than DEVONthink 2.
The two most obvious changes concern the sidebar, and the inspector pane. The sidebar now has a dedicated area for all your inboxes, as well as a section for smart groups and smart rules (more on smart rules below). 8dio blendstrument hybrid pulses v 1 1 kontakt download free.
Smart Rules!
If you use Hazel on your Mac, and ever wished DEVONthink offered a similar ability to auto file, auto tag, and more, your prayers have been answered. While not as full-featured as Hazel, DEVONthink’s smart rules come close enough that I’ve moved almost all of my auto-filing into the app.
DEVONthink 3’s smart rules allow you to automatically file, tag, and rename (among several options) your files, based on the content of those files. I no longer need to apply various AppleScripts or Automator actions to documents outside of DEVONthink, to get them to go to specific locations in DEVONthink. Smart rules allow me to drop those files into my DEVONthink global inbox, and have DEVONthink do the work for me. You also can export those smart rules for use on other Macs.
Classifying Documents Now Works Across Databases
One of my favorite features of DEVONthink 2 is its use of artificial intelligence to suggest where I might want to file a document in my database. In DEVONthink 2, the artificial intelligence only worked within individual databases. So, for example, if my electric bill ended up in my web clippings database, DEVONthink wouldn’t be able to suggest I file it in another database housing all my bills. In DEVONthink 3, this filing ability works across databases.
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New Sorter
If you’ve used DEVONthink 2, you may be familiar with the Sorter, a drawer you can position on the side of your screen for easy filing. Drag a file over the drawer, and the drawer expands to show pre-configured target locations within your databases. The new Sorter is much more robust. You can relocate it to the menu bar if you prefer, and now it shows all open databases and groups as targets, in nested-tree form, with your Favorites pinned to the top. The Sorter includes other features as well, such as web clipping, note taking, and the ability to capture various types of media. Unlike the old Sorter, the Sorter in DEVONthink 3 will only appear when the app is open.
Indexing
If you don’t want to move files into DEVONthink 2 or 3, you can keep them where they reside on your Mac, and have DEVONthink index them. They still show up in DEVONthink, and you can work with them as you would other files in the app, but they actually reside elsewhere. I was always leery of using indexed files in DEVONthink 2, because moving indexed files around from within DEVONthink wasn’t necessarily mirrored over in the files’ original location1. DEVONthink 3 tightens things up, mostly mirroring any changes you make either in DEVONthink or the Finder, so long as you don’t move files completely out of an indexed location2.
Encrypted databases on the Mac
Although you could encrypt your DEVONthink 2 data for sync purposes, so it would be secure online, that’s didn’t carry over locally. Of course your data was protected if you used FileVault and your Mac was locked, but if your Mac was unlocked and accessible, a database’s password protection was cosmetic, and circumventable. Dearmob iphone manager 4 2 case. That has changed. With DEVONthink 3, you can encrypt your databases locally with a password.
Annotations!
Maybe a similar feature was present in DEVONthink 2 and I just missed it, but I’ve fallen in love with the powerful annotation features in DEVONthink 3. In the improved and powerful inspector pane, you can add notes (annotations) to a document. Those notes show up not just in the sidebar, but also in another document in an “Annotations” folder in your database. So long as you’ve included a back link to the original PDF (a shortcut to add it is provided), you can jump easily between the original and the annotations, or just access the annotations from the inspector pane. This will be huge for lawyers who want to review records, and take notes as they go, since DEVONthink has always allowed you to grab links to specific pages of a PDF.
Summarize Highlights
Another annotation feature is the ability to take all of the highlights you’ve made in a PDF, and create a document listing those highlights in text form. In the early betas this was finicky for me, so I’ll be anxious to see how it works after I’ve used the final release extensively.
My Gripes
I initially had two gripes with DEVONthink 3, but one of them has been addressed. During the beta period, I didn’t like how the inbox for each database wasn’t visually contained in the database in the sidebar, but instead was contained in a list of all inboxes in the sidebar. This made for too much jumping around for me. Thankfully, there is now a setting in DEVONthink’s preferences to restore the old behavior, and return inboxes to their databases. So that brings me to my one main gripe . . .
