Just upgraded to Beta 4. Program lost registration information during upgrade.
License number does not work, even when copy/pasted from the email.
Make sure you have installed the right edition. A DEVONthink Pro license will not work with Pro Office and vice versa.
Ironically… When I printed the email with the license code in it to DevonThink… It fouled up some of the characters in the license code.
Resent license code works fine.
I had the previous version of Pro Office 1.x but have erased the hard disk on my iMac for a fresh start. This time I downloaded the latest Beta of the “Office” version. The code copied/pasted from the email confirming purchase definitely does not work in the current Version 2 Beta.
Please help
Your 1.x license does not work for the 2.x public beta. But you can use the public beta without a license code until the final release is out. Then you’d need to purchase an upgrade unless you had not purchased on or after July 1, 2008.
Why doesn’t a 1.x Pro Office license code work on 2.x? It was my understanding that a license for Pro Office would not require an upgrade. (Wasn’t that one of the pitch points for upgrading?)
Has that policy changed?
When did you buy? I never saw it posted that all 1.0 versions ever purchased would be free upgrades to 2.0? After July 1, 2008 yes, but if you bought say 3 years ago it’s not a free upgrade.
While I was minding my own business working in Devon, suddenly a box popped up saying that my trial had expired and I needed to purchase a new version and the program would not open up. I own version 2.X. I have a license for version 2.X
Unfortunately, I got confused and went back to my version 1.5.4 thinking that that must be the last version that I had purchased and wound up opening up an old version of my database and totally making a confusing MESS out of all my notes that just took me four hours to sort out.
Anyway, once I realized my error, I had to go to your website and download ANOTHER version of the 2.X, which now works. Will I need to go through this every month?? Please advise.
I have all my critical notes in this software and it concerns me that there is this level of mismanagement in a program I have entrusted so much in.
Nope, certainly not every month - only relatively infrequently during the expiring beta period before the final, non-expiring release. Maybe start by reading Eric’s recent post: here
He’d probably appreciate feedback if the FAQ and blog references he mentions don’t sufficiently answer your questions or still need additional help.
Preferably there’s no reason to rehash beta-related topics already thoroughly covered in other threads, like the one linked to above and also: here.
I appreciate your feedback, but as a user who doesn’t regularly read forums or random software blogs unless I have a problem (like most people, I’d imagine) what was the vision on apprising your user base of this rather large bug until after it is too late?
(If you do not consider this a ‘bug’ then at a minimum, it is code that requires an unintuitive user action.)
Is it safe to say that unless I change my evil ways and wait with baited breath for each new blog post, or pour thru your forum threads in desperate search of one that may be vital to me at that moment… unless I do this I am going to run the risk of smashing headfirst into another issue like this with your software?
Let me know so I can engage in some informed decision-making re: my software choices and the best use of my time.
Hi Stacey,
Sorry if my earlier response came across bluntly. I can understand and sympathize where you’re coming from, even if it may seem I’m not sensitive or supportive enough.
Let’s first get clear about this:
It’s certainly not my user base. Like you, I’m only a customer.
It’s really our forum community.
It’s not my software. Like you, I’m only a user of it.
Disclaimer: I’m simply a DEVONtechnologies customer, not employed by or officially representing them. Any statements, opinions, and suggestions I make here about products and support are intended to be helpful/informative and I’m solely responsible for their content.
Several of us (myself included) have been making suggestions to improve the communication and support resources so that issues like you’ve recently encountered and posted about here can be minimized, plus handled more efficiently when they do inevitable come up again.
So, I thought you might want to be aware that multiple issues (yours included) concerning expiring betas have already been an ongoing and extensively covered topic, not at all implying that you should have already known about them by “keeping up” with forum and blog posts. I’ve always advocated that support-centric forums not become the sole source of information that also concerns customers who never or only infrequently visit.
If I send you a PM (Personal Message) later will you notice it?
I suggested reading Eric’s post and providing him with your feedback. Eric Böhnisch-Volkmann is the President of DEVONtechnologies, LLC.
Thank you, sjk.
I appreciate your response. I had the mistaken notion that you were a part of the DEVON organization. Now that I know you are not, my wonderment has grown over how a non-power-user is supposed to avoid these befuddling pitfalls until it’s too late. What if volunteers like yourself are understandably distracted by other priorities one day?
Something I have learned from this is not to trust the DEVON pop-up alerts and i will be very leery of upgrading my software. Isn’t that a great place to drive one’s customer base?
sjk-
And feel free to send me a personal message.
No worries. I think it’s only the second time that’s happened here. 
Generally, there will always be some gap between DEVONtechnologies’ best efforts to help people avoid befuddling pitfalls and how attentive/cooperative people are to using them.
To be clear, my comments here aren’t directly towards anyone personally except when someone is specifically mentioned …
Of course they don’t want to intentionally make things tough(er) for customers because, even if only for a selfish reason, it increases an already active support load. Eric’s recent message shows they’re listening to complaints and suggestions, and making hopefully beneficial changes. It’s an ongoing process that can take time, negotiation, reminders, and patience.
I feel it’s every customer’s responsibility to become familiar with what support resources are (un)available, preferably before they may need to use them in an urgent situation. Realizing and accepting that makes more productive support-related discussions possible.
DEVONtechnologies staff is active on the forum.
There’s always the Support Center. Step 4: “Contact our support staff!”.
I’d asked in case there was any public misunderstanding that private followup could resolve but we seem past that.
Just to clarify, the expiration date of each public beta release is documented in the Release Notes link on the Download page and in the applications’ online Help.
Public beta 5 expired on 31 July, 2009 and the current release, public beta 6, will expire on 31 December, 2009. That doesn’t mean that no releases will be posted prior to 31 December, 2009.
Check for Upgrades can be performed manually by selecting that option after clicking on the application name in the Toolbar. Automatic checks can be set up in Preferences > Check for Updates. When an update is found you will be notified and given the opportunity to have it automatically downloaded and installed for you. Note that the application must be running and the computer must be online for the automatic check to work.
Neither of those locations seems obvious enough; they’re too easily overlooked/ignored. I think it at least belongs right under all download links, with a font/color that’s hard to miss (i.e. more apparent than the legacy downloads link text). Plus:
Does updating that way (I’ve never done it) give the version’s expiration date? If not, it belongs there, too, in an easily noticed spot in the update dialog.
The objective is simple:
Minimize the possibility for anyone to ignore the expiration dates regardless of how they’re installing/updating the software.
Afterwards, reminders like rabourn’s idea would be helpful:
Replace the “danger” stripes that indicate it’s a beta version with something useful like a subtle countdown display with number of days until users can no longer open the app because it’s expired.
Currently the “About …” screen doesn’t show an expiration date, which is especially confusing when the product is registered.