The databases are kind of like stacks, but much more robust (smart folders, any number of level of folders, tags specific to that database, etc.) if you visit the Devon forums and there is a section for “usage scenarios” that is a good start. The forums are an amazing resource and they are very friendly. Many people have suggested the screen cast online videos, and I participated in the trial just to watch those.
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If you are thinking of moving to DEVONthink right now it is 25% off as part of the SummerFest sale.
http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/Specials/SummerFest.html
Disclaimer: My app, Panorama X, is also part of this sale. I’m not currently a DEVONthink user, but I’m thinking about it 
I think it’s safe to say that all DTP users started at the bottom of that hill at some point!
So just ease into it, and know that more power and usability will reveal itself to you, as you start wading into what is possible.
Something that I sincerely believe with DTP (and a few other apps), that really sounds ridiculous but is nonetheless (from my perspective) true – is that getting to ‘click’ with something like DTP is actually more a case of you having to make a mental switch regarding how you understand/categorise your own data…
By this I simply mean that coming from something like Evernote/nested folders over in Finder/Windows explorer/cloud service etc. – willingly or not, that tool has influenced how you conceive your data’s structure.
Moving over to DTPO, and one is then faced with a tool that honestly doesn’t require a specific structure at all.
You can leave everything on one level, and simply work with tags. Or filenames. Or saved-search sets. Or even Spotlight Comments. Or content data. Or DTPs AI/Magic Hat algorithms.
Or you can have 1-level deeper, and dump everything into simple, broad folders/groups. And still use all of the above.
Or you can nest groups within groups within groups.
Or you can do all/any of the above, and then have separate top-level groups that you replicate files to that you are currently working on.
And then there’s the paradigm between doing the above with data that has been imported into DTP, and deciding how to interact with data that is being indexed from within DTP.
The point is, that there really is not defined way of interacting/storing/grouping/filing your data inside DTP.
Certainly, some methods of storing will allow the built-in AI features to work better – but the point remains that you can (import/index dependent) slice and dice /move, re-move /split/group /gather,disperse your data any which way…
THIS is what I struggled with the most initially. I didn’t get what DTP could do, because I dropped everything into it, but then – through my ignorance – tried to use it as a Finder replacement…
I only ‘got’ DTP when I made the mental adjustment that – having imported all my data – I could move it around, and reshape it any which way, and I would still be able to access it more easily than what had been the case with my nested-folders-within-nester-folders over in Finder…
Having made that mental switch, I then started re-organising my groups and files in a manner that made far more sense, using Replicants in particular, whilst knowing that I was essentially just playing around with how the data was being viewed… in other words, the bits-and-bytes were still there, I was just mixing them around…
Maybe most might read the above and question my levels of sanity [ 
], but that is what I needed to go through to make the complete transition. Figured I would share, since it might help one or two others!
That all being said – there are some features that might not be readily apparent, and you certainly won’t need from the get-go, but you should make a mental note of them, and get to know about them once you are settled in:
1.) The Auto-classify/classify/See-Also/Magic Hat feature;
2.) Replicants as opposed to Duplicates [easily one of my favourite features - and one I think is highly undervalued];
3.) Wikilinks between annotated notes;
4.) Don’t ignore the obvious (and at times, less-obvious) benefits of saved smart-searches (Smart Groups);
5.) Don’t ignore the obvious benefits of a file’s unique ID/Item link, which can either take you to a particular file, OR a specific page in a particular file…;
6.) Don’t ignore the scripts menu - and spend some time perusing the Forums for the very useful scripts created and shared by others (I have two separate drop-down sub-menus in the Script menu that only contain user-created scripts accumulated over time, that I use frequently – these can also be added to the toolbar!); and lastly,
7.) Take the time to get your head (properly) around the difference between importing and indexing data… The differences are nuanced, but when used effectively (since not all data needs to be imported), the pay-offs can be massive. A word of caution: Be sure you understand what happens when you manipulate indexed data inside DTP…
That was quite a mouthful. Apologies.
TL:DR >>
Using DTP fully might involve making adjustments to how you have viewed your data.
1-7 point to useful features that are worth learning about.
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Maybe I’ll ask in the DevonThink forums as well but do people use DevonThink as another file manager too or just to view the files together with other stuff?
That’s a great point, I’m a teacher too and I’d think it would make sense to have a database for each class or school year and then a “School or Teaching” database. Once a class or class year is complete then I could put it in the main “School or Teaching” database.
That’s awesome and something I’n trying to wrap my head around, DevonThink kinda being an extension of my Finder but also better and more versatile. Any good links to posts on the DevonThink forums or elsewhere that you used when making the mental switch/click?
