DevonThink Personal for Mac

User Reviews

• Thinks like I do. And like my wife. That's excellent!

  ROLASAMarch 25, 2011

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• Too Little Too Late?

  jarlaxle.mercJune 26, 2009

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />All the features worth looking at are quickly becoming freely available in other existing technologies, not to mention the handful of necessary features DTP lacks. If I wanted a glorified Finder I'd turn to Path Finder. That said, DTP is hardly even glorified as the Spotlight criteria capabilities are rather sad. Oh well.

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• Excellent

  Smitty610June 15, 2009

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Thanks to the Folks of Devon Technologies for powerful, intuitive software. I research, collect and organize data for a variety of purposes and for several volunteer organizations. In this process I have tried a number of data search, collection and organization programs. Each have their features, some work better than others but DEVONthink &amp; agent are superior. Circus Ponies Notebook is one notable competitor and does a nice job of organizing and looking like a good old notebook. It is a comfortable program in that sense. However DEVONthink does it much better without the comfortable format. The kindness of the Devon Folks in providing licenses for certified non-profit and educational use is deeply appreciated also. Support and responsiveness is excellent. Well done!

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• I've been looking for an app of this type for some...

  tersonodesignMarch 17, 2005

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  ...time....<br />This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I'd tried OmniOutliner, which is a great app, but not _quite_ what I was looking for (although I'll continue to use it for a few limited purposes). I'd also tried Notetaker (which is a tad flaky on my system) and Circus Ponies Notebook (which has a gorgeous GUI, but can be a little less than easy to navigate around if you have a LARGE amount of data saved in a single notebook). DEVONthink (especially coupled with DEVONagent) seems to be about the right compromise. A clean, easy-to-navigate GUI which doesn't get in the way of your data and a series of simple mechanisms to incorporate media from a wide variety of applications. I'll continue to use OmniOutliner for simple outlining, but for managing large amounts of disparate info, I'll be using DEVONthink. It's one of those rare apps that just felt 'right' from the moment I installed it.

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• I was looking for a replacement

  donlevy323-225-2228January 14, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />for another info manager that, after almost 3000 entries, was bogging down - slow to the point of impracticality. So I bought DEVONthink (about a year ago), played with it, but just couldn't get comfortable with how it worked. Then an email upgrade notice from the developers suggested that some of my previous concerns about ease of use had been addressed and so I decided to give the new version a whirl. What a difference! I'm finding it far more versatile in storing many more kinds of data, and far more efficient and easy than the older version, and thus much more practical for storing my data, and phenomenal for <b>organizing</b> it, heirarchically and especially on the fly. I am getting the hang of using its ability to automatically classify my data and move it to folders (groups) I've created. In exchange for a bit more input of learning time initially, I've been rewarded with really, really fast retreival. In short, it now does what I needed. One of my original complaints had been the documentation; the current manual is far more helpful in both getting started and learning the fine points, as well as a good reference (still needs page numbers and an index to be rated tops, but head and shoulders over what was available before).<p><br> That would be the end of the story, except we had a split second power failure last week - so short that although most of our several computers went completely down, my own stayed up. But when I went to use DEVONthink, it had locked itself up tighter than a drum. The data was still visible and readable, but nothing could be added and nothing deleted (I later learned this is an automatic DEVONthink security feature that insures not making a corrupted database worse). And after a complete reboot, it was still locked. A rebuild failed. Suspecting a disk problem, I ran DiskWarrior and there was definitely a problem with my hard drive which DiskWarrior was unable to handle (rare, in my experience). Worse, it affected not only the current DEVONthink database, but all my backups. That's when I panicked and contacted the developers. And they came through like champs. Sent me clear, concise step-by-step support and patiently handled my several emails with courtesy, obvious empathy and real-hands on help. Not only did the database get repaired, but so did the backups. I'd definitely rate their after-sales support six stars on a scale of five...<p><br> I'm still looking for improvement in this program as it matures. My wish is for some way to more easily name entries on the fly and for more scripts for moving data from other programs (like the one that now exists for moving data from Entourage to DEVONthink), but after my recent experience with the latest upgrade and the developers support, I'm confident such improvements will be forthcoming.<p><br> Don Levy<br> The Mac Therapist<br> Los Angeles

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• How did I get along before

  weatherhDecember 11, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This is hands down one of the best applications on my machine. I've only used it for about a week, but I use it continuously. I use it everytime I am on my Mac. I store all of my impotant info, webpages, quick notes, reg codes, important emails, all my work docs, and it is the absolute best as an class organizer. I only wish they made it for the PC (at work). I miss it when I am at work. It took me less than 24 hours to dump StickyBrain and purchase Devonthink. Of course I transfered all of my StickyBrain files over first. Watch out Devon, or Apple will steal it and add it to the next OS release!

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• Coming along nicely . . .

  jeffnailen--2008December 7, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This is going to be a great app quite soon. It handles a bewildering number of file formats, but still doesn't handle Mellel documents yet. Also, 'Source' editing, as in Jumsoft's 'Process' app, would nicely complement its Safari web kit for full interactivity with internal documents from within DEVON as well as external documents on others' computers thru web pages. Also, the ability to do tables or columns would expand its abilities tremendously. I hope they're working on these for 2.0 and/or the Pro version.

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• Amazing

  bongoherbertDecember 1, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I echo Bill D.'s comments 99% (the other 1% is that I do vision research not environment work :) I spent the last year scanning in my physical file cabinet into OCR'd PDF (thanks to a Canon copy machine that has an amazing scan function), now I have thousands of journal articles that are indexed, easily searched, and better -classified- by DEVONthink. Resources I forgot I even had, buried in my Steelcase dinosaurs, are available, and even better, can <i>suggest themselves</i> when I'm working out new ideas. I've been using it for the past few years and I'm sure I haven't even scratched the surface of its capabilities. A quick look through their BBS shows more uses than I could imagine. I can't wait for the upcoming Pro edition!

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• Fast. Simple. Powerful.

  VersionTrackerUserOpinionNovember 30, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Been waiting for this new version. It has exceeded my expectations. Great work and thank you. To the guy who said he would use Sticky Brain instead because his Devonthink demo period would not be reset... Well all I can say is why don't you request another demo period from Devon. I am sure they are reasonable people. Sticky brain sounds interesting but I would not even attempt to install it because of all the OpenBase files it sprays all over your disk, even among the root level. Also it's reliance on Java is not what I wish for. Devonthink is the ultimate information organizer that maintains simplicity yet offers many advanced features.

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• It's my staff of intelligent research assistants

  VersionTrackerUserOpinionNovember 30, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I've been using DEVONthink for two years. My database has grown to over 12,500,000 words, in many thousands of documents. The primary focus of my collection is on environmental issues, with extensions into such related fields as biotechnology, geology, health sciences, information sciences, economics, public administration, etc. DEVONthink easily captures into the database a wide variety of file types. Most of my references are PDF, RTF, RTFD, HTML and Word file types. DEVONthink captures the text of these files so that it can provide very quick search and retrieval of information. Collecting and retrieving information is nice enough. But DEVONthink lets me look at a document and, if desired, quickly show me related information via the "See Also" button. Through contextual recognition (artificial intelligence) features, DEVONthink can help me see relationships between bits of information scattered throughout my database, that I might never have found on my own. DEVONthink 1.9 is simply awesome. The program is user-friendly, yet so deep and rich that I continue to find new ways to use it. The developers continue to add new features that make sense, and there's a great user forum for users to share tips and suggestions. Yes, I use other programs for printing or Web output of projects, but I spend much more time in DEVONthink than in any other application. It's time well spent.

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