DEVONthink Standard

This long-awaited release debuts many exciting new features and improvements including: a new integrated user interface, custom metadata, reminders, and new automation options that are even accessible to non-programmers.

We have extended the capabilities of our already powerful search engine with search prefixes, like tags: and name:, to allow constructing more focused searches. Working with annotations and navigating PDFs is now easier and more efficient. A new OCR engine transforms scans into searchable PDFs faster and more accurate, the rewritten web interface supports teams with user and access permission management, and the new Sorter makes it easier than ever to add new data to DEVONthink. PDFs and images can also be imprinted with custom data, including Bates numbering. And if privacy is your concern: encrypted databases keep your data securely locked away from prying eyes.

In addition to the wealth of new features, DEVONthink has maintained and improved the core technologies you've relied on in previous versions. To make it easier to get started with DEVONthink, we have also thoroughly revised and rewritten the documentation, providing a handy and quickly accessible reference.

Note: Starting with this release DEVONthink requires OS X El Capitan (10.11.5) or later.

Product Line

• Three new editions: DEVONthink, DEVONthink Pro, and DEVONthink Server. All editions support automation, multiple databases, and all file types.

User Interface

• Added a new integrated user interface, utilizing panes versus independent windows for many functions.
• Added support for the dark mode color scheme in macOS Mojave and later.
• Added the Info inspector, showing general information and custom metadata about selected files.
• Added the Annotations & Reminders inspector, allowing you to set reminders, view Finder comments, and create, view, and edit annotation files. Reminders can be one-time or scheduled, and they support several alarm options, including executing scripts.
• Added the Content inspector displaying: the table of contents found in some Markdown, EPUB, and PDF documents, or the thumbnails for PDFs.
• Added the Document inspector displaying: indexed metadata, added annotations (highlights, text, etc.) and detected links in PDF, RTF, and web-based documents, e.g., web archives.
• Added the 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 word weight.
• Added the See Also & Classify inspector, displaying suggested filing locations for or documents related to the selected item.
• Added the Search inspector, providing in-document search-and-replace and a list of search results. It also allows viewing the context of the search term and easy navigation through the document.
• Added the Reading List sidebar to gather items you want to read or return to at a later time, e.g., to easily access bookmarks, PDF pages, or specific points in video or audio.
• Added the Extras sidebar providing access to up-to-date scripts, templates, tips and tricks, and news from us.
• Added the Import sidebar integrating scanning and email archiving.
• Added an Activity pane for a less intrusive display of certain processes.

Security

• Added encrypted databases for maximum privacy.

Searching & Navigating

• Added search prefixes, e.g., tags: or name:, to allow for more focused searches. These are also used in scripting.
• Search, including advanced criteria options, is now integrated into the main window.
• Improved indexing and searching, including better support for Asian languages and indexing PDF and RTF attachments.
• More precise highlighting of search hits when using proximity operators, e.g., NEAR or BEFORE.
• Added Filter panes for filtering the displayed files by tags, dates and marks (label color, locked state, etc.), or geolocation data.
• Added Go > To Group, Data > Move To, and Edit > Insert Item Link commands and popovers. These allow quicker access to open, reorganize, or link to items in your databases.
• Favorites can now contain documents.
• Tighter integration with the filesystem when using indexed files.

Working with Documents

• Added a new 64-bit OCR engine with multi-core processing, Asian language support, and output to multiple formats.
• Added the ability to create custom imprints, including placeholder text and Bates numbering, via Preferences > Imprint. For use with images and PDF files.
• Added support for barcode detection.
• Added a new web sharing interface and web server, utilizing secure connections via TLS and allowing creation of users with per-database permissions.
• The Sorter has been redesigned and supports: searching open databases, multiple note taking options, including audio, video, and integrated screen captures, and includes the Clip to DEVONthink functions.
• The Clip to DEVONthink browser extension for Safari is now a native extension.
• Added custom metadata to support situation-specific needs. Multiple data types are supported, e.g., sets, Booleans, and numbers.
• Added more options to convert metadata to tags, e.g., hashtags or geolocation data.
• Added support for geolocation data, including the ability to enter it manually.
• Added ratings, 0 to 5 stars.
• Added automatic image tagging using machine learning.
• Added the Formatting bar, shown under the toolbar, for use with rich text documents.
• Added the Editing bar, displayed over the View/Edit pane, for quicker editing with document type-specific tools.
• Added side-by-side view for editing HTML and Markdown documents.
• Added form views and support for specific data types (number, date, etc.) to sheets.
• Added Tools > Summarize Highlights to create a new RTF file containing the highlighted text from selected PDF and RTF files.
• Added Tools > Create Metadata Overview to easily assemble metadata for selected files in a sheet that can be shared or exported.
• Improved EPUB support with reading, search, and conversion to other formats, e.g., rich text or PDF.
• Improved automatic WikiLinking, including support for the square bracket syntax, and active links in the rendered view of Markdown documents.

