DEVONthink 4.0.1
After twelve weeks of refining the public beta, DEVONtechnologies has released version 4 of its DEVONthink document and information manager. It’s a major upgrade with support for external AI providers (DEVONthink Pro required), an updated user interface, and a bounty of powerful new features. Codenamed Copernicus (a nod to both the Copernicus lunar crater and Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus), the release can automatically create versions for text documents and PDFs; introduces audit-proof databases that prohibit modifying documents placed into them (great for legal or financial documents); adds a batch processing window that enables you to create a library of reusable configurations; allows you to add reminders to selected items with a Remind Me command; updates the Tags inspector to show current, related, and suggested tags for a selected document; adds support for live scrolling in Markdown documents when in Side-by-Side view; and much more. DEVONthink 4 now requires macOS 13 Ventura or later.
DEVONthink Pro 4’s support for AI includes the ability to write search queries in natural language, AI summarization and text transformation, text extraction from images or handwritten notes, and speech-to-text transcription from media files. The use of generative AI is optional and supports numerous models, including ChatGPT, Claude, and Mistral AI, as well as locally installed models such as Ollama and LM Studio.
DEVONthink is priced at $99 ($49 upgrade from version 3), DEVONthink Pro at $199 ($99 upgrade), and DEVONthink Server at $499 ($149 upgrade), with licenses for each edition providing two seats (to use on two separate Macs). Licenses are valid for one year of updates, after which the app will remain fully functional but will not receive updates to new versions unless an extension is purchased. ($99 new for DEVONthink, $199 for DEVONthink Pro, and $499 for DEVONthink Server with a 15% discount for TidBITS members; upgrades available; release notes; 84.2 MB; macOS 13+)
While I have nothing but respect for the DEVONtechnologies team, I won’t be upgrading to DEVONthink 4. Part of that is because my usage of the previous version has decreased, not helped by Apple deprecating and then removing Mail plugins. That makes the cost of staying up-to-date a lot harder for me to justify.
I hear ya, Alan, this update isn’t very compelling for me either. I’ve never liked how Devonthink’s mail plug-in works, so I use a method that is more robust. Importing from an .mbox file. Here’s my write-up a few years ago about how to do it. Maybe this will help you, too.
https://www.gordonmeyer.com/2020/04/creating-a-yearly-macos-mail-archive.html?cmdf=gordon+meyer+import+mail+devonthink
I stopped using Devonthink Pro 3 because I repeatedly lost my information being unable to open my databases and only recovered it after a laborious effort together with Devonthink Pro’s support. I moved on to Eaglefiler and Yotimbo.
I believe I will try and start from scratch with a new database with version 4.