DEVONtechnologies Encourages Helping Haiti

This Tuesday, Jan 12, 2010, Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, was struck by a catastrophic-scale earthquake. The International Red Cross reports that as many as 3 million people are affected by the quake; tens of thousands of people have been killed, likely up to 100,000 or more.

DEVONtechnologies donates 20 percent of all January, 2010, revenues to Doctors Without Borders and encourages everyone else to join in and donate money to international disaster help organizations to help the survivors of the Haiti earthquake and their families. You can find a list of organizations here, on the New York Times web site, or on most new web sites of your home country. (Jan 14, 2010)

Tagging, new smart templates, and much, much more …

Public beta 8, planned to be the last public beta for DEVONthink and DEVONnote before the final release, brings a polished appearance, a heavily revised column view, a much simplified installation, lots of additional and revised smart templates as well as, finally, tagging including support for OpenMeta.

Many aspects of the user interface have been overhauled, from simple changes to an improved handling of states and a completely revamped column view. The new column view features a view/edit pane and so works like the music browser in iTunes. Tabs scroll automatically into position and are scriptable (in DEVONthink Pro and up). In addition a simple take note function has been added to DEVONthink Pro and Pro Office. The installation has been simplified tremendously, the applications and templates simply install themselves automatically if necessary.

Smart tagging combines the group and tag concepts in a most innovative way, making both ways to organize documents interchangeable. Tags can be manually entered almost everywhere , converted from comments, or are added automatically, e.g. from RSS feeds. DEVONnote and DEVONthink support OpenMeta for importing and exporting tag information. A tag view shows the whole database from a tag perspective. The tag view is still incomplete and will change substancially nutil the final release.

Version 2.0 public beta 8 also brings lots of new additional and revised smart templates, both with and without scripting (smart templates without scripting are now also available in DEVONthink Personal). It is now easily possible to annotate any document using smart templates as well as research on PubMed and have the results added to the database fully automatically. New reminder scripts for DEVONthink Pro add selected documents as tasks to iCal, OmniFocus, Things, or The Hit List.

Internally DEVONthink 2.0 public beta 8 brings many changes for the upcoming iPhone client as well as MobileMe, WebDAV, and LAN/WLAN based synchronization. While the iPhone client will enable users to transfer selected parts of databases to their iPhone, view and search them on-the-go, and add new documents, the synchronization module will make it possible to reliably synchronize databases between local Macs or, using MobileMe or any other WebDAV server, between any Mac with an Internet connection. The synchronization module is currently in the works, the iPhone client in alpha testing and expected to be released in Q1/2010.

Finally, this public beta brings the Download Manager in DEVONthink Pro back to life and allows, again, downloading to databases. Media playback is optimized for QuickTime X on Mac OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard', and web pages can be zoomed using Safari-4-style zooming. DEVONthink Personal add a PDF Service so that documents can be 'printed' as PDFs directly to the database.

Please see our DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 pages for more in-depth information on new functions and features and check the release notes (DEVONthink, DEVONnote).

Download the applications as a free trial copies from our web site and find your options for the upgrade from version 1.x to 2.0. This public beta runs without registration until Feb 28, 2010, before it needs to be replaced by a new public beta or the final 2.0 release. (Dec 10, 2009)

Black Friday Deals!

Exclusively on Black Friday, November 27, 2009, we offer DEVONthink, DEVONagent, and DEVONnote including upgrades with 25 percent discount. If you want to go paperless or upgrade your license, today is the day! (Nov 26, 2009)

DEVONthink becomes even smarter with 2.0 public beta 7

Public beta 7, being mainly a maintenance release to update DEVONthink and DEVONnote for compatibility to Mac OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard', adds also full PDF annotations, smart templates, simple image editing, support for third-party meta data as well as note-taking directly in the Sorter to DEVONthink Pro.

DEVONthink now offers the full range of standard PDF annotations as well as an image edit panel that allows to adjust all relevant parameters from exposure to sharpness. Images and PDF pages can be rotated. New to DEVONthink Pro are also ‘smart templates’, scripted templates that not only add new documents to a database but modify them on-the-fly, e.g. by adding dates, the clipboard contents, or the user's name and phone number from Address Book. Out of the box DEVONthink Pro 2.0 comes with high-quality smart templates for general use from notes to quotes, classifications, registers, task lists, and project management.

