If you have purchased licenses at more than one occasion and using different email addresses you have multiple customer accounts. We can merge them for you so that you will find all your licenses in one place.

Contact us with some proof that you owned the other email addresses. We’ll manually check your request and merge your accounts.

If you purchased a product directly from us then you already have a user account tied to the email address that you used for purchasing. Request a temporary password here. You’ll be sent a link that allows you to enter a new password for your account.

When you already have a password for your customer account you can just log in and change your email address yourself.

If you still have access to the email address but have lost your password you can reset your password here.

If you don’t have a password yet and you don’t have access to the email address anymore that you used for purchasing we will need to update your account manually. Please contact us with as many details as possible that we can use to locate your account and verify your identity.

No, our apps never ask for money while you still have a valid license or subscription. We have not added an option to buy while there is an active subscription to prevent accidental double purchases.

On iOS and based on how the App Store works, the trial time is simply a free month at the beginning of a regular subscription. To switch, e.g., from a monthly to a yearly subscription or a different licensing model, please cancel your subscription and let it expire. As soon as the app asks for a license again, choose your desired option.

You might. As Apple alone runs the App Store and decides about cancellations and refunds, please contact the App Store support directly.

Yes, DEVONthink To Go supports family sharing for subscriptions. Make sure to enable sharing for the subscription in App Store > Account > Subscriptions.

The one-time purchase for DEVONthink To Go is valid for the app generation you have purchased it for. You might need to switch to a subscription or use your Mac license for registering the app when a new major generation arrives.

All purchases and subscriptions made in the App Store can only get refunded by Apple. We have no access to payment information or even to look up our customers. Sorry.

In the App Store, academic discounts are handled by Apple and your school. Please contact your school and ask if they enrolled in an App Store Volume Purchase Program and how you can participate.

Visit the App Store app, navigate to your account, and then to Subscriptions. Choose the subscription you want to cancel, tap it, then cancel it.

As we don’t want to force you to upgrade to DEVONthink To Go 4 we made it a new app in the App Store. If you have a subscription or one-time purchase for version 3 we have prepared upgrade options for you.

If you bought the one-time purchase on or after January 1st, 2024, you can use DEVONthink To Go 4 for free until the end of 2026. The app will then ask you how you would like to proceed: with an App Store subscription or by using a DEVONthink Pro or Server 4 license that is eligible for updates.

No, it’s a real subscription as we no longer offer one-time purchases for DEVONthink To Go. However, alternatively to an App Store subscription you can register DEVONthink To Go with a DEVONthink Pro or Server 4 license as long as the license is eligible for updates.

No, we are afraid. DEVONthink To Go can be used, with restrictions, for free, but to use its full functionality it requires either a subscription or a mobile seat of a DEVONthink Pro or Server for Mac license. We have moved away from monolithic upgrades every few years to delivering new functionality whenever it’s ready. To do this in a sustainable way, the App Store offers the subscriptions model.

With DEVONthink 3 we have retired DEVONthink Personal. We may or may not bring DEVONthink for Mac back to the App Store in the future. We will let you know via our blog.

Apps purchased in the App Store are identified online through your Apple account. Neither are you sent a license code nor do we receive any information about your purchase.

Older generations of DEVONthink To Go are no longer available in the App Store. But if you purchased them while they were still on sale, you can reinstall them at any time to your devices.

Open the App Store app and visit your account. Tap Purchased, then My Purchases. Search for “DEVONthink”. Install it from here.

For varying reasons we do not offer our software in certain countries. If you are living in a country where our software is not available in the App Store you might be able to buy it with e.g. an EU or US credit card.

Yes, we can downgrade your license to a lower edition if you don’t need the functionality of the higher edition anymore and want to save upgrade costs and, later, costs for extending the updates of your license. As you paid good money for the additional feature set of the higher edition, we need your confirmation that you have understood that downgrading is not revocable and are sure that you want to do it. Please contact our sales support with the request.

No, sorry. If you need more Mac seats, please visit your customer account, click your license, and scroll to Updates & Upgrades. Purchase additional Mac seats there.

No, sorry. As stated in our Business Principles, we try to treat all people equal. Therefore we don’t give individual discounts retrospectively to only those who ask. If we made a mistake in the staging of the promotion, we might give a discount to those affected.

If you are a student or educator you might be eligible for an academic discount. Check out our Students & NPOs page.

