Someone said they would consolidate into fewer databases, but I think I would disagree and say it’s totally dependent on the person. I used to have broad databases with folders inside of it, but I found that smaller, more focused databases made sense for me. One of the support guys on the Devon forums (amazing resource btw) had 150 (some are test) and that may be overkill, but it may make more sense. For example, I used to have one database for the school I teach at, but this summer I have one database just for one of the classes I’m teaching. It keeps everything focused on that topic only, which makes searching and classifying more effective. Also, it takes the same amount of space so why not try it that way? Plus I can close that class/project out when I’m done (or move them to an archive database).
If anyone is thinking of switching I have been using devonthink pro for long time now. I used to have about 8 different databases but eventually merged to 3.
Personal: everything financial, kids, health
Work: all my work stuff is here; quite small database
Legal: my law stuff and things.
On occasion I’ll make a new database for a short term project and then eventually move to my archive database.
Everything syncs to devonthink to go app and I love it.
I backup daily and once a month to my off site backup ( I keep encrypted drive at work for offsite).
Moving everything to devon think helped me the most. So far I haven’t used AI sorting and filling.
I actually use both…
Devonthink for long term storage. Evernote for active projects and notes.
Devonthink is great. I have been using it for years. I think the sync (a bit slow) and interface on Devonthink to Go precludes it being useful as an everyday notes app. Evernote has some advantages in that it has a web based interface and can use it at work on a PC.
What I would love is to index my Evernote in Devonthink…but you can’t do that. Evernote is a bit of a pain to get stuff out of.
Hearing everyone’s posts/replies even though I am an advocate for Evernote.
I am tempted to take the plunge and see if DTP can change / make life easier / better for me.
I see many people talking about the different databases, some keep it simple, some expand. I assume this would parallel Evernote’s “Notebooks” or “Stacks” ?
Would it be possible to include links of recommended workflows for beginners just starting on DTP so that we don’t end up stuck on the bottom of the hill as @Isaac pointed out.
I feel like, from experience, that Dropbox would be more reliable than iCloud, and certainly much faster. But YMMV 
Steve, DT is a system for storing all types of information in a structured way (if you like), and has powerful search features that work across file types. For example, you can not only store pictures and Word and Excel documents (expected) but you can drag email from Apple Mail into Devonthink and store messages there too. And lots more.
I use Evernote for stuff like clipping from web articles that I may need to refer to in the future, but not in a structured way.
DT on the other hand, is very organized, at least how I use it. Like for each project, I create folders for email, meeting notes, documents, etc. And all of this info is synced across my three Macs and my iPad Pro - very, very convenient!
Another difference - you can view documents in all these formats in DT without launching their appropriate application, like Word, Excel, PDF, email, etc. all have built-in viewers in DT. So it is faster when using mixed document types. Just ONE example where it shines.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@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.
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.