Meta data added to documents by other applications, e.g. MP3 tags or PDF properties, email sender, recipients, email addresses, and many more can now be displayed in columns, used for sorting, and be added to searches and smart groups. Indexed files are editable like imported files. The ‘Take Note’ window introduced in public beta 6 has been integrated now directly into the Sorter (DEVONthink Pro and Pro Office only) now, making it possible to take notes even when DEVONthink is not running.

Finally, these new releases add a large number of smaller enhancements, e.g. a contextual menu item for Mac OS X 10.5 ‘Leopard’, the possibility to list all instances and all duplicates of a document, and a new option to sort the groups pane of the three-pane view. The ‘Clip to DEVONthink’ bookmarklet can be fully used from the keyboard now. All editions also come with many internal changes, performance and stability enhancements, and bug fixes.

The last missing feature for the final release is smart tagging.

Please see our DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 pages for more in-depth information on new functions and features and check the release notes (DEVONthink, DEVONnote).

Download the applications as a free trial copies from our web site and find your options for the upgrade from version 1.x to 2.0. This public beta runs without registration until December 31, 2009, before it needs to be replaced by a new public beta or the final 2.0 release. (Sep 15, 2009)

Public Beta 6: PDF annotations, Enhanced Web Interface

This new public beta adds a first bunch of PDF annotation functions (more to follow soon) to DEVONthink, a further enhanced interactive web interface (DEVONthink Pro Office only) and many further minor enhancements.

Text in editable PDF documents as well as in web archives can be highlighted, underlined, and struck through, the next beta will also add the still missing standard PDF annotations known from Preview, graphical marks and sticky notes. New notes can be created via a customizable hot key that opens the new 'Take Note' panel or via the completely rewritten Dashboard widget. In DEVONthink Pro and up items can be moved from one database to the other instead of being copied and databases can be easily archived for secure backups with a single menu command. Cover Flow and Quick Look support has been enhanced for higher usability and a better user experience.

DEVONthink Pro Office's web interface now allows to upload files from any workplace directly to the database, uses a resizable side bar and shows additional information about the selected item. In addition it allows to choose search options and the iPhone web application supports 'See Also'.

All editions also come with more than hundred further internal changes, performance and stability enhancements, and bug fixes.

Please see our DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 pages for more in-depth information on new functions and features and check the release notes (DEVONthink, DEVONnote).

Download the applications as a free trial copies from our web site and find your options for the upgrade from version 1.x to 2.0. This public beta runs without registration until December 31, 2009, before it needs to be replaced by a new public beta or the final 2.0 release. (July 30, 2009)

Snippets at Your Fingertips: EasyFind 4.5 and XMenu 1.9

These updates add a number of useful features to the freeware utilities EasyFind and XMenu and fix a few minor bugs. EasyFind 4.5 now supports Quick Look, highlights occurrences in file and folder names, and offers the same extended Boolean operators that are used by DEVONthink and DEVONagent. EasyFind 4.5 can conduct searches using fuzzy logic, ignores umlauted characters if desired, and comes with a standard toolbar now.

XMenu 1.9 adds a new 'snippets' menu that lets the user insert the contents of plain and rich text snippets, clippings, and Internet location files with a single menu choice. By using folders (creating sub-menus) users can store virtually unlimited numbers of text modules and still access them quickly and conveniently. New menu icons make the XMenu menus easier to distinguish.

Please see our Freeware Applications page for more information about EasyFind and XMenu. EasyFind and XMenu are free to use and can be downloaded from our web site. (July 8, 2009)

Public Beta 5: iPhone Web App, Save to DEVONthink

The latest public beta adds a completely redesigned iPhone web application to DEVONthink Pro Office that not only lets you search your shared databases remotely but also browse them in typical iPhone-style. It is also possible to add new notes to the global inbox on-the-go.

DEVONthink Pro and Pro Office install their global inbox in the Finder's sidebar as well as in all 'Save As' dialog windows so that users can now save documents directly to DEVONthink. The sidebar has been enhanced, sections are collapsable, and groups can be added to the favorites. Smart groups in the sidebar search all open databases, new search predicates prepare DEVONthink for the forthcoming tagging support. Finally, searching supports the 'Ignore umlauts' and 'Fuzzy' options again.