It certainly can be used as a finder replacement, but me personally, that’s where I went to big I think.
The forums (I don’t have a favorite post, I’ve probably read them all lol)
The guy named BLUEFROG is the man there.
This is their solution page: note the Educator example specifically
That leads to a blog of a teacher.
The nice thing about creating your general teaching folder is now those can be copied as a new database for a class.
I hope these are a help. My suggestion is to not reinvent the wheel or replace your finder right away. Pick an area of your life (as big or as small) and learn the software. It can be a software where everything lives, or a tool to work on a specific project.
In terms of the products, I will probably do the trial period and try to take advantage of the sale.
From what I gather it seems that DEVONThinkPro Office is the better buy (at least coming from Evernote Premium for myself, where the scanning, OCR, searching within PDF’s is important to me)
Does anyone here generally purchase DEVONAgent and DEVONSphere as well ?!?
@schmidgall: When auto-hazeling your receipts to DT, do you have a way to import to a specific database or even group? Does DT do this for you?
What happens to indexed files when accessing your database on iOS?
SteveT – I also recommend the Take Control book. It will help you to wrap your mind around the philosophy behind Devonthink and will introduce you to features that have not been mentioned yet in this forum.
One way to start with Devonthink that may be more palatable is to index a bunch of files rather than import them wholly into a Devonthink database. I had created a rather large repository of thousands of files in a hierarchy of folder on my Mac, and wanted a better way to organize and cross-reference than the Finder allowed. I created a database in Devonthink for this set of files and indexed them. DT just creates an index (essentially a bunch of aliases to the Finder contents), but the files are not imported into a database. This save some space, if that’s an issue, since the files are not duplicated by Devonthink. Changes that you make in DT to these files are reflected in the originals in the Finder); syncing is manual, but easy.
Once I was comfortable with DT and decided to keep using it, I imported the files and now work on them exclusively in DT.
In fact, you can use DT as an alternative Finder if you wish.
There are other features that have yet to be mentioned, such as the powerful search and categorization features. Think Spotlight on steroids here.
Joe Kissel explains all this in his Take Control book, so again, I also recommend it to you.
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BradG’s posting is excellent and raises a lot of important points about using Devonthink. I started with indexing, rather than importing, until I was sure I wanted to take the deep dive. Joe Kissel’s Take Control book was a HUGE help in this and, As BradG states, the Devongthink forums are also a great help.
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Just as a counterpoint to a lot of the posts in this thread I have zero documents saved in DevonThink as I use it almost exclusively for saving bookmarks and also as a notebook. So there are many ways to use the app and it can do all sorts of things. Figured out a new grep statement or Unix command? No problem, just add it to the appropriate notes page. Found a great restaurant five states away? No problem, use the browser extension to add it to you travel folder and tag it with the state name, say. Want to organize your recipes? You can do that too (although I use Paprika for that).
DevonThink has become my memory, in a sense. Searching is really easy and how I find most things I’m looking for, but you can also tag everything, put it in folders, etc. Don’t know how I’d live without it.
Outstanding reply! The detail and thought you provided is beneficial to those at the bottom of the hill as well as to those a bit further up but not at the top.
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DevonThink has a big learning curve not helped by the complexity and out-of-date nature of its (Mac) UI. I’m also not a huge fan of its iOS UI. That said, for the last couple years, I’ve found it to be a great place to dump all my stuff.
I jumped ship from Pinboard (though I never found a good way to retain those tagged links and the notes I took on the links) because I’d had several bad customer service interactions with the founder (I was an annual subscriber). At that point I wanted to “build my own google” and DT was the obvious choice, once DevonThink 2 Go appeared on the scene to replace the previous iOS app which was… half-hearted.
What I do:
- Dump everything in there: bookmarks, PDFs, plain text (MD) notes written in other apps (again, don’t edit data inside DT… it’s a crummy experience)
- Tag everything.
- Search to retrieve.
I wish DT was more tag focused. The tags feel more like “everyone asked for these so we’ll add them” and the designers really intended the app to be folder-focused. Alas, it’s still useful.
I currently have 3 databases… 1 personal, 2 professional (two different pro interests). I’m not 100% sure if I’d bother separating the data in to DBs again… or whether I’d do more DBs than I have now.
My advice for new DevonThink users:
Don’t sweat anything, just jump in and be confused and frustrated for a little while. Having your own data world will eventually be so useful you’ll be glad you stuck it out. Having done this for a couple of years, I would do this again. There’s a really good chance you can build something out of it that fits your desires. It just may be clunky for a bit.