My most useful view is gone
My main gripe so far is the loss of the three-pane view I used with DEVONthink 2. This allowed me to hide the main sidebar (containing my favorites and my database list), and use a layout familiar to many lawyers – folders organized alphabetically (Correspondence, Discovery, Litigation, etc.), and contents of those folders organized by date (so your most recent court filing, for example, would appear at the top). The third pane contained a view of the document itself.
Although it was tweaked during the beta period, the current setup still isn’t ideal for how I work. I mostly use List view, and have added the “Date Modified” and “Kind” columns in the middle pane. Beta 2 introduced the ability to expand your groups under each database in the far left sidebar.
![Devonthink Pro 3 0 41 Devonthink Pro 3 0 41](https://www.devontechnologies.com/media/pages/apps/devonthink/3774960495-1556108429/exomars_concordance_dark.jpg)
So I now have the same three columns, but with the added clutter of additional information (other databases, smart groups, etc.) in the far left sidebar. I can reduce this by closing other databases prior to going into court or a deposition, but this takes extra times, especially since my normal workflow has me dropping documents into several other databases throughout the day.
A nitpick: No synchronization of Smart Rules and Smart Groups
My other gripe is nitpicky, and I suspect it will be addressed going forward. DEVONthink currently does not sync your Smart Rules and Smart Groups between machines. Twixl publisher 5 2 download free.
Conclusions
DEVONthink 3 is the overhaul many users have been waiting for, with not only a nice facelift, but several enhancements and brand new features. I’ve covered my favorite features here, but for a more complete rundown of features check out the blog entry on the DEVONtechnolgoies website.
DEVONthink 3 is currently available for purchase from the DEVONtechnologies website in three versions – DEVONthink, DEVONthink Pro, and DEVONthink Server. Check out the feature comparison on the DEVONtechnologies website for a breakdown of the differences. I’ll be going with the Pro version, mostly for the OCR and email archiving features.
Devonthink 2
DEVONthink is a one-time purchase (i.e., not a subscription service), and this version has switched away from a “per user” model to a “per seat” model. Purchases of all versions of DEVONthink come with two seats, with additional seats available for purchase. The cost of Standard, Pro, and Server are $99, $199 and $499, respectively, for those two seats. I can’t speak to the upgrade costs from other versions of DEVONthink 2, but according to my account page, the cost to upgrade from DEVONthink 2 Pro Office to Standard, Pro, and Server runs $25, $99, and $399, respectively. You can get upgrade pricing from within DEVONthink 2 or by logging into your customer account.
- And, to be honest, I still don’t quite understand the ways I can “break” things with indexed files.↩
- I think . . .↩
The long-awaited third DEVONthink generation debuts, quite literally, hundreds of new features and improvements. Here’s a short list of the major new features and enhancements.
For DEVONthink 3 we have revisited every aspect of the app, from the user interface as a whole to the many details that make it a strong companion for every information worker.
We have redesigned the user interface and added dark mode support, extended DEVONthink’s already powerful search language, and added a new menu extra for capturing notes and more from anywhere on your Mac.
Other pro-grade features include custom metadata, imprinting for images and PDF, a better OCR engine, and a completely rewritten web interface. New automation options like smart rules and flexible reminders let even non-programmers easily delegate repeating tasks to DEVONthink.