For applying you will need a student or faculty ID or some other proof of your status, e.g., a letter documenting your affiliation with the institution. Please understand that without a proof of your status we can’t grant you a discount.

We are sorry, but there are no trial extensions available. With our extremely flexible trial model there is generous amount of time to determine if the application is suitable for you: 30 days or 150 non-consecutive hours (30 hours for DEVONagent), whichever is longer. So even when you used up the non-consecutive hours, you’ll always have 30 days to test. And if you didn’t find the time for testing, you should have many hours left even after the 30 days.

If, why ever, the trial time still ran out for you, e.g., because you left the app open unattended, there’s still our 14 days no-questions-asked refund policy. You can safely buy a license, try it for two weeks, and get your money back.

Yes, the student and NPO discount also applies to the upgrade to version 4 and, later, update extensions. You can apply for the discount or renew your status in your customer account under Status and Services. After we approved your request, you will receive the discount.

Whether you extend the updates your license or not is fully up to you. Even if you don’t, you can still use the last version you received. You can download it at any time in your customer account in the sidebar of the license’s page. Your license never expires.

No, the price for the extension does not increase if you extend your license later. You always pay the same price, bringing your license up to date and receiving another year of updates. However, you will receive a discount if you extend your license early.

No, you do not need to extend seats separately. Additional seats also don’t cost extra when you extend your license.

Being logged in with student status blocks entering a coupon code as discounts cannot be combined. To take advantage of a coupon, log out of your customer account and empty the shopping cart. Then (re)add the product you’d like to buy to the cart and enter the coupon code.

Please understand that it is not possible to upgrade an existing license purchased as a student or educator using a coupon code. The standard academic discount is automatically applied in this case.

Activating a seat means to enter the license code into your copy of the application and register the device with our backend system. To activate a seat:

1. Log into your customer account.
2. Click the appropriate product in the Your Licenses section to display your licensing information.
3. Press the Activate button at the top of the page. Note: In Safari, you may have to allow opening our application.

To deactivate a seat:

1. Log into your customer account.
2. Click the appropriate product in the Your Licenses section to display your licensing information.
3. In the Devices section, press the Edit button.
4. Press the encircled minus ⊖ button next to the device from which you want to remove the seat.

This removes the device from your license so you can use the license for registering the software on another computer.

When you launch DEVONsphere Express it shows up as a little leaf icon in the right-hand part of the menu bar. Click it to show the DEVONsphere panel, then click the gear ⚙︎ icon to show its menu and choose Enter License to enter your license code.

Please contact Paddle, the company that runs our checkout, for receiving a copy of your invoice. You can reach them via their website or simply by email.

To upgrade an existing license please log into your account and choose the license you’d like to upgrade. Your user account is tied to the email address that you used for purchasing. Request a temporary password here. You’ll be sent a link that allows you to enter a new password for your account.

No, sorry. DEVONthink To Go is included only in DEVONthink Pro or Server 4 or later as long as the license is eligible for updates.

Sorry, this is no longer possible.

Yes, there is also an upgrade option from version 2 as long as you purchased the license on our website or it was added to your customer account for some other reason. In this case, however, you will trade-in your old license for a new one.

No. Even if you don’t buy another year of upgrades, you can always use DEVONthink with all the features included in the latest version available to your license. Your license is always yours and never expires.

Licenses for DEVONthink 3 and later can be used on up to two Macs. When you enter the license code into the app an identifier for your computer is added to the license, occupying one seat. You can check on which devices a license is currently being used in your customer account. Here you can also remove devices from a license to free up the seat.

If you have more than two devices you can buy additional seats from your customer account.

Older licenses can normally be used on all computers that you own and operate yourself. They are not valid for e.g. a separate account on your Mac used by someone else.

DEVONthink always stays up to date, including all new features. You will also receive a discount if you extend your license early.

No, all license codes for DEVONthink 3 remain valid and you do not need a new, separate license for DEVONthink 4.

Yes, of course, you keep all purchased seats.

When you purchased your software from us we sent you your license codes by email. In addition we keep them in our backend system. You can access them at any time by logging into your account with the email address you used for purchasing.

Please note that in your account we can’t list apps that you purchased in the App Store. Apple does not share this kind of information.

The trial version of DEVONthink features all the functions of our top-of-the-line edition, DEVONthink Server. This allows you to try out many powerful options, shown in the menus with a blue star, like the built-in OCR, email archiving, custom metadata, and more.