Pressing the Space bar opens a Quick Look panel for selected items. The properties of RTF/RTFD and PDF documents can now be edited, and so can web archives also in DEVONthink Personal. Automator support has returned to DEVONthink Pro and all workflows have been updated. All editions also come with many internal changes, performance and stability enhancements, and bug fixes.

Please see our DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 pages for more in-depth information on new functions and features and check the release notes (DEVONthink, DEVONnote).

Download the applications as a free trial copies from our web site and find your options for the upgrade from version 1.x to 2.0. This public beta runs without registration until July 31, 2009, before it needs to be replaced by a new public beta or the final 2.0 release. (May 21, 2009)

Smart Document Management in a Box

Starting today we offer the fast desktop document scanners ScanSnap S300M and S1500M bundled with our flagship product DEVONthink Pro Office in our online shop. The devices digitize paper documents with up to 20 pages per minute, scan both sides in one go, and with up to 600 dpi in full color. Reliability and ease-of-use are the driving factors in all ScanSnap designs.

DEVONthink Pro Office directly supports the ScanSnap scanner range for the Mac by taking over the PDF files created from the paper documents and automatically making them searchable using optical character recognition (OCR). Artificial intelligence assists the user file the document by suggesting the most suitable places as well as related documents.

The Paperless Office Bundles are solely available in the United States.

The Paperless Office bundles, consisting of DEVONthink Pro Office 2.x and a document scanner, sell for US$ 419 with the Fujitsu ScanSnap S300M and for US$ 569 with the ScanSnap S1500M (plus shipping) in our online shop. (April 29, 2009)

Public Beta 4: Global Inbox, 'Clip to DEVONthink' bookmarklet

The latest public beta of all editions of DEVONthink as well as of DEVONnote brings lots of new and promised features as well as many detail enhancements and bug fixes.

For DEVONthink Pro and up, the global inbox is finally fully functional and a new preference option lets the user choose where new documents are saved to: the global inbox, a database's inbox, or a location of choice. The latter pops up a floating location selector whenever data is added through Services, bookmarklets, or scripts. Notes exported from EverNote can be imported using a new script, another new script moves all duplicates of a selected item to the trash. The Sorter panel has been vastly overhauled.

All editions of DEVONthink now come with a brand-new 'Clip to DEVONthink' bookmarklet that lets the user clip selected text or whole web pages as plain text, webarchive, PDF, or HTML using a convenient user interface embedded right into the web browser. A Dock icon badge displays the number of new items added to DEVONthink or DEVONnote. In addition, smart groups have been enhanced, a new 'Duplicates' smart group is automatically added to new databases and the ranking of search results has been improved. The RSS support has been extended and scripts and bookmarklets can create PDFs from web pages. Many more minor workflow, feature, and interface enhancements have been added, too.

Enhancements exclusive to DEVONthink Pro Office are an improved OCR accuracy, an overhauled scan panel that allows to reverse the page order or shuffle batch-scanned pages (for duplex scanning using a flat-bed scanner), and much faster and more reliable email archiving creating groups from email threads.

Please see our DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 pages for more in-depth information on new functions and features and check the release notes (DEVONthink, DEVONnote).

Download DEVONthink Pro Office as a free trial from our web site and find your options for the upgrade from version 1.x to 2.0. This public beta runs without registration until May 31, 2009, before it needs to be replaced by a new public beta or the final 2.0 release. (March 30, 2009)

Interim Update: OCR improved, ExactScan Capture updated

This interim update to DEVONthink Pro Office 2.0 brings a large number of improvements to text recognition that we did not want to hold back until public beta 4. We have fixed many issues with the embedded OCR and we have added a new accuracy/speed control to the OCR preference panel. Converted items are placed into the correct group, replicants correctly treated, and the original items are moved to the internal trash can instead of to the Finder's. In addition the embedded ExactScan Capture module has been updated and works now with more otherwise broken TWAIN drivers.

Please see our DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 pages for more in-depth information on new functions and features and check the release notes (DEVONthink, DEVONnote).

