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The DEVONtechnologies Blog

Articles in the category Tips

How to Master an Application

July 29, 2025

Image showing a DEVONthink logo, placed on a wooden surface next to a hammer with a wooden handle. The surrounding looks like a carpenter's workshop.

We often hear people talking about the “steep learning curve” of DEVONthink and how hard it is to “master”. But what does it actually mean to master any application? Here is what we think about this (and the answer may not be what you think it will). (more)

Understanding Database Sizes

July 22, 2025

Database properties and the Finder's Get Info pane.

If you look at the File > Database Properties for a DEVONthink database, the size of the content is shown, summed with all documents, including indexed ones. But when you look at the database file in the Finder, you’ll see the size doesn’t match. Let’s clear this up. (more)

How to Put Items Back in Place

July 15, 2025

This screenshot shows the DEVONthink log window. The log window displays a selected entry and a context menu with the Put Back command selected.

Have you perhaps accidentally trashed a document or was it classified incorrectly? Sometimes a mishap occurs and an item in DEVONthink finds itself in a location where it simply doesn’t belong. For this case, there is a simple command to restore the item to it’s former location. (more)

How to Colorize Your Groups

July 8, 2025

Screenshot displaying an item list in DEVONthink with a colorized group and the Get Info popover showing the color well.

For many people, color is a useful visual aid in recognition and organization. Starting with DEVONthink 4 Copernicus, we added support for colorizing groups. This can be helpful if you have many groups or if you want to organize them based on certain criteria. Here is how to use the feature. (more)

How to Organize Your Item List View

July 1, 2025

Screenshot showing DEVONthink's palette for customizing the metadata displayed in the sort options for the List Columns view.

When organizing your item list in DEVONthink, the long list of options for sorting to choose from can be daunting. There are likely many options you’ve never used or perhaps didn’t know even existed. Here we show you, how to customize and slim down this list. (more)

How to Transcribe Speech in DEVONthink

June 24, 2025

Screenshot of a DEVONthink window showing the Annotations & Reminders inspector. A transcript with timestamps is visible as an annotation.

If you have audio or video files you’ve downloaded or recorded yourself, the Pro and Server editions of DEVONthink let you use external AI to convert the audio into text. Here is how that works. (more)

Where to Find More About AI?

June 17, 2025

The image shows a book-page-like background with the words

“How can I use generative AI effectively?” — “How do I write a good prompt?“ — As people explore accessing external AI in DEVONthink, questions arise about how to use it. Here we show you two helpful resources about using AI. (more)

How to Paste Text with a Source Link

June 10, 2025

A screenshot of a Microsoft Word window displaying text with a source link that has been pasted into the document.

When doing research and taking notes, it is often helpful to link to specific parts of text in documents, especially PDFs. DEVONthink has two special copy and paste commands that make such linking very fast and effective. (more)

How to Use Versioning in DEVONthink

June 3, 2025

Screenshot of a DEVONthink window, showing the versions inspector. The inspector displays several versions of a Markdown document.

At some point, you have probably worked on a text and created a duplicate to save its current state. For this purpose, DEVONthink offers document versioning. This is a backup mechanism that automatically creates versions of your document when you make edits. Here is a quick introduction to this useful feature. (more)

How to Create Images in DEVONthink

May 27, 2025

Screenshot showing DEVONthink's Chat popover. The Chat contains a prompt requesting an image of a Portuguese cathedral, with the generated image displayed below.

There are times when an image would be useful to illustrate something, or just something creatively fun to explore. If you have the Pro or Server edition of DEVONthink and an API key for an AI provider, you can create images directly in DEVONthink. Here is what you need to know. (more)