Press Release

Autumn Updates

September 21, 2022 — Eric Böhnisch-Volkmann

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho — DEVONtechnologies releases new versions of its documentation and information manager DEVONthink and of its smart research assistant DEVONagent. Version 3.8.6 of DEVONthink brings native OCR for Apple silicon Macs and adds a large variety of other quality of life improvements from new menu commands to new smart rule triggers and AppleScript properties. It also enhances compatibility to cloud drives and Google Docs. DEVONagent 3.11.6 has many under-the-hood improvements including the option to send JSON POST requests. It also now scans found web pages for EPUB and Kindle ebooks.

DEVONthink is DEVONtechnologies’ document and information management solution. It supports a large variety of file formats and stores them in a database enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI). Many document formats can be directly viewed, edited, and annotated. A powerful search language finds documents in an instant, smart groups keep them always at hand.

Sophisticated organization tools, AI-based techniques that handle even the largest collections, and numerous integration options make DEVONthink the work environment of choice for researchers, lawyers, journalists, writers, and educators. Smart rules, flexible reminders, and deep AppleScript support allow automating even complex repeating tasks. And with its fast, reliable, and secure synchronization users keep their data available on all their Macs. DEVONthink To Go for iPad and iPhone completes the DEVONthink ecosystem.

  • Keep your data together in one place
  • Scan your paper, archive your email
  • Let artificial intelligence help you organize your data
  • Automate tasks with smart rules and reminders
  • Sync your data to all your devices, fast and secure
  • Share your data with anyone, whether they use Mac or PC

DEVONagent is DEVONtechnologies’ solution for searching thoroughly on the web. It queries multiple search engines at once and scans web pages for possible matches. It then post-processes the results and presents only the relevant ones. Good results can be automatically added to an archive or to DEVONthink, or fed to other workflows using AppleScript and other means of automation. DEVONagent is available in three editions for different workflows, needs, and budgets: Pro, Express, and Lite (free).

  • Search many sources on the internet
  • Use advanced search operators
  • Let DEVONagent post-processes results for accuracy
  • Keep results in the built-in archive based on DEVONthink technology
  • Automate your recurring research tasks

New in DEVONthink 3.8.6

This maintenance release offers several quality of life improvements throughout all aspects of DEVONthink, from the build-in OCR engine to the many automation options.

Version 3.8.6 now includes a native OCR engine optimized for Apple silicon Macs. This makes converting scans into searchable PDFs faster and more efficient on current Apple hardware. It also now recognizes scans from the Canon IJ Scan Utility and sends them through OCR if desired.

New menu commands facilitate navigating databases and working with data and documents. For example, a new Go menu command lets users quickly navigate to the new location after moving items, and the Paste with Source Link command pastes copied text including a link back to where the data was copied from. Other new commands include options for rotating images and PDFs by full 180 degrees and for updating the thumbnail of web documents.

Screenshot showing a Google Docs document being edited within DEVONthink.

For Markdown documents DEVONthink lets users define how they want to link to inserted images, as relative links or as DEVONthink-specific item links, and dropping from Apple Mail or Calendar into Markdown documents adds a link back to the original email or event. Converting documents to PDF retains the properties of the source document if possible, e.g., the title and author of a rich text document.

DEVONthink 3.8.6 now imports Google Docs documents as bookmarks so that they can be edited directly within the application. It also handles indexed items in iCloud Drive, including application-specific folders, more reliably, and no longer applies changed Finder tags from files in cloud drives that don’t support tags. When emptying the trash, a new option lets the user remove also locked items without manually unlocking them first.

On the search and automation side, version 3.8.6 adds search criteria filtering for items that have or don’t have URLs or thumbnails. Additionally, smart rules can now be triggered when the users flags a file or converts it to another format. New AppleScript parameters and properties improve the classify command or indicate whether a database or document is encrypted.

Further minor enhancements include better stripping of cookie consent banners, queueing importing and indexing files from cloud drives, and an updated, faster Support Assistant with dark mode support. Selecting an inactive window no longer changes the selection or makes item names editable by accident. And finally, the web interface gets a contextual menu command for copying item links and lets users edit item properties when the Info popover is summoned from search results.

New in DEVONagent 3.11.6

DEVONagent 3.11.6 is a maintenance release with many under-the-hood technical improvements. Several plugins have been updated, namely for searching the Apple App Store, JSTOR, Google Video, and YouTube. Plugins define how the application accesses web services and retrieves the found search results. For those creating their own plugins in DEVONagent Pro, a new key lets them send JSON POST requests to compatible sites.

Scanners, also a type of plugin, look for specific data on or linked to search results and filter those pages that don’t include the required kind of data. The scanner plugin looking for linked documents now also finds EPUB and Kindle ebooks.

In addition, DEVONagent 3.11.6 better filters advertisements and more reliably retrieves web page title and image thumbnails. The update also improves traversing links in RSS feeds, better parses Google search results, and includes the faster and dark-mode-enabled Support Assistant. And finally, the rewritten Download Manager improves performance and cookie handling, and allows to resume interrupted downloads.

All updates, which also improve the overall reliability and performance and fix bugs and glitches, are free for existing users and highly recommended.

System requirements:

  • macOS Mojave or later

Availability and Pricing:

DEVONthink as well as all editions of DEVONagent can be downloaded for free from the DEVONtechnologies website. After the trial period all except for DEVONagent Lite require a license.

  • DEVONthink 3: US $99
  • DEVONthink Pro 3: US $199
  • DEVONthink Server 3: US $499
  • DEVONagent Pro: US $49.95
  • DEVONagent Express: US $4.95
  • DEVONagent Lite: free

Every license of DEVONthink includes the ability to install the software on two physical machines (seats). Additional seats and upgrades from the previous generation of DEVONthink are available for attractive upgrade prices. A license for DEVONagent can be used on all Macs used in person by the licensee.

More information:

Customers find more information about our apps on the DEVONtechnologies website. We also also posts news, opinions, previews, and public betas in our company blog, Devonian Times. Weekly tips help getting the most out of our products.

Links:

About DEVONtechnologies:

DEVONtechnologies LLC creates end-user and server applications for the Mac and iOS platforms that enhance productivity, organization, and user experience with unique artificial intelligence technology. All applications are focused on both ease of use and satisfying the needs of even the most savvy users. The underlying DEVONtechnology is a flexible and versatile foundation that can be used for a large range of purposes from databases, data mining, and information retrieval to human-computer interfaces.

DEVONtechnologies LLC was founded 2002 and incorporated 2004, and is today headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA.

All Material and Software © Copyright 2022 DEVONtechnologies LLC. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh and macOS are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.