I’ve been exploring the forums and reading various Reddit threads about DEVONthink, DEVONagent, and DEVONsphere. They all seem quite useful for research purposes, which is something I often do as part of my videography work. Whether it’s researching products, locations, or general information.
However, I’ve noticed something odd: the help videos on the official YouTube channel are 11-12 years old. Has the software not changed much in that time, or have there just not been any new tutorials made? It’s a bit concerning, as I haven’t found many up-to-date videos that go in-depth on what the latest versions of these programs can do. I’d really appreciate a crash course on the newer features or a more detailed overview of their capabilities.
Currently, DEVONthink and DEVONagent seem like they would be the most relevant for my needs, but I’m also curious about DEVONsphere and whether it could be useful.
For context, I have two MacBook Pros, one with an M2 Max and another with an M3 Max. My plan is to use both software seats for these two machines, keeping the M3 Max at home as a remote workstation for rendering and handling larger projects since it’s connected to several external SSDs.
That leads to a couple of technical questions:
Can I build a DEVONthink database on an external SSD?
What would be the best method for syncing between the two machines? Is Dropbox a solid option for this setup?
Yes, has been explained several times in the forum, too.
Many, many threads are talking about the sync possibilities and experiences with different approaches. There’s nothing to add here that hasn’t been said already.
The main question is, if you need a remote sync, i.e. if someone works with your data while you’re away and updating them. Or vice versa: Do you need to work with your data remotely while someone is modifying them at home.
I kind of just wanted it as a backup, id be the only one working with the data. Its one of the considerations I was having was just having my database on my M2 Max then a backup on the SSD that goes with me and then plug it into my M3 when I get home so I can just work on that.
I am sure others have this kind of setup, I just don’t know if its optimal or not.
Joe Kissell’s Take Control of DEVONthink 3 is a fantastic free introduction to DEVONthink; there isn’t anything like it for DEVONagent or DEVONsphere, sadly, but then there isn’t anything like it for any other app anywhere. But the trial period is very generous: 30 days or 150 non-continuous hours, whichever is longer, with all the higher-tier features including DT Pro and even Server functional for the whole trial. So just download the trial and see how you get on. This forum is phenomenal, and there’s a mass of support material in the official manuals and blog posts.
DEVONthink is very deep, but the learning curve to start using it effectively is surprisingly gentle. (Then over time you discover or find uses for more and more features until it quietly becomes your principal toolkit for everything.) DEVONagent is very underappreciated by comparison and much more of a hedgehog to DT’s fox, but the thing it does is amazing: a pioneering, years-out-in-front version of AI search and summarisation with results saving.
DEVONsphere is less essential if you’re already using DEVONthink’s See Also and Classify features; its main bonus is treating your entire filesystem as a permanently open database, though it’s also a handy app-agnostic menubar alternative to DT search and Go To… functions, and the See Also functionality for web pages is unique to DS and well worth checking out.
Don’t. Sync is not a backup. A backup saves your data at a certain point in time, so you can restore them. Sync doesn’t do that – it keeps your data synchronized over all machines.
Delete a file on one machine: Restore it from your backup
Delete a file on one machine: Sync makes sure that it’s gone everywhere.
That has also been discussed and explained often here. Please search and read the corresponding threads.
Possible. But not the best way to do things, in my opinion. It would require you to copy over the whole database every time you come back home with your M3. That’s exactly what sync simplifies, as it transfers only changes. Unless you have space issues on your mobile machine, why not have the databases installed on both, desktop and mobile?
I had no idea about the blog containing useful information like it does. Also did not know about the handguides that contain most of the information on these programs. Everything you have provided has been very helpful. I think im just going to bite on Think / Agent and start with researching Devonthink and Agent as my first project. It might be fun to make a video to answer the questions I had for others who might be considering it.
I was mostly on Reddit looking stuff up but almost everyone said to come to the forums here. When I saw the old videos only I assumed it really was not being updated so im glad I kept digging.
I doubt there’s much return on investment for making DT videos on YouTube - to really get into the detail with DT takes time (and also a proper use case which isn’t “I promote ‘second brains’ for likes and advertising revenue”) - MacSparky’s guide was months and months in development (technically years if you consider that he was already a user) and YouTube would presumably not recoup that investment.
[DT is also a solid, mature program not a shiny new toy for YouTubers to play with Lots of strong software doesn’t appear on YouTube much for probably the same reason!]
Personally I’d start with DevonThink Pro, then consider adding DevonAgent after you’ve settled with that. There’s no point in adding complexity to your web searches if you’ve not got a strong foundation for reviewing and processing the information you find.
Lots of strong software doesn’t appear on YouTube much for probably the same reason!]