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The DEVONtechnologies Blog

Articles in the category Tips

How to Fix the Create Item Shortcut

April 19, 2022

Screenshot showing the file selection menu in Shortcuts.

If you are among the DEVONthink To Go users inclined toward automation, you may have run into an issue with the Create Item Shortcut action. In some cases, it seems you can only select a static file, not pass input from a previous action. Here’s a workaround for that. (more)

How to Split PDFs in DEVONthink

April 12, 2022

Screenshot showing dragging a PDF thumbnail.

PDFs come from a variety of sources but not always in the perfect form for your work. Sometimes you may have pages you don’t need. Maybe you had a marathon scanning session to one big document but need individual documents now. Whatever reason you have for splitting a PDF, DEVONthink has a few special options available. (more)

How to Use Multiple Windows on iOS

April 5, 2022

Screenshot of the iPadOS window switcher with two open DEVONthink To Go windows.

For some time now, DEVONthink To Go has supported opening multiple windows in iPadOS, e.g., when you long-press an item and choose Open in New Window. But windows on mobile aren’t as obvious as they are in macOS. Here are a few ways to access and interact with these windows. (more)

How to Migrate to a New Mac

March 29, 2022

Illustration showing a DEVONthink icon falling onto a Mac mini.

There’s always something new and shiny coming from Cupertino. And with a new computer comes the inevitable question, “How do I move my DEVONthink to my new Mac?” Here is how to manually migrate to a new Mac. (more)

Understanding the Navigate Sidebar

March 22, 2022

DEVONthink's navigate sidebar.

The interface of DEVONthink is made up of multiple panes, each with a specific focus and set of functions. On the left are the sidebars, the default one, where you’ll spend most of your time, is the Navigate sidebar. Here’s what you’ll find there. (more)

Understanding Database Sizes

March 15, 2022

Screenshot of the database properties and corresponding file sizes in the Finder.

While hard drives are relatively large and inexpensive nowadays, it’s still a good idea to keep an eye on you disk usage. When you’re trying to determine how much space you’re using in DEVONthink, there can appear to be conflicting reports. Here’s how to understand the sizes you see. (more)

How to Remove Databases from Sync

March 8, 2022

Screenshot showing how to cleane a database from a sync store in DEVONthink To Go.

In DEVONthink and DEVONthink To Go, it’s easy to make as many databases as you’d like. However, there are times when you’ve made and synced databases you now deleted or perhaps just no longer want to sync but the unwanted databases keep showing up in the sync location. Here’s how to get rid of them. (more)

How to Create Documents from the Clipboard

March 1, 2022

Screenshot of clipboard panel and a new document in DEVONthink.

When rapidly capturing data from a source for use in another application, copy and paste is a commonly used method. In DEVONthink there is a built-in shortcut to create new documents from clipboard content but you need to understand what you’ll get from the content you copied. (more)

How to Make Screen Captures

February 22, 2022

DEVONthink's Sorter in screen capture mode.

As the old adage goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. This is certainly true in computing too. It is very common to capture things we want to remember or share. macOS has always had nice screen capturing capabilities but the images are captured to a static location. Here is how to take and file screen captures directly in DEVONthink. (more)

Surviving in the Age of Surveillance

February 15, 2022

Symbolic picture of a quadcopter with a spy camera attached.

On his blog, David Sparks a.k.a. MacSparky paints a dark picture of an age of mass surveillance. And David is right. We can only watch out and base our decisions what products to use and which services to trust on smart choices. Here are some of our thoughts and two links. (more)