Posts Tagged → devonthink

Announcing the DEVONthink Field Guide

Hooray! The DEVONthink Field Guide lives! I first started work on this Field Guide in April. Now it’s ready for you.




The Details

  • DEVONthink secrets unlocked

  • 8.5 hours

  • 100+ videos

  • Over 9 gigabytes of video files

  • PDF and ePub transcripts

  • Downloadable data sets

  • Fully captioned

  • Combined videos for easier download

  • Six video interviews with DEVONthink power users where they explain how they use the app

  • Everything you need to take you from a DEVONthink novice to expert

The DEVONthink Field Guide teaches you, soup to nuts, how take advantage of one of the most powerful research / artificial intelligence / do-anything-with-your-files apps available for Mac, iPad, and iPhone. With 8.5 hours of content, the course starts from zero and, by the end, turns you into a DEVONthink pro. The material is accessible to beginners and power users alike, with a thorough explanation of DEVONthink and all its features.

I’ve continued to press down on the production values button, and these videos came out great. Also, there are 2 gigabytes of data for you to download to build a sample database as you are learning the app. To truly understand DEVONthink, you’ve got to throw some data at it.

DEVONthink is a powerful application, and I built this field guide to help you get the most from it. There is a limited time launch discount, so get it now.

DEVONthink for Superior Metadata (Sponsor)


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This week MacSparky is sponsored by DEVONthink. DEVONthink has been offering AI-based research tools for years on the Mac, but it has hardly stood still. DEVONthink most recently released version 3 for the Mac and, just last week, version 3 of DEVONthink to Go for iPad and iPhone. The apps are modern and take full advantage of the most recent and powerful tools available in the Apple Ecosystem.



DEVONthink Metadata


One of the things I like best about DEVONthink is the way it handles metadata. DEVONthink has its own systems for organizing, tagging, sorting, automating, and updating all sorts of metadata for your files. One example is that I store contracts I’m writing for clients in DEVONthink. I use the app’s Annotations metadata to store notes on drafts of contracts. These are notes that only I see but prove invaluable when I come back a month later and ask, “why does this exist?” DEVONthink runs circles around the metadata tools available to you with the native Finder. Using the full array of DEVONthink metadata tools I’m able to cut through my files and get to what matters most fast.

And better metadata is just one of many features you’ll get with DEVONthink. To learn more head over to DEVONthink and download the trial and check it out for yourself.

DEVONthink Updates


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DEVONthink got some significant updates today. First, DEVONthink To Go 3.0 is out now. They’ve made no mystery of the fact that they wanted to substantially improve their mobile app and they have. This new version is much closer to DEVONthink on the Mac. The mobile version now has support for multiple windows and the pointer on iPadOS, dark mode, and context menus. They’ve also added a number of new settings to personalize DEVONthink To Go. Other new features include:

  • OCR converts scans to searchable PDFs on the device.

  • Shortcuts actions let you automate everyday tasks and integrate DEVONthink To Go with the rest of the iOS ecosystem.

  • Documents can be opened and edited in other apps directly from the Share sheet.

  • Version 3.0 supports Mac-style document annotations and ratings, unifies inboxes, tags, and trash groups like on the Mac, and adds new global smart groups.


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There’s both monthly and yearly subscription options, as well as a one-time purchase. If you have version 2, you will be able to choose a free upgrade subscription until the end of July, 2021, and receive a discount on the one-time purchase. I also dig the new icon.

They’ve also added CloudKit-based sync and released a new version of DEVONthink for Mac that also supports the new sync protocol. I’ve been using the betas and using the CloudKit sync. In my experience, it’s been noticeably faster and I’ve not had any data loss. Getting data (via sync) onto the mobile versions of DEVONthink faster and more reliably substantially increases the app’s overall utility. I’m so pleased that the DEVONthink team is putting so much effort into the iPhone and iPad.

Get Powerful Document Management Tools with DEVONthink 3 (Sponsor)



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I’m pleased to welcome DEVONtechnologies as a MacSparky site sponsor. DEVONthink is the Mac’s power tool for documents. Just a few of the things I use DEVONthink for include:

  • A reliable repository of research documents. DEVONthink will hold as many documents as you can throw at it. It makes import (and export) easy so you can have all that power without feeling trapped.

  • A research assistant. DEVONthink uses artificial intelligence to analyze and connect your documents in ways that may not otherwise occur to you.

  • An OCR Tool. Everything you store in you DEVONthink Pro library gets OCR’d. It just happens.

  • An Automation Tool. DEVONthink lets you build powerful automation subroutines into your library to help tag, move, and organize documents.

One of my uses for DEVONthink is legal research. I dump legal cases, statutes, regulations, and law review articles in DEVONthink whenever I’m working on a thorny problem and let DEVONthink grind on the documents before I do.

DEVONthink supports multiple sync methods and lets you even use your own sync password so everything is encrypted. If you’ve got an iPad or an iPhone, you can access your DEVONthink data there too with DEVONthink to Go.

You can think of DEVONthink as your paperless office. You can automate your workflow from capture to filing, editing to publishing. It stores all your documents, helps you keep them organized, and presents you with what you need to get the job done.

Interested? MacSparky readers can get a 20% discount on DEVONthink. Use the code MACSPARKY2021 at checkout. This offer ends on March 31st, 2021.



Taking Smart Notes with DEVONthink


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Kourosh Dini has a new book, Taking Smart Notes with DEVONthink, that covers the basics of DEVONthink in the context of building your own Zettelkasten (or Slip-Note) note-taking database. I’ve heard the term Zettelkasten thrown around a lot as of late and I’m eager to learn more about Kourosh’s approach. I’m only about half way through the book, but I’m digging it and I’ve already picked up a bunch of useful DEVONthink tips. I’m a particular fan of Kourosh’s approachable, somewhat whimsical writing technique.