Devonian Times Masthead

The DEVONtechnologies Blog

October 2, 2013

DEVONagent Updated also in the App Store

With todays update to version 3.5.2 we finally welcome DEVONagent Pro to the brave new world of sandboxing, now the prerequisite for distribution through the App Store. The update also cleans up some aspects of the user interface by hiding rarely used or unavailable options, and improves compatibility to some websites. The Download Manager adds the URL of downloaded items to their Finder/Spotlight metadata. (more)

October 1, 2013

Interview: Prof. Dr. Frank Thissen

Frank Thissen lives in Karlsruhe, Germany, and teaches at the Stuttgart Media University.

A few months ago I got into contact with Dr. Frank Thissen, lecturer at the Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien, HdM) in Germany. Frank is a DEVONthink power user and we exchanged a lot of ideas on how our apps fit into the university ecosystem. This May I also had the opportunity to give a presentation at the HdM. (more)

September 27, 2013

Shedworking with (Baroque) Style

You may know that I like to work from places other than my office, e.g. from our local coffee shop. This summer we finally completed the renovation of our old garden house: a new roof, new door and windows, carpet, painted walls, electricity and (via D-LAN) Internet. Completed by a baroque-style secretary it now makes a nice little retreat from the everyday office and family madness. (more)

September 17, 2013

Create Custom Forms with Google Drive

If you have a Google account and access to Google Drive, create a form there. (I’ll leave the how-to on that to your own research. It’s not difficult.) “Share” the form so that you get the link to the form, and create a bookmark in DEVONthink for that form. When forms are created in Google Drive, you have the option to create a spreadsheet there to collect the responses. Do so, then navigate to that spreadsheet and grab the link for it. Create a second bookmark in DEVONthink for the spreadsheet. (more)

September 11, 2013

When Chrome Doesn't Like Clip to DEVONthink

Even though Google Chrome probably shares more information with its maker than you like, it also does a lot to protect you from the (other) bad guys — and sometimes also the good ones. If our Clip to DEVONthink browser extension doesn’t seem to work in your copy of Chrome and just reloads the browser contents when you click its icon in the toolbar, here’s a possible cure: … (more)

September 4, 2013

Build Group Hierarchies with Templates

One of the most common ways we organize our data is with folders and subfolders (groups and subgroups in DEVONthink). Maybe you are someone that tracks your receipts on a monthly basis. Perhaps you are a teacher that organizes student data in a series of subfolders. Or you may be a real estate agent that creates a folder for each new property you’re working with and you like to have subfolder for pictures, documents, etc. If you ever find yourself reconstructing group hierarchies in DEVONthink, here’s a handy way to create a template that will do most of the work for you. (more)

August 30, 2013

Updated Scripts for DEVONthink Pro (Office)

Just a quick note that we have updated the scripts Rename using RegEx and Export Metadata as CSV, which are available as manual downloads through the built-in Support Assistant. To install these scripts choose Scripts > More Scripts, search the script in the list, and click Install. If you have the script already installed, remove it first, then re-install it to get the new version.

August 27, 2013

We Favor Open Over Closed

Since the very first telephone companies and there is an ongoing struggle between advocates (and adversaries) of open vs. closed systems. Today is the time of the closed systems.

The Apple II was wide open and while the first Mac hardware was the exact opposite you could still do whatever your wanted in software. Even if there were no official hooks for this and that, as long as you knew how to access something there was no one holding you back. (more)

August 20, 2013

Search Global Smart Groups

You may already know that you can create smart groups in the sidebar of DEVONthink Pro (Office) that collect documents from all open databases. If not: click the action menu button at the bottom of the sidebar and choose New Smart Group. (more)