I generate a lot of files and, sadly, there isn’t any great storage and retrieval software that allows tagging of the files or searching based on contents and context.
Is anyone using DT to manage all the files they create? Got a workflow?
Welcome @Iannarino
sadly, there isn’t any great storage and retrieval software that allows tagging of the files or searching based on contents and context.
Umm… you’re looking at it. 
Is anyone using DT to manage all the files they create? Got a workflow?
The forums are full of information about how people use DEVONthink.
Also, check out the built-in Help and this blog post:
I am a lawyer who uses DT as my paperless filing system. Several databases, depending on scale of matter and others for administration. My workflow is ad hoc - I routinely import emails and attachments plus scan to PDF other documents and import them, usually via the sorter.
A number of SOLO lawyers using DT subscribe to the MILO Google group - if you have access, you will find lots of material as to the ways lawyers are using DT.
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Hi. IMHO, it will be very useful to invest sometime in the help document first. You will get a lot of inspirations by knowing what functions are available in DT. The tricks of DT3 are the consolidation and the ease of using all available tools in four tasks: collection, search, categorisation, and manipulation of files in MacOS. Knowing what tools/methods are available in DT before reading the forum posts may help new user to visualise exactly how things happen.
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- @Iannarino I would second what @p_mitchell said. It helps to approach DevonThink’s database depending on how your profession or office organizes information. What is the primary organizing principle you will use: clients, cases, places etc? Visualizing and setting up the database to be your digital filing cabinet is a good first step to the “storage and retrieval” criteria you mentioned.
- As @BLUEFROG cautions above, if the database is merely a catch-all repository it’s going to be increasingly difficult to manage because you’ll see all the files build up in the inbox or wherever you imported them.
2a. Of course you can add tags and other metadata to the file, but a good database structure is like having shortcuts to all that data built in. You start out almost where you need to be before you need to perform the next action – be it search or adding further information to a file. - Use DT’s Smart Groups. If you have folders that have a mass amount of data in them and you need to sweep for a specific set of criteria, you can build a Smart Group (aka smart folder) for a specific set of search criteria. Say you have a bunch of info for Corporation A and you only want their annual reports, you can set up a Smart Group to find this data and dynamically update; as you add more annual reports for Corporation A from whatever year you’ll see them displayed in this folder. You don’t have to keep entering the search criteria again and again for the same kind of retrieval.
- Make sure to OCR all the PDF documents that you import. If they are PDF but not OCR processed the content will not be read by the database.
- Search the internet for some screenshots of databases based on your profession and specific needs. There are a lot of people who have shared very well thought out database designs.
5a. After that, follow the advice from @ngan and experiment with the DT features. Workflows tend to be very user specific. The first step is knowing what features are available and what you want to use them for. - There is a learning curve to DT, but the payoff is substantial!
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et al:
There is a learning curve to DT, but the payoff is substantial!
Just to comment on this… DEVONthink’s learning curve is only as steep as you set it. It is not an inherently difficult application to use. It can be used as simply as the Finder or in very complex ways. Use it for what you need to use it for, but give yourself time to explore or play about in it.
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I have followed all the advice here. I started by writing out my workflows and databases. That was a helpful exercise. For ease of use, I separated the indexed files and folders from what is native on my hard drive, as I share data stored on Google Drive and don’t need two copies (other than a backup).
I have eight databases in total, two of them are a new zettlekasten I set up for the research I do and all my reading notes.
The shift from Evernote is nowhere near as difficult as I imagined. Databases are big notebooks with notebooks nested inside. I need to spend some time on tags. I wish there were nested tags, which I find helpful. And I believe the tags should work across databases (unless I just haven’t found that functionality yet).
I am using rich text notes for most of the work I do, especially for my work journal, where I link to files I received or created. I still think DevonThink needs a better note-taking, writing experience. I write anything significant in Ulysses, and have just started putting a link in DT. Open to other suggestions.
I made a number of smart groups and added files I frequently need to favorites. So far, so good.
I wish there were nested tags, which I find helpful.
You can use them, but I suggest you read this first: Help > Documentation > Gettings Started > Tagging.
And I believe the tags should work across databases (unless I just haven’t found that functionality yet).
They don’t, by design. Evenote notebooks are not the same thing, so their tags appear to function across all notebooks. But the notebooks are just part of the same structure. Databases are isolated entities, even if presented in close proximity.
I write anything significant in Ulysses, and have just started putting a link in DT.
Ulysses is just composing Markdown, which you can already do in DEVONthink.
And you’re welcome 
Thanks for the documentation on Tagging. I am going to have to play with flat and nested, I think.
Ulysses is just such a beautiful writing environment. This is one area I think DT3 could improve. I have nothing but text in front of me when I write. But, I am a writer and an author, so I may care more than others. Writing 1,000 words a day for 10 years and 3 books in the last 3 years, you end up with certain preferences. Mine is a blank white space and a flashing cursor.
