While tags and groups are technically the same, their different way of presentation can be more flexible, especially in large DEVONthink knowledge collection spreading out in many directions. Using the tags bar (which you show and hide with View > Show/Hide Tags) you quickly add single tags to documents or remove them. Automatic completion makes adding already known tags easy. (more)

Just in time for the Christmas holidays in many parts of the world we have released a number of maintenance updates for all editions of DEVONthink, DEVONagent, and DEVONnote.

Download the apps from our download page. To directly update your copy open the app and choose Check for Update in the app’s application menu (the one labeled with the application’s name).

Keyboard Maestro allows you to automate things in almost any Mac app and assign it a shortcut. Even cooler is that when you assign the same shortcut to multiple macros Keyboard Maestro shows a head-up display with a list of all macros with this shortcut for you to choose from. (more)

If you are using email encryption on the Mac you are very likely using S/MIME, e.g. with a Verisign certificate. Unfortunately your certificate is not automatically synchronized with your iDevice so that you can read your encrypted messages also on-the-go. But, it’ became possible with iOS 5. Ars Technica has a good article about how to secure your email communication and make it work also with your iPhone or iPad. Read it here.

It’s update season here at DEVONtechnologies — and you shouldn’t miss it! We have added new functionality and eye candy, made all apps faster and more reliable, and, of course, fixed dozens of bugs and glitches. And we have added a brand new freeware app: Grid!

To add a table to a rich text document place your insertion caret, then choose Format > Table. An empty table is inserted and the standard Mac RTF table panel appears that lets you change e.g. the numbers of rows and columns. (more)

German handbook writer Michael Malzahn has put together a brand new workbook for DEVONthink in German language. DEVONthink — Das Arbeitsbuch introduces the reader to our information management software step-by-step from the installation to the deepest corners of the program. Many screenshots, tables, and a keyboard shortcut list make the 248-page ebook a must-have for German-language DEVONthink users. (more)

If you are using Getting Things Done (GTD) you know the concept of a “tickler file”: folders for all twelve months with sub-folders for each day of the month (also known as “43 folders”). You place documents into the sub-folder of the day on which you will need the document. If you want to postpone the task you move the document forward to another day. (more)

While we are working hard on behind-the-scene changes for a totally new sync technology that will soon do away with the current problems we have released two other new features this weekend for DEVONthink To Go: a brand new PDF viewer and a new rich text editor that allows you to use formatted text on your iPad or iPhone. This makes it now possible to view even very large PDF documents including scans on your device without making the app quit due to memory limitations and to edit formatted text, something iOS does not yet offer itself like OS X does. Of course, DEVONthink To Go 1.2.1 fixes a large number of bugs, too, and is fully compatible to iOS 5.

In a recent article on TidBITS Tonya Engst talks about how she manages school papers digitally:

The ScanSnap is addictive, and I’ve hardly begun to learn how to use it. Here’s how cool it is: My son comes home from the first day of school with a fistful of forms and handouts. I open the scanner, stick them in, choose an option from the ScanSnap icon in the Dock, and push the big blue button on the scanner. Within moments (or minutes if I chose to run OCR) the entire pile is onscreen, even the double-sided forms and the pages that emerge from the backpack slightly crumpled. (more)