New in DEVONthink 3

The long-awaited third DEVONthink generation debuts, quite literally, hundreds of new features and improvements. Here’s a short list of the major new features and enhancements.

For DEVONthink 3 we have revisited every aspect of the app, from the user interface as a whole to the many details that make it a strong companion for every information worker.

We have redesigned the user interface and added dark mode support, extended DEVONthink’s already powerful search language, and added a new menu extra for capturing notes and more from anywhere on your Mac.

Other pro-grade features include custom metadata, imprinting for images and PDF, a better OCR engine, and a completely rewritten web interface. New automation options like smart rules and flexible reminders let even non-programmers easily delegate repeating tasks to DEVONthink.

Product Line


Editions	New product line set-up with three editions: DEVONthink, DEVONthink Pro, and DEVONthink Server. All editions support automation, multiple databases, and all file types. Learn more about the Pro and Server editions on the Editions page.
Downloads	Just one downloadable app, license codes enable or disable edition features.

User Interface


Application	New integrated user interface, utilizing panes and inspectors versus independent windows.
Application	Support for dark mode (macOS Mojave and later).
Inspectors	Added the Info Inspector, showing general information and custom metadata (Pro and Server editions only) about selected files.
Inspectors	New Annotations & Reminders Inspector, allowing you to set reminders (see below), view Finder comments, and create, view, and edit annotation files.
Inspectors	New Content Inspector displaying the table of contents found in some files or the thumbnails for PDF documents.
Inspectors	New Document Inspector displaying indexed metadata, added annotations, and detected links.
Inspectors	New Concordance Inspector giving you access to a word frequency list. It also has a new Cloud view, showing a word cloud with sizes based on frequency (Pro and Server editions only).
Inspectors	New See Also & Classify Inspector displaying suggested filing locations for or documents related to the selected document.
Inspectors	New Search Inspector providing in-document search-and-replace and a list of search results, allowing for viewing the context of the search term and easy navigation through the document.
Sidebar	New Import sidebar making scanning and email archiving easily accessible (Pro and Server editions only).
Sidebar	New Reading List sidebar to gather items you want to read or return to at a later time.
Sidebar	New Extras sidebar providing you access to up to date scripts, templates, tips and tricks, and news from us.
Sidebar	New, less intrusive Activity pane.
Sidebar	Favorites can now contain documents.

Security


Encryption	Databases can be encrypted for maximum privacy.

Searching & Navigating


Search	Search, including advanced criteria options, is now integrated into the main window.
Search	Extended search language using prefixes, e.g. `tags:` or `name=`, to allow for more focused searches. These are also used in scripting.
Search	Improved indexing and searching, including better support for Asian languages and indexing PDF and RTF attachments.
Search	More precise highlighting of search hits when using proximity operators, e.g. `NEAR` or `BEFORE`.
Navigation	New Filter panes allow for filtering the displayed groups and documents by tags, dates and marks (label color, locked state, etc.), or geolocation data.
Navigation	New Go > To Group, Data > Move To…, and Edit > Insert Item Link… commands. These allow quicker access to open, reorganize, or link to items in your databases.
Reliability	Tighter integration with the filesystem when using indexed files.

Working with Documents


Office	New 64-bit OCR engine supporting multiple CPU cores, Asian languages, and multiple output formats (Pro and Server editions only).
Office	Support for adding custom imprints to images and PDFs, including placeholder text and Bates numbering (Pro and Server editions only).
Office	Support for barcode detection.
Teamwork	Added a new web interface and web server, utilizing secure connections via `https:` and allowing creation of user accounts with per-database permissions (Server edition only).
Capture	New, rewritten Sorter for capturing notes, documents, or links. It supports multiple note taking options, including audio, video, integrated screen captures, and clipping web pages. In addition it allows searching for groups to use a drag targets in open databases right from the menu bar.
Capture	The Clip to DEVONthink browser extension for Safari is now a native extension.
Metadata	New option for adding custom metadata to support situation-specific needs. It supports multiple data types including, e.g., sets, Booleans, and numbers (Pro and Server editions only).
Metadata	More options for converting metadata to tags, e.g. hashtags or geolocation data.
Metadata	New support for geolocation data, including the ability to enter it manually.
Metadata	New support for ratings from zero to five stars.
Metadata	New automatic image tagging using machine learning.
Editing	New formatting bar, shown under the toolbar, for use with rich text documents.
Editing	New editing bar, displayed over the view/edit pane, for quicker editing with file-type-specific tools.
Editing	New side-by-side view for editing HTML and Markdown documents.
Documents	Sheets now support specific data types and have a new form view (Pro and Server editions only).
Documents	Tools > Summarize Highlights assembles the highlighted text from PDF and RTF documents in a new RTF.
Documents	Tools > Create Metadata Overview assembles the metadata for selected files in a new sheet.
Documents	Improved EPUB support with reading, search, and conversion to other formats, e.g. rich text or PDF.
Documents	Improved automatic WikiLinking, including support for the square bracket syntax and active links in the rendered view of Markdown documents.

Automating Your Work


Smart Rules	Smart rules and batch processing execute event-driven actions on documents, on a schedule or on demand.
Reminders	All documents can have reminders set for them. They can be one-time or scheduled, and they support several alarm options, including executing scripts.
Placeholders	New, easy to use data placeholders for templates, imprints, smart rules, and batch processing.

Other Improvements


Performance	Improved background processing, e.g. for email archiving, indexing, generating thumbnails, and more.
Performance	Improved overall performance.