Download DEVONthink Pro Office as a free trial from our web site and find your options for the upgrade from version 1.x to 2.0. This public beta runs without registration until March 31, 2009, before it needs to be replaced by a new public beta or the final 2.0 release. (February 24, 2009)

Public Beta 3: OCR is back, and better than ever before

The third public beta of DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 finally brings back optical character recognition (OCR) to DEVONthink Pro Office, introduces a new Boolean operator, and brings a number of bug fixes and detail enhancements.

Starting with this beta DEVONthink Pro Office's OCR is based on the ABBYY FineReader engine which delivers premium results, creates smaller PDF files, and gives the user much more control over the OCR process. The new ABBYY OCR engine is fully embedded into the application, an 'OCR Activity' panel shows all pending OCR processes and lets the user stop each of them at any time.

All editions of DEVONthink and DEVONnote now feature the 'OPT' operator which allows the user to add words or terms to a search that preferably match the resulting document but don't have to ('preferred but not required term'). If they match a document, they increase its ranking and so allow to fine-tune complex queries. In addition, public beta 3 increases the compatibility to del.icio.us, enhances the Adium chatlog import, displays the PDF page count, and shows custom icons for databases in the sidebar. Of course, a number of bugs and glitches have been fixed as well and the performance has been slightly improved.

Please see our DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 pages for more in-depth information on new functions and features and check the release notes (DEVONthink, DEVONnote).

Download the applications as free trials from our web site and find your options for the upgrade from version 1.x to 2.0. This public beta runs without registration until March 31, 2009, before it needs to be replaced by a new public beta or the final 2.0 release. (February 13, 2009)

Public Beta 2: DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0

The second public beta of DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 adds a number of new functions as well as fixes for bugs and glitches. PDF (DEVONthink only) and text files can be split and merged and PDF pages can be copied and pasted from one document to another. RSS feeds are updated much faster using multi-threading and a new RSS preferences panel allows you to customize how DEVONthink Pro handles RSS feeds. Any document can be easily sent by email directly from within the application and the smart group editor as well as the sidebar have been further completed. The support for file types containing PDF or HTML previews has been improved and a number of scripts and bookmarklets have been updated.

DEVONthink Pro Office now supports QuickLook-based previews in its web interface, shows PDFs also in browsers other than Safari, and divides long item lists into pages for better performance. The Sorter creates web archives also from OmniWeb and Firefox and names documents more reliably. Email archiving is faster, too. Finally, converting databases and exporting files is more reliable now and the overall reliability has been improved.

See our DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 pages for more in-depth information.

Download the applications as free trials from our web site and find your options for the upgrade from version 1.x to 2.0. This public beta runs without registration until March 31, 2009, before it needs to be replaced by a new public beta or the final 2.0 release. (January 30, 2009)

Public Beta: DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0

After one year of development we have released public betas of all three editions of DEVONthink as well as of DEVONnote. This major upgrade addresses a large number of feature requests from our active user community and modernizes almost every aspect of the applications.

This includes but is not limited to: the ability to open multiple databases simultaneously (DEVONthink Pro), advanced Boolean operators, smart groups, unlimited undo/redo, a trash can, and the support for almost all common file formats through the use of Spotlight and Quicklook. DEVONthink Pro also allows you to create documents from templates and DEVONthink Pro Office shares your databases via an interactive web interface based on the latest web technologies. The independent 'Sorter' lets you add data to your databases even when DEVONthink is not open and tabs and Cover Flow simplifies working with large numbers of documents.

DEVONthink Personal and DEVONnote inherit the three pane view formerly exclusive to the Pro editions as well as separate document windows and the full screen mode. In addition DEVONthink Personal is no longer limited to 10,000 images. All four applications use the enhancements introduced with Mac OS X 10.5 and so also require Mac OS X 10.5 or higher.

See our DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 pages for more in-depth information.

Download the applications as free trials from our web site. If you purchased DEVONthink Personal/Pro/Pro Office or DEVONnote 1.x on or after July 1, 2008, you are eligible for a free upgrade and will receive an upgrade offer by email. If you have purchased before the grace period we'll offer attractive upgrades soon. This public beta runs without registration until January 31, 2009, before it needs to be replaced by a new public beta or the final 2.0 release. (December 18, 2008)