When you purchase a license for DEVONthink, you will only have the features available to your specific license. If you want to continue using any of the features marked with the star, you need to purchase at least the Pro edition. When you do, you will also get the other functions except for the web sharing, unless you purchase the Server edition.

Click here for an overview about what functionality is available in which edition of DEVONthink.

When you decide not to extend your DEVONthink for Mac license, your app simply no longer gets updates. In the App Store this is not possible. iOS apps always receive the latest updates regardless of their licensing status. Therefore you can use your DEVONthink for Mac license for registering DEVONthink To Go but only as long as the license receives updates.

No! You keep your license and you can use it for as long as you want. When the year of included updates has expired, DEVONthink will simply stay on the last included version and receive no further updates. Whether you choose to update or when is fully up to you.

It really depends on what you’re hoping to do. DEVONthink has powerful automation capabilities allowing it to interact with many other applications on your Mac, especially AppleScript-aware ones. Hazel and Keyboard Maestro are two such applications that many of our customers have integrated with DEVONthink. A web search or a search of our community will often turn up some great ideas!

Unfortunately no. macOS and iOS are two operating systems for very different device categories. Where the Mac, e.g., has windows, a menu bar, and much more options for integrating apps, iOS is focused on simplicity and full-screen apps. Mac applications cannot run on iOS as they are built for very different hardware and a more complex user interface.

DEVONthink Pro and Server can use any scanner that works with Apple’s Image Capture application (TWAIN is not supported). There is additional support for integrating with Ricoh ScanSnap scanners through their ScanSnap Manager and ScanSnap Home software.

Regarding text recognition: DEVONthink Pro and Server has the ABBYY Finereader OCR engine included for converting scans to searchable PDFs directly in DEVONthink. However, lower editions still support importing files that have had OCR applied by third-party applications.

No, this is not possible, we’re afraid. DEVONthink does not allow more than one person to access a database at a time.

DEVONthink follows a decentralized data model where each machine has a local copy of the database but syncs to a commonly accessible location. Collaboration via syncing may require special attention, like a shared account on a cloud service, ie. using the same credentials on each machine. Feel free to contact our support team for further information.

With DEVONthink Server, there is also a built-in web server that allows you to broadcast a database on your network. Users can access shared databases through a web browser, even on Windows machines. While it’s not as functional as DEVONthink itself, it can prove useful in an office setting. For more specific information, please refer to the built-in help or manual.

There is no separate download for each edition of DEVONthink, it’s just one application to download and install. It will be named DEVONthink 3 in the Finder.

Only when you have purchased a license for any edition of DEVONthink and applied a seat to the machine, it activates the chosen feature set. You can verify the edition you’re running with one of these options:

• Read the ​Registered to ​line in the splash screen, accessible via ​DEVONthink 3 > About DEVONthink 3​.
• Click the Welcome link at the bottom of the ​Help > Support Assistant.
• Check the menus. For example, if you see a blue star on Data > OCR, that is a feature of the Pro or Server editions, so you’re running the Standard edition.

By default, DEVONthink imports files which does copy them into the database. This creates a self-contained database that can easily be backed up or transported as a single unit. Whether to delete the originals is up to you, but many people choose not to keep the external copies.

Alternatively, you can index external files and folders which just adds references for them to your databases. In this case you must not move or delete the files outside of DEVONthink or you’ll break the references.

DEVONthink databases aren’t specifically susceptible to “corruption”, but as with any files on your computer, problems can occur. We suggest following regular maintenance routines on your machine as well as your databases to ensure they’re healthy.

For your databases, a Tools > Verify & Repair on a regular schedule, perhaps every other week under heavy use, can keep your mind at ease. If you run into trouble, consult the manual or contact our support team.

DEVONthink imports and stores files in their native formats. There is no conversion to any proprietary formats, nor do we have any. For instance, a PDF imported into DEVONthink remains a PDF.

Also, while files are stored in a proprietary folder structure internally, we provide many options for getting the files out. This includes simple drag-and-drop out of DEVONthink and the File > Export > Files and Folders command. It is also possible to access the internals of a database to access all these files in an emergency setting, but please contact our support team for assistance with this.

Designing a database is largely a preferential thing. A database can be very small or very large, depending on its use. However, smaller, more focused databases may generally perform better, sync faster, and be more data-safe in the event of a catastrophe (avoiding the “all your eggs in one basket” problem). They also give you the opportunity to close unused databases when you’re not using them.

The suggested size of a DEVONthink database is measured in words, more than in bytes. You can see this in File > Database Properties for each database. DEVONthink indexes the text of files and stores that in an index for each database. When you open a database, its index is loaded into memory for faster operations. The more unique words in the indices, the more memory is required.

Generally speaking, a modern machine with 8 GB RAM can easily hold one million unique words and 100,000 items in the database.

To work with DEVONthink in a team, you have two options, which both have their own advantages and disadvantages:

1. Install DEVONthink on each of your team’s Macs and synchronize your databases between all of them, either directly via Bonjour or via a storage location like a WebDAV server or a shared Dropbox account. Advantage: You can use the full functionality of DEVONthink at all workplaces. Disadvantages: You need a license with seats for all Macs running DEVONthink. In addition, a copy of the database is kept on every Mac taking part in the sync circle and occupies storage space. All participants have full access to all databases shared with them.

2. You run DEVONthink Server on one Mac which holds the databases. All other workplaces access your databases via a web interface provided by the server Mac. Advantages: User and permission management lets you control who has access to which databases. The number of workplaces accessing the server is not limited, and you can also use Windows or Linux PCs to connect to the server via web browser. You don’t need to buy additional seats to accommodate more users. Disadvantage: The web interface offers only a part of DEVONthink’s feature set.

DEVONthink Server is the same application as DEVONthink but with an additional server component. Its license comes with two seats so you can install it on up to two Macs and use it just like any of the other editions (you don’t have to use the server component on a Mac not being used as a server).

To completely remove one of our Mac apps, please refer to the built-in help, Read Me section.

Unfortunately, ScanSnap scanners don’t work with Apple’s Image Capture and can’t be controlled by DEVONthink. Instead, create a scanning profile in the ScanSnap Home software with the Send to option set to direct its output to DEVONthink.

1. Open ScanSnap Home and navigate to Preferences > Application.
2. Press Add or remove, and add DEVONthink.
3. Select ScanSnap Home > Scan Settings, then Profile > Add new profile.
4. Select the ScanSnap Home profile and…
   • change the name of the profile, e.g., to DEVONthink Scans,
   • change the Type to Mac (Scan to file),
   • change Send to to DEVONthink,
   • and adjust any other settings, as desired.
5. Press Add to create a new profile.

This will send new scans to DEVONthink. While all editions of DEVONthink receive the scans, remember that only the Pro and Server editions have OCR capabilities. Alternatively set ScanSnap Home to perform OCR.

This depends on the specific application as not all applications share their data easily. Applications with drag-and-drop and extensive export options provide more potential for moving data between the apps. DEVONthink includes a few built in options in its File > Import menu. For specific applications, please check our community or contact our support.

If you have fully transitioned to DEVONthink 4, including activating a seat for the machine, you should remove version 3 from at least your user account on your Mac to avoid confusion. You should not have version 3 and 4 on the same account, on the same machine.

At a minimum, you can delete the DEVONthink 3 app from the Applications folder and reboot the machine. Note: You may need to quit Safari first as our browser extension may be loaded and in use.

For information on doing a deeper clean, please contact our support.

DEVONthink stores the databases where you created them. We advocate using a folder in your home directory, like ~/Databases, and never put them in a cloud-synced folder. You can find your databases by searching with Spotlight for:

kind:database dtBase2

The global inbox is stored in:

~/Library/Application Support/DEVONthink Pro 3/Inbox.dtBase2

DEVONthink has no built in file backup capabilities. A proper backup strategy is up to the individual to implement and maintain. Due to the simplicity of Apple’s Time Machine, we suggest using it with local external drives. For an online backup, you can use a cloud backup service that uses a snapshot-style backup, ie. not “continuous backups”. Arq is one such service.

You can find the system requirements for all our Mac apps either on the app’s product page or the Download page.

When you launch DEVONsphere Express it shows up as a little leaf icon in the right-hand part of the menu bar. Click it to show its panel. DEVONsphere Express stays out of your way and does not open a window automatically when it starts up.

With macOS Sonoma, Apple discontinued Mail plugins and replaced them with a new extensions architecture. Unfortunately, the new extensions are more limited in functionality and no longer allow us to access your email in the way we need to make email archiving work. They also no longer lets us insert our own commands into Mail. A future version of DEVONthink might offer more sophisticated email archiving options that don’t rely on a Mail plugin.

While we can’t specifically answer this question for you, maybe the following summary gives you some ideas:

• Standard: A very capable tool for everyday personal use. Multiple databases, database and in-document searching, even automation is included.
• Pro: Stepping up from the Standard edition, the Pro edition has features more commonly needed in business and academia. Custom metadata, full text concordance, scanning with OCR, and email importing are some of the high-powered functions you’ll find.
• Server: With all the power of the Pro edition, Server has a built-in webserver made for sharing databases on a network with users on other platforms or Mac users not running DEVONthink. This edition is geared toward multi-user business and group collaboration situations.

You can find a list what differentiates Pro and Server from the Standard edition on the product page.

The New Outlook is Microsoft Outlook’s new interface. It’s the same application with a different appearance. Unfortunately, Microsoft also removed the support for AppleScript, an inter-application communication technology that DEVONthink and other apps need to talk to Outlook.

To enable email archiving from Outlook again, switch off the new appearance via Outlook > New Outlook. You’re presented with a prompt asking why you’re changing away from the new look. Please feel free to let Microsoft know by choosing AppleScript from the list of reasons.

According to Microsoft's roadmap, AppleScript support is planned to return to Outlook.

With the release of version 10, Evernote broke support for inter-application communication. In order to use DEVONthink’s menu command File > Import > Notes from Evernote, you’ll need to download and use the legacy version of their application. You can find more information here: Install an older version of Evernote.

In macOS Monterey, changes made by Apple have broken the links in our Help. Here’s a workaround for how you may still use the hidden preferences…

1. Open DEVONthink’s Help > DEVONthink 3 Help and navigate to Documentation > Appendix > Hidden Preferences.
2. Control- or right-click the On or Off link for the desired preference, ​and choose ​Copy Link​.
3. Open your browser, e.g., Safari, and paste the link into the address bar.
4. Press Return and click OK for opening the link in DEVONthink.

This warning is normal and usually issued in these circumstances, the first being the most common cause:

1. After DEVONthink has terminated abnormally, e.g., by crash or force quit.
2. When trying to access a database already opened by another person. This includes a database open in another logged in account on the Mac. DEVONthink is ​not ​made for multi-user simultaneous access.
3. If you were trying to open multiple copies of the same database. This is usually caused by copying and renaming a .dtBase2 file in the Finder, and should not be done.

Press Continue . DEVONthink will do a checkup to ensure the database is healthy and report if there are problems.

Note: With macOS Sonoma, Apple discontinued support for Mail plugins altogether. But, you can still drag email to DEVONthink, use DEVONthink’s Import sidebar, or export all email als MBOX file and import it.

When Apple upgrades their operating system, it sometimes causes an incorrect report that DEVONthink’s Apple Mail plugin is incompatible. This often happens when upgrading to major releases, e.g., from macOS Big Sur to Monterey.

The first thing to try is simply reinstalling the plugin via DEVONthink 3 > Install Add-Ons.

If that doesn’t work, try this to have a fresh installation of the plugin…

1. Quit Mail.
2. Quit DEVONthink 3.
3. If you haven’t already, enable Full Disk Access and all automation requests for DEVONthink 3 in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy.
4. In the Finder, hold the Option key and choose Go > Library.
5. Go into the Mail/Bundles folder and delete our .mailbundle file.
6. Relaunch DEVONthink 3 and install the Mail plugin from DEVONthink 3 > Install Add-Ons.
7. Relaunch Mail and enable the plugin via Preferences > General > Manage Plug-ins.

Note: The name of our .mailbundle file is correct as-is, even if it may appear incorrect for the current operating system.

For best performance and operation, DEVONthink, DEVONagent Pro, DEVONsphere Express, and EasyFind should be given Full Disk Access in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy. While this may sound more ominous than it is, our applications have been safely working this way for many years.

As of this writing, the areas protected by Full Disk Access are: Mail, Messages, Safari, Home, and Time Machine. Giving the applications full disk access allows for interactions like being able to properly install the Apple Mail plugin in DEVONthink Pro and Server, searching available disks in EasyFind, or importing Safari bookmarks into DEVONagent Pro.

When choosing applications, if using or migrating your data between applications is important to you, look for one or more of these features:

• Drag-and-drop
• Export functions, especially to PDF or text formats like rich text or Markdown
• File Provider support, e.g., access via Files.app, on mobile
• AppleScript support on the Mac, Shortcut support on mobile

But be aware, some applications implement proprietary variations of commonly used functions, like their own flavor of Markdown. Or perhaps they store document metadata in a particular way or location, making it difficult (or impossible) for other application’s to use it. These things may be overcome using other tools, like scripting, but there’s no guarantee it can be done. Apps using standards lead to more opportunities.

In general, reinstallation should not be one of your first steps. This is especially true when it’s a non-fatal issue, e.g., it’s not crashing. Reinstalling rarely resolves an issue and usually does nothing more than remove information important in troubleshooting. Instead go to our support resources or contact our support team directly.

If you are working with out support team and an issue persists beyond deeper troubleshooting, we may suggest to reinstall the application but we will provide proper per-application instructions, as needed.

While running the latest operating system can be exciting, we suggest not installing the first release. Waiting for the first or second revision is a good idea. However, once you have it installed, we recommend you stay current with the point releases to ensure you have the latest fixes.

Regarding beta operating systems offered by Apple, we strongly suggest you do not install a beta operating system on a production or mission-critical machine. Betas can, and often will, break things that worked previously and also introduce new issues that can manifest in a variety of forms.

Be aware, there is no 100% bullet-proof clipping solution in any application. Dynamic variables, like network quality, reachability and responsiveness of remote servers, bandwidth throttling, etc., can effect whether content can be successfully clipped. When the clipping mechanism encounters an unresolvable issue, a bookmark is clipped so there’s at least something useful captured. Trying the capture again may produce the desired result.

We are a very small team and software development is a dynamic environment. Unforeseen challenges can pop up out of nowhere and external and internal factors can change priorities while we work on a new release. Therefore we do not publish roadmaps or timeframes that we might not be able to meet.

• Applications are independently developed so features and functions in one aren’t necessarily going to be in another. And the vision and focus of each development team may not lead them to implementing the same features as other apps.
• Some features aren’t technically feasible to implement. Also, one developer may use proprietary code to add a feature, so reproducing it in another app may not be easily done.
• Not every feature makes sense in every application, for example it would of course be technically possible to add podcasting features to DEVONthink To Go but it’s far outside the focus of the app.

However, we always listen to and assess politely made suggestions.

To use your DEVONthink Pro or Server license for registering DEVONthink To Go, do the following:

1. Open DEVONthink To Go 4.
2. On the database list, tap the button with the three dots, then choose Settings.
3. Navigate to License.
4. Log into your DEVONtechnologies customer account.
5. In Settings > License > License choose the license you want to use and tap the checkmark button to register your copy.

Please note that your Mac license needs to be eligible for updates.

Data stored on your device is encrypted using iOS’ own encryption. So your databases are always encrypted and can only be read by DEVONthink To Go after you unlocked your device after a restart.

An additional app-wide passcode that can be different from your device’s passcode secures access to your data. Alternatively you can use Face ID or Touch ID. For usability reasons, individual databases do not have their own password protection, but their password is required to import them from a sync locations.

If these two levels of security do not suffice, e.g., for classified government documents, a specialized data vault, as provided by most government agencies, might be a more appropriate solution.

Spotlight receives the name, the first 16 KB of text content, the comment, and the tags for each item as well as metadata like the item’s type, its icon, and the creation and modification dates.

16 KB seems to be the internal limit of Spotlight (as of today).

The sizes shown for individual databases, for DEVONthink To Go as a whole, and in iOS’ Settings can differ. Here’s how they relate to each other:

1. The Info popover for a database shows the sum of the sizes of all documents in the database, regardless if they are downloaded to the device or not.
2. The Help popover shows the total of the data store folder on the device, comprising of the downloaded document files, the metadata database, the full-text index database, previews, thumbnails, all the files needed by sync, and some temporary files.
3. The iOS Settings combine the storage size used for all files in the folder shared by the application and all its extensions (the ‘shared container’), the files used to provide documents to the Files app, and the Spotlight index.

If you have just moved from DEVONthink To Go version 2 to version 3, the storage size shown in the iOS Settings also add the size of the old data store left behind by version 2. It will be cleaned up four weeks after launching DEVONthink To Go 3 for the first time.

Note that iOS is using the APFS file system. Copies of files and folders (‘clones’) are counted with their size but don’t take up any space unless one of the copies is modified. File and folder sizes on APFS therefore don’t necessarily represent the real number of bytes used.

Check DEVONthink To Go’s settings in the Settings app and make sure that Search & Siri Suggestions is switched on. Check also DEVONthink To Go’s own settings and switch on Spotlight if necessary. Then try to search for terms that you know that occur in the document, e.g. in its title. If still no results show up rebuild the Spotlight index (see the build-in documentation, chapter Appendix).

Unfortunately, there are no granular and accessible backups in iOS or iPadOS. The backup to iCloud is meant only for setting up or restoring a complete mobile device.

At this time, while sync is not intended as a backup, it may be used as a current backup of a database. Since the data is only useful to DEVONthink and DEVONthink To Go, it is not a true, product-independent backup, though.

Alternatively, you can export databases a files-in-folders to the Files app and back them up from there.

For a long time the USB port in iOS devices wasn’t available to third-party apps. We believe that synchronizing via the local network provides a fast and reliable method even for larger data sets.

While sync can be used to restore a database in an emergency, sync should not be your only backup. The sync data is chunked, DEVONthink-specific raw data about the databases and is only useful to DEVONthink or DEVONthink To Go. A proper backup should be application-agnostic.

Yes, you can sync your databases between DEVONthink 4 and the older generations, DEVONthink 3 and DEVONthink To Go 3. Revision-proof databases are only available in DEVONthink 4 and cannot be synced to DEVONthink 3 and DEVONthink To Go 3.

No, we’re afraid. The official Dropbox API only pairs with one account at a time.

Not yet. If you would like to use DEVONthink or DEVONthink To Go with a service that is not yet supported, feel free to let us know. We might add support for it in the future.

DEVONthink for Mac always uploads complete databases. You can exclude indexed items, though.

DEVONthink To Go always syncs the metadata for whole databases but you can select for the location, the database, or individual groups if you want to sync their content files too. If you sync only the metadata you can download the actual content later on demand.

There is no direct switching between sync methods, e.g., between iCloud and Dropbox sync locations. The sync data isn’t shared between locations.

In DEVONthink: Control-click the sync location in DEVONthink’s Preferences > Sync and choose Clean Location. This will remove the sync data in that location. Enable the new sync location, adjusting the options for the location as desired, then sync a database. Enable other databases as needed.

In DEVONthink To Go: Tap the Edit link in DEVONthink To Go’s Settings > Sync: Locations. Add the new sync method, adjusting the options, and saving it.

If you are using a shallow sync, i.e., Download Files: On demand, and you are not syncing to a new location already synced by your Mac, you must leave the old sync location active. Tap the new location and sync a database. DEVONthink To Go will pull the contents from the old location to upload to the new sync location. If you are syncing to a new location to which you’ve already synced your Mac, the contents of the files should be in the sync location already.

If you are using a full sync, i.e., Download Files: Always, the content of the files in fully synced databases is already local to DEVONthink To Go, so tap the new location and sync a database. Repeat as needed.

After you have synced successfully, you can left-swipe the old sync location, and choose Clean to remove the sync data from the old location.

If you set an encryption key for a sync store all data is AES 256 bit encrypted before leaving the device and is stored in encrypted form on the server. It can only be retrieved using the correct key. The same is true for direct connections where all data is encrypted using the key set in the Bonjour options.

In addition, the username and password you set for newly created databases is used as soon as you sync the database to another device. The database cannot be retrieved from a sync store or via direct connection without entering the right credentials.

Unfortunately no. The encryption key is never shared with us. If we could recover your encryption key anyone else could do this too. We’re using strong encryption to ensure that your privacy (at the time of this writing) can’t be cracked without substantial computing power, if at all. Are you sure that you don’t have noted it down on some piece of paper somewhere?

iCloud comprises several components. One of them is the file service with iCloud Drive being its user-facing part. Another component is CloudKit, a database service that works behind the curtain and can only be used by applications directly.

DEVONthink’s old iCloud sync was based on the file service which did not let it live up to the maximum possible performance. Contrary to that, the CloudKit sync uses the backend database’s capabilities for a fast, single-pass sync.

Click here to read our migration guide.

If you feel sync isn’t working correctly, these are the first things to check:

• In DEVONthink on the Mac, see what is reported in Window > Log. Then check the Troubleshooting > Sync Issues section of the built-in help.
• In DEVONthink To Go see if there is a triangle on the sync icon in the bottom toolbar of the database screen. If so, tap it to see what is reported. Then check the ? > Help > Sync > Troubleshooting section of the built-in help.

If you need further assistance than you can glean from the help or the downloadable manual, you will at least have some information to pass along to the support team.