Hi folks, Anybody finding devonthink pro3 full of bugs. I have used ver 2 for some years and found it a steep learning curve, but worth it for the most part. After upgrading to ver 3 it is just more problems after problems. Our friendly german support Bluefrog, (sarcasm) just blames the user, a consistent response in the DT forum, must be a user problem. I have found databases now being altered every time i open them and data is missing, at first I thought it was me, but now know it is the software. A perfectly healthy database now constantly needs to be rebuilt, this happens to newly created databases, no explanation is forthcoming from DT support why this is happening, this is now happening with my other databases as well, cannot be a coincidence. I am now seriously thinking of ditching this software even after spending a lot of time and money on it. Anybody else got similar experiences? have you moved away from DT completely ? if so why ? just thought I would put this out there. Thanks
I’ve used DEVONthink since version 1, and have never suffered database corruption due to the software, or any other reason. Though I am not a fan of the v3 interface and loss of a view mode that was important to the way I want to work, and have as a result used the software less in the past two years, it is not because of technical issues.
As curt and annoying as the help can be, there can be resolution of technical issues if you focus on the owners, Boehnisch and Grunenberg. Open DEVONthink, navigate to the help menu, hold the Option key which will make a menu item “Report Bug” appear at the bottom of the Help menu. Click that, and it will create an email with a number of attachments logging the state of the application. Send that mail and then immediately go to the DEVONthink forum and send a PM to cgrunenberg and eboehnisch asking them to personal give attention to the message you just sent.
FWIW, I think forums, particularly the one you mentioned, are horrible places to get technical support. Forums are ok for how-to help, if you can chop past the dreck, But when developers of software make themselves available for one-to-one email, chat, whatever, then capitalize on that.
good advice, thanks, I too had no problems with corruption in ver 2, these problems have only arisen in ver 3
For a bit more context the thread at the DT forum (of which my personal experience is actually quite positive):
Interesting. So (violating my rant about not doing tech support in forums 
)
I can reproduce this by navigating to the database package in Finder and setting the .dtBase2 file to locked status:
which eventually or on relaunch causes the locked icon to appear in DEVONthink.
Now, what is causing the .dtBase2 file to get locked? I don’t know enough.
FWIW, I gave DEVONthink 3 full disk access in Security & Privacy in System Preferences, because it might be useful in situations like this.
Definitely not “full of bugs” here. Using aggressively since it came out.
Maybe best is to simply stop using it? (are you sure your hard disk is running ok?)
I used DT2 for about a year before upgrading to DT3. Overall I have been pleased with DT3. I have not tripped over any obvious major bugs (clearly there are functional items that I would like to see changed, but I wouldn’t call them bugs). I have 5 databases (2 of them contain large indexed folders of research) and I sync 3 of them across 2 MACs, iPhone, and iPad.
Maybe something is lost in translation, but I dislike that blue frog guy
I actually have had less problems in DT3 than DTPO. The apps have gotten smoother for me.
That said, yes, getting help can be an exercise in patience sometimes.
I like bluefrog. His replies are prompt and he teaches you how the documentation works! You just have to accept that the information is good despite not fitting the effusive support personality zeitgeist.
I have to agree with this. It’s true, I sometimes feel dumb after an exchange with him, but that’s usually because I was being dumb.
Yet his response times must be industry leading, and every response is personal. And he responds to basically every email or forum post.
I’d take those aspects of the support experience over the generic, polite responses standard to most companies.
The support forums are really excellent for Devonthink. If ever I have a problem I get a very speedy response. Bluefrog is fine, and knowledgable.
Better than the inane nonsense a lot of customer support has become these days. He tells it straight, and in my view is helpful.
I haven’t experienced any bugs. Solid as ever for me (using since ~2013). I agree with others’ thoughts on devontech support. Tough, but quick and helpful.
Not here, I have problems with the missing 3 pane view and a known problem with backups taking longer than I think they should but not at all buggy.
Another vote from me in support of Bluefrog, the Devon support forums and Devon Technologies. They are tops in terms of response times and going the extra mile to resolve problems and explain their software.
However, they also have an opinionated design philosophy. If you ask for a feature that they don’t think they want to implement, they’ll just say no. Even if you think the feature is blindingly obvious and a huge oversight for them to miss it, they’ll just say nope, we’re not doing it.
I have asked them a couple of times to implement syntax highlighting in Markdown. To me this seems like a glaring oversight. But they have said no, they’re not going to do it and also I don’t actually mean “syntax highlighting.” I just said to myself, ok, now I have my answer and I will either live within this constraint or not. (And even after two years with DT I’m STILL not sure I’m going to stick with it.)
Sounds like German people. Direct.
Yup. And I am from New York And so feel right at home with that communication style.
(Despite my last name my ancestry is not German, however.)
Yes. He has never told me to unplug DEVONThink, wait five seconds, a plug it in again. The fact that he doesn’t have a script is refreshing.
Hi, Thanks to Time Machine all is not lost, in fact nothing is lost, the task of backups is tedious and boring to most users, however when you need something lost by inadequacies of some 3rd party software they are like gold dust. Following my DT pro3 meltdown , (still waiting a fix from Bluefrog) it’s Apple’s own baked in software to the RESCUE. I have time machine running twice a day first thing in the morning and last thing at night, that disk is also backed up to a larger Lacie Raid system. Although It is extra work restoring all the back ups and going through them at least my data is safe, I have backups going back to January on one disk and the whole of year 2019 on another, so all my invoices more than a years worth , that Devonthink pro 3 wiped out on Friday , can now be restored safely, from now on I will continue to backup religiously as always and also keep all pdf’s on a separate system to be sure. It is the reliance on one point of failure ie DT pro 3 that is the problem. All is good that ends well however.