Automating Your Work

• Added smart rules and Tools > Batch Process to execute event-driven actions on files, on a schedule or on demand.
• Added new, easy to use data placeholders for use in templates, imprints, smart rules, and batch processing.
• Added reminders that can be added to documents. They can be one-time or scheduled, and they support several alarm options, including executing scripts.
• Improved and extended the AppleScript capabilities, including the ability to use scripts in reminders and smart rules.

Other Improvements

• Revised and rewritten documentation.
• Improved background processing of several functions, like email archiving, indexing, thumbnail generation, etc.
• Improved performance.

Changed since 3.0 beta 7

• NEW: Added option Show inboxes only in sidebar in Preferences > General > Interface. Disabling this option shows the Inbox of each database in the item list and the Open Databases section of the Navigate sidebar. Additionally, the search scope Inboxes will not be available, only Inbox, corresponding to the Global Inbox.
• NEW: Added hidden preference DisableUnifiedTags to disable showing the Tags group in the Globals section of the Navigate sidebar. Each database will display its own Tags group in the item list and the Open Databases section of the Navigate sidebar.
• Improved: Improved the appearance of attachments in rich text files when using dark mode.
• Improved: In macOS Catalina, PDF note annotations can be viewed and edited without using the Annotations panel.
• Improved: Importing an .mbox file, via File > Import > Unix Mailbox or drag-and-drop onto DEVONthink's icon, now creates a group using the name of the .mbox file.
• Improved: Items in Favorites and the Reading List now are updated if their identifiers are changed by sync, e.g. RSS feeds, tags, or indexed items.
• Improved: Improved compatibility of popovers Go > To Group, Data > Move, and Link to from the contextual menu to Accessibility and Keyboard Maestro.
• Improved: Added an alert to the command Tools > Perform Rule as the rule does not act on the currently selected items, but on items matched by the rule.
• Improved: Simplified the status in the Information bar providing more space for the group hierarchy displayed in the Path bar.
• Improved: The OCR engine now uses maximum quality if PDF compression is disabled in Preferences > OCR.
• Improved: Improved handling of indexed items by resolving alias data if possible, especially if the same items are indexed in multiple databases and renamed in one database.
• Improved: Added tooltips to items in the Path bar.
• Improved: Clearing the search field of the Search inspector now removes the search hit highlights from the current document.
• Improved: The command Edit > Copy Item Link now can be used in the Navigate sidebar if there is no selection in the item list.
• Improved: Improved HTML parser reliability of the Clip to DEVONthink browser extension and the Download Manager.
• Improved: The command Show in Finder can now be used with indexed groups in the Navigate sidebar.
• Improved: The cursor in plain text and Markdown documents is now automatically adapted to customized background colors.
• Improved (Sync): When syncing with iCloud, the initial local sync will display Preparing items for in the Activity window and pane. Afterwards, the progress of iCloud's uploading will be shown.
• Improved (Sync): Improved the reliability of syncing the Reading List and definitions in Preferences > Data.
• Fixed an issue where Data > Convert didn't use the Create Thumbnails options set in Preferences > Media.
• Fixed an issue where edits made to Finder comments in the Annotations & Reminders inspector weren't always saved.
• Fixed an issue where long filenames were truncated in the Content > Table of Contents inspector.
• Fixed an issue where moving an indexed file in the Finder to an indexed group that contains already an item with the same filename could create duplicates.
• Fixed an issue where PDF views were not compatible to all services, e.g., DEVONthink's own lookup service.
• Fixed an issue where searching in PDF documents on Mojave and later didn’t support diacritics.
• Fixed an issue where smart group item counts were not updated after changing the option Exclude from: Search in the Info inspector.
• Fixed an issue where smart groups did not not always refresh when certain criteria were used.
• Fixed an issue where smart groups, smart rules, and searches using the Tag is not criteria didn't work as expected.
• Fixed an issue where smart rules using certain document property conditions, e.g., Creator contains didn't work as expected.
• Fixed an issue where the Annotations panel didn't receive focus after creating a text or note annotation in a PDF document.
• Fixed an issue where the group selector pane and the Sorter didn't work while DEVONthink displayed a modal window, e.g., the DEVONthink > Install Add-Ons panel.
• Fixed an issue where using the less secure HTTP login to the web sharing interface could fail.
• Fixed an issue with indexing items in the user's home directory.
• Fixed issues when pasting links from various sources, e.g., from Google Chrome.
• Fixed issues with the Sorter, including the menubar icon color in macOS High Sierra, a positioning issue when using the docked tab option, and handling the unread status.
• Fixed visual artifacts in the scanning interface of the Import sidebar.
• Fixed visual artifacts when using View > Show Details in the Icon view of the item list. Very long file names or comments now only use up to 5 lines.