Take Control of Getting Started with DEVONthink 2

by Joe Kissell

Take control of all your information with DEVONthink and Joe Kissell's advice!

With the information-management program DEVONthink 2, you no longer have to swim in a sea of Web bookmarks, email receipts, RSS feeds, scanned memos, and downloaded bank statements. DEVONthink stores your digital documents and clippings, helps you scan and store paper documents, and serves as home base for organizing and viewing all your information. But mastering all that power can take effort, and this book--created in partnership with DEVONtechnologies--has the real-world advice you need to understand how DEVONthink can bring order to your information.

You'll also learn how to extend your DEVONthink experience beyond your main Mac with Joe's detailed explanation of the many ways you can sync DEVONthink databases to your other Apple devices and his lucid look at the DEVONthink To Go iOS app.

"This book got me around some suboptimal usage patterns that were holding up my profitable use of this excellent software. I'd recommend this book to any level of DEVONthink user." --Scott McGrath

After covering essential DEVONthink vocabulary and concepts, Joe helps you start using DEVONthink effectively. You'll learn how


Get around in the interface
Decide how many databases you need and set them up
Determine whether to input or index data
Configure where incoming data will go
Import data from many different apps
Import data from a scanner, including OCR options
Use grouping and tagging to organize data
Use simple (and sophisticated) techniques for searching
Create smart groups that automatically gather newly imported data
Create documents in plain text, HTML, Markdown, and more
Edit documents in DEVONthink (or externally)
Find the best way to sync DEVONthink data with other devices
Get tips for working effectively in the DEVONthink To Go iOS app
Share DEVONthink documents with other people
Export documents from DEVONthink
Back up and maintain healthy databases
Questions answered in the book


What is DEVONthink good for, and what should be left to other programs?
What kinds of data can I import? (Short Nearly everything!)
Which of DEVONthink's many views should I use?
When I import documents from different sources, where do they end up, and why?
Is it better to sort imported documents right away, or leave them for later?
Should I group my data, tag it, or both?
What are duplicates and replicants, and how can I tell them apart?
Which types of data can be created or edited within DEVONthink?
How do I make my DEVONthink database accessible via the Web?
How do I move documents out of DEVONthink using the Share feature?
How do I use DEVONthink To Go on my iOS device?
Are there Automator or AppleScript options for DEVONthink? ( Yes!)

Genres: Nonfiction

265 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Joe Kissell is the author of more than 60 books and hundreds of articles on technology topics. In 2017, he also became the publisher of Take Control Books, when alt concepts—the company he runs along with his wife, Morgen Jahnke—acquired the Take Control imprint from TidBITS Publishing Inc. He was the winner of a 2009 Neal award for Best How-to Article, and formerly wrote for publications such as Macworld, TidBITS, and Wirecutter. Before he began writing full-time in 2003, Joe managed software development for Nisus Software and Kensington Technology Group. In his hypothetical spare time, Joe likes to walk, cook, read, and practice tai chi. He lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, with Morgen and their sons.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for a technical guide about how to get around DEVONthink 2, this is your book. With that, it's mainly just a walkthrough of menus, not 'here's some really cool stuff you can do with this program' which is what I had been curious about. 3/4 of the book is just about getting stuff into your database, could've used a section on 'here's how DEVONthink helps with analysis.' For that, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/boo...

[Luke Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am seriously considering this purchase. DEVONthink is a file management application that even comes with some artificial intelligence features. It's like Evernote on steroids. But before I dropped $100+ on the application, I wanted to do some more extensive reading on how it worked.

For a technical guide, I thought this book was very helpful. If you're already familiar with applications and programs (especially on Mac), you'll probably skim some portions of this book. But DEVONthink is not a simple program and there is much in this book to help you find your way around without getting lost.

[Rafael Ontivero · Rating 3 out of 5]

No está mal, y menciona alguna cosa que no me había dado cuenta, pero básicamente es un libro para "Dummies" de esos que se escribían antes.

Si eres un usuario con ciertas tablas en MAC, casi todo lo que este hombre comenta, ya lo has descubierto por ti mismo. Casi todo.

Lo único a destacar, de todo el libro es la explicación sobre la sincronización y, aunque no profundiza mucho, sí te da una idea de lo poderosa que es.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good run through of how to use DEVONthink to an intermediate level. I'm sure there are more advanced things that may not be covered by this book, however, you will feel very confident in your first steps upon reading through yourself.

Sections and Chapters break things out nicely and make it relatively easy to jump forward and back as you start dabbling in the program itself.

[Darrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really a useful book for me. It helped me to get started using DEVONthink Pro Office to move my accounting practice to a more paperless environment. The software is very intuitive and Kissell helps explain the basic use and purpose of the software.