Take Control of DEVONthink 3 (1.9)

With the information-management app DEVONthink 3, you no longer have to swim in a sea of web bookmarks, email receipts, RSS feeds, scanned memos, and downloaded bank statements. DEVONthink stores your digital documents and clippings, helps you scan and store paper documents, and serves as home base for organizing and viewing all your information. But mastering all that power can take effort, and this book—created in partnership with DEVONtechnologies—has the real-world advice you need to understand how DEVONthink can bring order to your information.

You’ll also learn how to extend your DEVONthink experience beyond your main Mac with detailed coverage of the many ways you can sync DEVONthink databases to other Macs and to iOS/iPadOS devices using the DEVONthink To Go app.

After covering essential DEVONthink vocabulary and concepts, including the completely reworked user interface of DEVONthink 3, Joe helps you start using DEVONthink effectively. You’ll learn how to
Decide how many databases you need and set them up
Determine whether to input or index data
Configure where incoming data will go
Import data from many different apps
Import data from a scanner, including OCR options
Use grouping and tagging to organize data
Add and work with DEVONthink 3’s expanded metadata capabilities
Use simple (and sophisticated) techniques for searching
Create smart groups that automatically gather newly imported data
Use smart rules and AppleScript to automate countless activities within DEVONthink
Create documents in plain text, HTML, Markdown, and more
Edit documents in DEVONthink (or externally)
Find the best way to sync DEVONthink data with other devices
Work with reminders, smart templates, and other sophisticated tools
Convert documents between formats
Effectively use the DEVONthink To Go iOS/iPadOS app
Share DEVONthink documents with other people
Export documents from DEVONthink
Back up and maintain healthy databases

Questions answered in the book include
What is DEVONthink good for, and what should be left to other apps?
What kinds of data can I import? (Short answer: Nearly everything!)
How can I display my data in a way that works well for me?
When I import documents from different sources, where do they end up, and why?
Is it better to sort imported documents right away, or leave them for later?
Should I group my data, tag it, or both?
What are duplicates and replicants, and how can I tell them apart?
Which types of data can be created or edited within DEVONthink?
How do I make my DEVONthink database accessible via the web using DEVONthink Server?
How do I move documents out of DEVONthink using the Share feature?
How do I use DEVONthink To Go on my iOS/iPadOS device?

Plus, we now plan to update this free book approximately four times per year for the foreseeable future to cover ongoing changes in DEVONthink and add new tips and advice!

What’s New in Version 1.9
The ninth quarterly update (nominally for Q1 2022, but actually released in Q2) covers DEVONthink for Mac up through version 3.8.4, and DEVONthink To Go for iOS/iPadOS up through version 3.5. Significant changes in this version included
In the sidebar “Identifying Unread, Duplicate, and Replicant Documents,” added information on a new preference, as well as how to change read/unread status manually
Noted in “Import Bookmarks from an HTML File” that export now preserves the hierarchy of imported bookmarks
Added a comment in “Custom Metadata” about restoring default templates if they are not shown
Updated “Edit PDFs” with information on the new command to split PDFs into pages, and the new location of the command to split PDFs into chapters
In “The Home Screen and Sidebar,” described the new three-column view for iPads running DEVONthink To Go
Throughout the “Use DEVONthink To Go” chapter, adjusted descriptions and images to reflect new icons and menus—particularly in Organize Files and Groups and Apply Metadata
Covered new PDF and Markdown settings in “Configure DEVONthink To Go Settings”
Included new export options HTML Bookmarks and Metadata (JSON) in “Export Data”
Dropped many of the references to features that existed in DEVONthink 2, or that are “new” in DEVONthink 3, since the app has now been around long enough that few people are still using or transitioning from the previous version