Devonian Times Masthead

The DEVONtechnologies Blog

February 17, 2015

Search Again, and Again, …

Here’s a quick tip that is simple, but probably not so obvious. When you select Tools > Search or press Command-Shift-F in DEVONthink, it brings up the powerful Search window. Use the menu command or press the shortcut again and DEVONthink will open another search window. You can keep the results of one search while you start another, and another, … You can keep as many search windows open as you can mentally manage.

February 10, 2015

Don't Use the Inbox Folder as Storage

DEVONthink Pro (Office) lets you save files directly to the database using the watched Inbox folder. This folder is deeply buried in your Library folder but added to the Finder sidebar for easy access. It also appears in Open and Save dialog windows. (more)

February 9, 2015

DEVONthink To Go 1.5.5 with Bug Fixes

Today our update to DEVONthink To Go 1.5.5 became available in the App Store. The new version fixes e.g. crashes connected to broken databases on the Mac or to exporting data to the iTunes document folders (emergency export). For example databases without a valid UUID (universally unique identifier) could crash DEVONthink To Go. Update your copy from within the App Store app on your device or through iTunes. (more)

February 3, 2015

Archiving E-Mail — Try an .mbox File

When importing email, Apple Mail is going to provide the best performance as it supports native plugins. Other email applications require the use of Applescript to interact with DEVONthink and we can’t guarantee the performance, especially with large mailboxes. But if your email client supports an export to the UNIX .mbox format you can drag the exported .mbox file to the DEVONthink Pro Office dock icon to scan it for messages. (more)

January 29, 2015

DEVONthink and DEVONnote 2.8.3

Today we have posted DEVONthink and DEVONnote 2.8.3 to our website and to the App Store. The improved classification algorithm in version 2.8.3 improves the accuracy of all AI-based functionality: See also, classify, concordance, automatic grouping, and summarizing. Working with documents can hardly be easier. (more)

January 15, 2015

Devonian Times × 2

As you might know our company name comes from the Devonian Period. And so calling our blog Devonian Times was obvious. Just recently a reader pointed us to just another Devonian Times. It collects all kind of information about the Devonian Period. While unfortunately it wasn’t updated since 2006 but you might still find it an interesting read far away from all the technology we’re usually writing about here.

January 13, 2015

Extract Highlighted Text from PDFs

If you are working at lot with PDF annotations the Mac application Highlights is for you. You can use it not only to manipulate annotations but also to extract annotations from documents and send them directly to DEVONthink Pro (Office). In addition it offers plenty of more export options including sharing annotations by email and saving them as Markdown. (more)

January 6, 2015

Shortcuts to XMenu's Custom Folder

XMenu’s user-defined menu allows you to build you very own menu extra menu. You just have to add your own documents, apps, or scripts to its Custom folder. In XMenu’s Preferences first check the User-Defined option to make the menu appear. Right-click this menu, which appears with a gear icon, to quickly show its folder. It is always named Custom. Add and remove files to or from this folder to customize the menu’s content to your needs. (more)

December 30, 2014

Create Databases Always from Scratch

The name of your DEVONthink databases doesn’t really matter. While it matters to you in terms of helping you to identify what is in it, the real identity of the database is found in its UUID (universally unique identifier). You can think of it like your social security number (in the US) or your passport number. You could change your name, appearance, location, etc. but this number always represents me. (more)