Product Line
Editions | New product line set-up with three editions: DEVONthink, DEVONthink Pro, and DEVONthink Server. All editions support automation, multiple databases, and all file types. Learn more about the Pro and Server editions on the Editions page. |
Downloads | Just one downloadable app, license codes enable or disable edition features. |
User Interface
Application | New integrated user interface, utilizing panes and inspectors versus independent windows. |
Application | Support for dark mode (macOS Mojave and later). |
Inspectors | Added the Info Inspector, showing general information and custom metadata (Pro and Server editions only) about selected files. |
Inspectors | New Annotations & Reminders Inspector, allowing you to set reminders (see below), view Finder comments, and create, view, and edit annotation files. |
Inspectors | New Content Inspector displaying the table of contents found in some files or the thumbnails for PDF documents. |
Inspectors | New Document Inspector displaying indexed metadata, added annotations, and detected links. |
Inspectors | New Concordance Inspector giving you access to a word frequency list. It also has a new Cloud view, showing a word cloud with sizes based on frequency (Pro and Server editions only). |
Inspectors | New See Also & Classify Inspector displaying suggested filing locations for or documents related to the selected document. |
Inspectors | New Search Inspector providing in-document search-and-replace and a list of search results, allowing for viewing the context of the search term and easy navigation through the document. |
Sidebar | New Import sidebar making scanning and email archiving easily accessible (Pro and Server editions only). |
Sidebar | New Reading List sidebar to gather items you want to read or return to at a later time. |
Sidebar | New Extras sidebar providing you access to up to date scripts, templates, tips and tricks, and news from us. |
Sidebar | New, less intrusive Activity pane. |
Sidebar | Favorites can now contain documents. |
Security
Encryption | Databases can be encrypted for maximum privacy. |
Searching & Navigating
Search | Search, including advanced criteria options, is now integrated into the main window. |
Search | Extended search language using prefixes, e.g. tags: or name= , to allow for more focused searches. These are also used in scripting. |
Search | Improved indexing and searching, including better support for Asian languages and indexing PDF and RTF attachments. |
Search | More precise highlighting of search hits when using proximity operators, e.g. NEAR or BEFORE . |
Navigation | New Filter panes allow for filtering the displayed groups and documents by tags, dates and marks (label color, locked state, etc.), or geolocation data. |
Navigation | New Go > To Group, Data > Move To…, and Edit > Insert Item Link… commands. These allow quicker access to open, reorganize, or link to items in your databases. |
Reliability | Tighter integration with the filesystem when using indexed files. |
Working with Documents
Office | New 64-bit OCR engine supporting multiple CPU cores, Asian languages, and multiple output formats (Pro and Server editions only). |
Office | Support for adding custom imprints to images and PDFs, including placeholder text and Bates numbering (Pro and Server editions only). |
Office | Support for barcode detection. |
Teamwork | Added a new web interface and web server, utilizing secure connections via https: and allowing creation of user accounts with per-database permissions (Server edition only). |
Capture | New, rewritten Sorter for capturing notes, documents, or links. It supports multiple note taking options, including audio, video, integrated screen captures, and clipping web pages. In addition it allows searching for groups to use a drag targets in open databases right from the menu bar. |
Capture | The Clip to DEVONthink browser extension for Safari is now a native extension. |
Metadata | New option for adding custom metadata to support situation-specific needs. It supports multiple data types including, e.g., sets, Booleans, and numbers (Pro and Server editions only). |
Metadata | More options for converting metadata to tags, e.g. hashtags or geolocation data. |
Metadata | New support for geolocation data, including the ability to enter it manually. |
Metadata | New support for ratings from zero to five stars. |
Metadata | New automatic image tagging using machine learning. |
Editing | New formatting bar, shown under the toolbar, for use with rich text documents. |
Editing | New editing bar, displayed over the view/edit pane, for quicker editing with file-type-specific tools. |
Editing | New side-by-side view for editing HTML and Markdown documents. |
Documents | Sheets now support specific data types and have a new form view (Pro and Server editions only). |
Documents | Tools > Summarize Highlights assembles the highlighted text from PDF and RTF documents in a new RTF. |
Documents | Tools > Create Metadata Overview assembles the metadata for selected files in a new sheet. |
Documents | Improved EPUB support with reading, search, and conversion to other formats, e.g. rich text or PDF. |
Documents | Improved automatic WikiLinking, including support for the square bracket syntax and active links in the rendered view of Markdown documents. |
Automating Your Work
Smart Rules | Smart rules and batch processing execute event-driven actions on documents, on a schedule or on demand. |
Reminders | All documents can have reminders set for them. They can be one-time or scheduled, and they support several alarm options, including executing scripts. |
Placeholders | New, easy to use data placeholders for templates, imprints, smart rules, and batch processing. |
Other Improvements
Performance | Improved background processing, e.g. for email archiving, indexing, generating thumbnails, and more. |
Performance | Improved overall performance. |
Devonthink Pro Coupon
This list gives you a quick overview over the new features and enhancements in DEVONthink 3.
Devonthink Pro 3
If you already own version 2.x and would like to upgrade, we’ve put together all the details about the new editions line-up and upgrade paths for you here: