DEVONthink To Go 3.0

After the release of DEVONthink 3 for Mac and subsequent updates, which consumed quite a part of our energy for a while, we used the last few months to work on its mobile companion. Today we’re releasing DEVONthink To Go 3.0 as a new app with many new features and improvements as well as a modernized code base.

User Interface

While we stick with the general geometry of DEVONthink To Go’s user interface, we have given all parts of it an overhaul. If you like dark mode, here we go. On iPad it supports windows, side-by-side or in multiple scenes, as well as the pointer (or cursor, if you will). Long-press databases, groups, or documents to get context menus that give you access to all common actions from opening the info popover to sharing. Use a trackpad or mouse to show the context menu with a secondary click, just like on the Mac.

If the built-in capabilities are not enough, open documents in others apps and edit them in place. Swipe to select multiple items; start swiping with two fingers to immediately start selecting. Recent destinations make moving or replicating items much faster.

Like its Mac counterpart, DEVONthink To Go 3 shows inboxes, trashes, and the Tags groups unified on its database screen. You can, of course, customize this behavior. Until support for user-defined smart groups arrives, we have added new predefined smart groups. Favorites can now contain documents.

Searching immediately returns matches in titles, and searches the full text after pressing the Enter key. When searching in groups it also finds items in subgroups.

Working with Documents

Convert your scans with the new text recognition (OCR) to searchable PDFs. It’s all done on the device, no data leaves your iPad or iPhone for processing. Write Markdown with support for MultiMarkdown 6 including CriticMarkup, use robust item links to link to resources like images, videos, or CSS stylesheets.

Other enhancements include document annotations and one to five star ratings. Add plain text annotations to any document in DEVONthink To Go, stored as a separate item linked to the annotated document. Item links for the global inbox now copy a universal identifier that works across all devices. And the Clip to DEVONthink extension tries to clip data better from pages behind log-ins or paywalls.

Syncing Between Your Devices

DEVONthink has always given you the choice: local network, Dropbox, WebDAV, iCloud. With DEVONthink To Go 3.0 and DEVONthink 3.6.2 we’re adding a new iCloud sync location based on CloudKit. It transfers data fully synchronous and doesn’t need the CPU and battery-intensive upload monitoring. It is also faster and more reliable. Automatic syncs happen more frequently in the background. In addition, DEVONthink To Go processes items faster and chunks data more efficiently.

Automating with Shortcuts

With acquiring Shortcuts and extending it massively, Apple has made serious automation possible on iOS. DEVONthink To Go 3 offers a range of Shortcuts actions from locating and retrieving documents and groups to manipulating them from your own scripts. Item links now also support additional parameters.

Other Improvements

Of course, DEVONthink To Go 3 brings also many under-the-hood improvements. For example, many maintenance tasks like deleting data from the full-text index now run in the background when the device is sleeping and connected to external power. And we have fixed many major and minor issues to make the app faster and more reliable.

New App and Upgrading

As we don’t want to force anyone to upgrade to version 3 we are making DEVONthink To Go 3 available as a new app in the App Store. It’s a free download that, after a free one-month trial, asks for either a subscription or a one-time payment for the 3.x generation. Subscriptions are available for US $1.99 per month or US $14.99 per year, the one-time purchase is US $39.99.

Click here to visit DEVONthink To Go on the App Store.

If you have DEVONthink To Go 2.7.8 or later installed on your device, version 3 offers you a free intro period until the end of July, 2021, and thereafter a price-reduced one-time purchase for US $19.99.