P.S. — someone else recommended the Take Control book. This is also where I started, and felt happy with my purchase.
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@briandigital - regarding tags on DTPO, Soma-Zone(?), who also make Backup-Loupe, have a little menu-bar app called Ammonite. I use it frequently, and is essentially designed as a complimentary app to DTPO.
It pulls up a tag-cloud of your DTPO databases, and allows for filtering and searching of your Tags in DTPO, and also allows you to view the associated PDFs inside Ammonite, or takes you to the files inside DTPO.
If you are a heavy tag user, would really recommend it.
Cannot recall the cost, but don’t think it was too pricey, and was well worth the investment, for me at least.
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I’ve been using DEVONthink on macOS for just over two years now and I’m STILL trying to get to grips with it. The Taking Control book has really helped though - make sure you get the latest version (3?) though as it includes information on DEVONthink To Go 2 for iOS.
I currently have the following databases:
(client): a client-specific database for each contract I work on, including all project documentation and a mailbox dump before leaving
Finance: receipts (scans or downloaded web receipts), bank/credit card statements, timesheets/invoices for clients, etc.
Holidays and Travel: flight, car and hotel bookings, reference material for places to visit, etc.
Home: anything to do with school/college/university for the kids, house stuff (letters, insurance, utilities), manuals, other related bits
RSS Feeds: self-explanatory
Tech: new database to store non-reference tech material. Work in progress and not sure whether it will remain separate or be merged into…
Tech Reference: reference material for IT/tech related topics for both my day job and personal. Consists of PDFs, bookmarks, Web Archives, any snippet of information that might possibly be of use in the future.
Work: recently created database storing agency/client contracts and associated paperwork. Will move timesheets/invoices from Finance database at some point
Some of these are synced via iCloud to my iPhone, others are synced and then removed as and when the need arises. I also have a couple of “test” databases for trying out new ways of organising stuff.
I don’t, however, use Evernote. I did try it years ago but I couldn’t get to grips with it. I do use OneNote though and have done for getting on for 10 years as it’s been a standard install with Office at every company I work at - I’m a Microsoft guy in a professional capacity - and the fact that it’s available on all platforms allows me to keep using it. As I discovered recently, it works well with DTP and DTTG2 item links too. Adding a link to a document in DTPO on macOS and you can click on the link in OneNote on iOS and it will open the document from DTTG2. Not much use clicking the link on a Windows though. Being able to copy the item link for a group in a database and paste it into the notes field of a project in OmniFocus is really cool, when I remember to do it.
The main thing I’m trying to get my head around is when to use groups and when to use tags. I have a tendency to use nested groups everywhere, which probably stems from storing files on drives/shares for donkeys years when I should really look at having a more simplified structure, one or two folders deep, and then using tags.
Above all, experimentation is the key. The databases I listed above, with the exception of the client-specific databases, are markedly different than they were 6-12 months ago and will probably be different again in 6-12 months from now as I find new ways of organising things which suit the way I want information to be stored, and, more importantly, the way I want it to be found.
I have DEVONthink Pro Office. I don’t use the OCR function very much as I find the results of PDFs from my multi-function printer (Canon MX925) are 99% as accurate, which is good enough, and without the need for an additional scan after import. Also, the scanner in the MFP does a better job at cleaning the page up - show-through, etc. - than the scanner driver in macOS. Hazel then picks up the folder of scanned material, tags and renames as appropriate before moving to the DT Inbox folder on my Mac. Everything else remains where it is for manual sifting, sorting and importing, creating new rules where appropriate.
I also have DEVONagent Pro which I keep forgetting to use. Old habits die hard I guess.
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Right now I just have it import into the global inbox, however eventually I hope to get around to using a script to set a target database for some scans. See Hazel and DEVONthink 2 - Choosing a Target Database at MyProductiveMac to get started.
With DTP you can import (actually move the files into the database) or index (they stay in the same location but are also searchable). If you use a markdown editor like 1Writer or IA Writer that also stores the text files in iCloud, what is great with indexing is you can work within the markdown app, but also your entire library of markdown files is also searchable within DTP. Indexing iCloud and Dropbox folders has become such a great feature that now apps like Bear, Ulysses and Evernote with their own proprietary storage have become a small source of frustration. And yet I tend to keep Bear less organized and full of half-baked ideas and web clippings, so have a step to import into DTP only the good stuff does help keep the clutter separate. Sometimes the real problem is I just try to collect to much data!
You can access indexed files on iOS devices if the files reside on a shared cloud storage that is accessible from your iOS device. Also any files you import into a DTP database are super easy to export. You can just drag and drop entire groups (what DTP calls folders) and all your files and folders are intact.
