DEVONthink VERSION 3.6 DOCUMENTATION © 2001-2020 DEVONtechnologies TABLE OF CONTENTS GETTING STARTED 5 IN & OUT 48 Installing, Updating, Uninstalling 5 Importing & Indexing 48 DEVONthink Simplified 7 Drag & Drop 51 Building Your Database 11 Sorter 52 Tagging 14 Archiving Email 52 A Word About Backups 17 Sync 55 Tutorials, Screen Casts, and More 18 Capturing Paper (Image Capture) 62 Capturing Paper (Other Options) 64 TASKS 20 Extensions and Bookmarklets 65 Analyze Text Documents 20 Web sharing 67 Archive Your Messages 21 Services 70 Archive Printed Documents 22 PDF Services 71 Browse the Internet 22 Third-Party Applications 71 Capture Data From the Web 24 WINDOWS 73 Catalog Your SD Cards or DVDs 25 Catalog Your Photos and Media Files 25 Main Window 74 Collect Text Snippets and Other Valuable Sidebar: Navigate 80 Data 26 Sidebar: Filters 85 Index Files on Your Hard Drive 26 Sidebar: Smart Group and Rule Editor 87 Manage Your Bookmarks 27 Sidebar: Reading List 88 Share Project Data 27 Sidebar: Image Capture 89 Read News Feeds 28 Sidebar: Email 92 Take notes 29 Sidebar: Extras 93 Write Texts and Outline Projects 29 Document Window 94 Download Manager 95 DOCUMENTS 31 The Sorter 97 General 31 Preferences 102 Document Linking 33 Database Properties 102 Plain and Rich Texts 34 Popovers 103 PDFs 36 Web Sharing 106 Markdown Documents 38 Support Assistant 108 HTML-Based Formats 40 Log 110 Sheets 43 Activity 111 Images, Audio, and Video 45 Office Documents, Email, and Others 46 DEVONthink 3.6 Documentation, page 2 INSPECTORS 112 TROUBLESHOOTING 171 Info pane 112 Problems importing files 171 Annotations & Reminders 115 Email import does not work as Content 118 expected 172 Document 119 Unlocking a database 173 Concordance 121 Problems using Services 173 See Also & Classify 123 Sync Issues 174 Search 125 Repairing a defective database 178 DEVONthink crashes 181 MENUS 127 DEVONthink behaves irrationally 181 The Application Menu 127 AUTOMATION 183 The File Menu 129 The Edit Menu 133 AppleScript 184 The Data Menu 135 Basic AppleScript Terminology 185 The Format menu 138 Internal Scripts 188 The Tools menu 140 Triggered Scripts 188 The View menu 143 Reminder Scripts 189 The Go menu 145 Toolbar Scripts 189 The Window menu 147 Smart Templates 190 The Scripts menu 147 Smart Rules 192 The Help menu 148 Smart Rule Scripts 193 The Dock menu 149 Apple Mail Rules 195 Application Scripts 196 PREFERENCES 150 Folder Actions 197 General 150 Automator 198 Editing 153 Item links 199 WikiLinks 154 URL Commands 200 Import 155 Sorter 156 Media 156 Colors 157 Web 157 RSS 159 Data 159 Email 160 OCR 161 Imprinter 163 Server 165 Sync 167 DEVONthink 3.6 Documentation, page 3 APPENDIX 203 Glossary 203 Iconology 206 Toolbar Items 206 Keyboard Shortcuts 209 Contextual Menu Items 210 Search operators 213 Search Prefixes 216 Templates 219 Metadata 222 Placeholders 224 Smart Rule Events and Actions 225 Scripts 229 Web site export templates 232 Hidden preferences 232 READ ME 235 Version History 235 License Agreement 259 Credits 259 TECHNOLOGY 264 General Concept 264 Features 264 Structure 264 Applications 265 OTHER PRODUCTS 266 Overview 266 DEVONthink 266 DEVONagent 266 DEVONsphere 267 Needful Things 267 DEVONthink 3.6 Documentation, page 4 GETTING STARTED IN THIS CHAPTER available in higher editions. You can find a list of the editions and their features Installing, Updating, Uninstalling 5 online. DEVONthink Simplified 7 Building Your Database 11 Warmest Regards, The DEVONtechnologies Tagging 14 Team A Word About Backups 17 Now let's get into it… Tutorials, Screen Casts, and More 18 Welcome to DEVONthink, a powerful INSTALLING, UPDATING, assistant in your quest to organize many UNINSTALLING kinds of information. From recipes to your dissertation, hobbies to health, for Note: The following procedures do work or home, DEVONthink can help you not apply when you have purchased gather, organize, and connect your data. DEVONthink on the Mac App Store. This manual will help get you familiarized Installing, updating, and uninstalling are with DEVONthink's concepts, interface, and handled by the App Store application in options. We begin with simple overviews, this case. move into descriptions of the essential controls, then conclude with the deepest INSTALLING details in the appendix. If you haven't already installed DEVONthink, Note this manual is meant as a handy here are the easy steps to accomplish that: reference, not as a series of mandates on how Download an installer from the Download you must use it. DEVONthink can be used page. very simply or in very complex ways and each If your browser isn't set to open safe person brings their own personal approach downloaded files, double-click the ZIP file to using it. To that end, this document can't to decompress it. You will see a disk image be an exhaustive guide to everything you file. could ever do with it. With the flexibility Double-click the disk