I hope some of this helps Robert!
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Check out MacDrifter’s article for another example of a DTP setup at My Text Corpus in 2017 - MacDrifter. Gabe has some crazy good tips and tricks.
Here are a few ideas for anyone looking to use DTP with your spouse and kids:
My wife and I use DTP on the Mac and iOS, our kids only have iPads and we purchased DT To Go with the premium features for each. The main use is so the kids can see their artwork, access their schoolwork and see their chores. We are just getting our two oldest started on using the clipper for school research with bookmarks and web archives with clutter free formatting.
We use a prefix naming convention to keep our databases grouped and sync them using a single shared Dropbox Pro account, so the different prefixes help to avoid confusion. Also with each prefix we created a separate sync storage location. So all the “DS” databases are in a DS-dsync local storage file on Dropbox, “AS” are in AS-dsync, “FAM” are in FAM-dsync, etc…
For example my personal databases start with my first and last name initials:
- DS - Bookmarks
- DS - Clippings
- DS - Notes
My wife’s personal databases are the same but start with her initials of “AS”.
Our shared family databases are:
- FAM - Finances (receipts, statements, tax records)
- FAM - Household (manuals, local restaurant menus, home chores for the kids, etc…)
- FAM - Medical (we keep notes of every doctor visit and labs, etc… and tag by family member name.)
- FAM - Ministry (we help with several ministries and keep meeting notes and scans of agendas and handouts here)
- FAM - School (homeschool stuff goes here)
- FAM - Vision (our family vision and values go here along with our family traditions, etc…)
We have a few Memory boxes (these could easily start with FAM as well, but we liked the separation as we do not access them as often):
- MEM - Artwork (kid’s artwork tagged by name, any special cards we receive, scans of programs for events the kids are in, etc…)
- MEM - Travel (research for any travel adventures, when a trip is wrapped up we save all our notes here)
The database structure continues to change, but thankfully it’s easy to move items from one database to another. So if you are just getting started, just start creating databases. Don’t overthink it. You’ll get a better organization as you spend more time working with your data, workflows and DTP.
Item links:
Last feature to highlight are the item links. They are a great way to quickly pull up the info. Just right-click any group or item and select “Copy Item Link” and paste it into another app. I use this all the time with Ulysses so writing is separate from research. Also DTP has in the scripts menu -> reminders shortcuts to quickly do this for several apps including Omnifocus, Things, The Hit List, Apple Reminders and Apple Calendar. See screenshot below.
For those considering a switch from Evernote:
I’ll second the tip to create a dedicated DTP database and import all your Evernote notebooks into it. This is non-destructive as Evernote still has all your data and now you have a second copy in DTP. It’s a great way to test this out. Once confident of DTP for long-term use, I made a final export from Evernote to .enex notebook exports and then deleted the notebooks from Evernote. This way you still could go back to Evernote and import the .enex notebooks, but also have all of your private info removed from Evernote’s storage.
And again I still recommend Evernote as a solid reference tool and in fact still use it as my work reference app as it’s provided by the company. DTP was just a personal preference and we found a little more security knowing we can encrypt the databases and even setup our own WebDAV server for in-the-home local storage (Synology NAS for example) for confidential information like personal finances and medical. And we are 100% Apple so we did not need the cross-platform functionality that Evernote is so great at.
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@schmidgall: Indexing to a cloud folder looks like a good compromise for stuff that’s not supposed to be edited within DT primarily, thanks.
I don’t really get the hazeling yet: Even when using the script you mention, files will still be placed only in the inbox of a database, if not the global inbox. So you will still have to sort them later. With document providers, you could just save the scans to the correct folder directly on the phone and spare that step.
I just wanna say that @schmidgall’s explanation in how he uses it with his family is awesome! I really would love to go paperless though my Dad is a loyal P.C. user. Maybe when I have my own family.
@Robert - Right on with saving steps with Hazel and folders versus inside DTP and you can index if you want the DTP visibility. Hazel is an area of automation I am still at the beginner stage. Same with DTP’s AI and auto-filing feature within DTP.
It’s so much fun to have tools that are flexible and allow us to tweak and build to best fit our workflows!
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Wow, this is an amazing thread! I was reading through and forgive me if I missed this. I am a PhD Candidate that does a lot of writing and have played around with DT for a long time. Right now I keep everything in Dropbox because I use a MBP but also do a lot of writing/research on my home iMac.
With the new iCloud sync on DT, can I set up databases on my MBP and have them synced to the iMac so I can work seamlessly across these two devices? Any advice or tips would be welcomed! So excited to post for the first time here!
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