image to open it. and capabilities built-in, that would be an Drag and drop the application from the impossible task. We hope you find this guide disk image to the Applications folder helpful. shortcut. Note: Text in blue color (besides hyperlinks After the application has copied, press ⌘E that might get colored in blue by your to eject the disk image. ebook reader) refers to functionality only DEVONthink 3.6 Documentation, page 5 Note: Please note that macOS Services DEVONthink and the connection to DEVONagent ~/Library/Application Support/ work only for applications installed into DEVONthink 3 the Applications folder, and that logout ~/Library/Application Scripts/ and login or a restart is suggested after com.devon-technologies.think3 installation to make all parts of macOS ~/Library/Preferences/com.devon- aware of the additional services that come technologies.think3.* with DEVONthink. All DEVONthink-specific scripts in ~/ Library/Scripts UPDATING All DEVONthink-specific workflows in ~/ Library/Workflows/ Updates to DEVONthink are done per the All DEVONthink-specific scripts in ~/ schedule set in Preferences > General > Check Library/PDF Services/ for Updates. Uninstall the DEVONthink browser If you need to manually update the software, extension, following the uninstallation follow the previous installation instructions, process for the particular browser. but allow the Finder to overwrite the Bookmarklets from your web browser old version. Your database(s) will not be The reference to the global inbox folder in affected. To avoid any potential problems, do your Finder's sidebar not use a third-party uninstaller utility. Just Keychain entries containing devoncloudy replace the current version, as directed. in the name App Store to Free-World Conversion: If you ~/Library/Mail/Bundles/ purchased DEVONthink in the Mac App Store DEVONthink.mailbundle you can also download the update from the Note: In troubleshooting situations, please Download page. It will retrieve the existing do not uninstall the software without receipt and accept it as valid license. talking to our support team beforehand. Most issues can be resolved without UNINSTALLING uninstalling the software. If for some reason you need to fully uninstall DEVONthink from your Mac, trash the following files and folders (~ stands for your account's home folder): DEVONthink 3.6 Documentation, page 6 DEVONTHINK SIMPLIFIED DEVONthink is a very flexible application, DEVONthink has two main window types: a appealing to a broad range of people and main window (seen immediately when the accommodating many different working software opens), and document windows. styles. Since people use it in such diverse These windows are used in already familiar ways, it often leads people to believe there ways, supporting drag and drop, sorting on is a "steep learning curve" associated with different attributes, full screen views, etc. it. The truth of the matter is DEVONthink is Whether you are working (or playing) in a powerful application built on simple, and DEVONthink, you will be using one or both often familiar components and concepts. window types. Here we'll cover the basics. DEVONthink supports different ways of viewing your items, e.g., in lists or as icons. INTERFACE You can show or hide many details in the At its core, DEVONthink is a multi-window, window, allowing you to work in very simple document-based application. Multi-window or complex views of your data. Specifics merely means you can have more than one about windows and their component panes window open. Document-based means it and bars are discussed in more detail in the supports viewing, and in some cases editing, Windows and Inspectors chapters. documents. Apple Notes is an example of a DEVONthink also has a powerful array of document-based application without multi- tools found in its menus. Many of these are window support. also found in the contextual menus when DEVONthink 3.6 Documentation, page 7 Control-clicking items in the software. And Global Inbox: Displayed as , when you to fine-tune some of the options, it also has launch DEVONthink, you will immediately extensive preferences. see a database called Inbox. This is a special database and a core component of the DATABASES software. As a core database, you can't delete or close it, as it provides an always Beyond the interface, DEVONthink has only a open database for quickly storing unfiled or few core working components: databases and transient data. items. Items are comprised of two essential components: groups and documents. Imagine you are reading about fission reactions and someone sends a link about Note: Throughout the documentation, we a vacation place in Bali. You jump to the use item to represent both groups and website and quickly clip a webarchive of documents. Things that only apply to one the page. But instead of putting it in your or the other will use the appropriate term.