Purchased the newest version and expected to see my previously constructed database (still found in version 3) available in the new version, but, it isn’t there. So how do I get my old database into the new version?
Welcome @TaiChiJohn
The same way you got it into the old version: you open it.
Also, you should not have 3 and 4 on the same account on the same Mac. Quit both. Move the DEVONthink 3 application to the system Trash, and reboot the machine. After the reboot, empty the Trash and open your database(s) in version 4.
I got my old database into DEVONthink 3 by building it, item by item, and tagging each as it was entered. Are you suggesting I redo all that to build a new database? No; I will instead demand a refund for the new version. And if my old database doesn’t automatically populate in the new version, do you really think I will trust this software enough to delete the old version where the database still resides? So maybe think through your responses before posting them — I requested help, not a potential nightmare and I am already frustrated enough by what appears to be a major flaw in upgrading to a newer version of this software. I am open to the suggestion that I don’t know what I am doing in following the proper upgrade path so, once again — any suggestions as to how I access my old database in the new software version?.
And yes, indeed the fault is mine and simply clicking “Open Database” in the new version — as BlueFrog said — accesses my old database in the new software. I stand corrected and suitably self-chastised.
Apologies if you felt chastised.
DEVONthink 4 is a different application than DEVONthink 3. It’s not an update of 3; it’s an upgrade. Therefore it has its own set of preferences. Some resources migrate, e.g., the Global Inbox and sync settings.
Your documents do not reside inside the application and indeed they never have. Databases are external files, opened no differently than opening a document in Word or Preview, etc. So you have to open databases to access their contents. Typically they are stored in the Databases folder in your home directory, though the location can vary. A Spotlight search in the Finder for kind:database name:dtBase2 will expose any it knows about.
To clarify: your databases are just glorified folders. Outside DT. Upgrading DT does not change their location.
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I just successfully upgraded from DEVONthink Pro 3 to DEVONthink Pro 4 and opened my databases from the previous version in the new version with no problem. The tags were still there, and even my links made with Hookmark still functioned. Having said that, it would have been nice to have an entry in the DEVONthink 4 FAQ that clarified the process for bringing over the databases to the new version of the app. (Even Take Control of DEVONthink 4 was silent on this issue!) More often than not (for other applications that use databases), a new version means structural changes to the databases, and these changes often create incompatibilities, etc. I’m relieved to see that the upgrade from DEVONthink Pro 3 to 4 didn’t cause any such problems. I just made sure I’d deleted DEVONthink3 (as recommended by @BLUEFROG ) and used “Open Database” in the File menu to open my existing databases.
Welcome @DavidV
If there was any actual cause for concern or anything more to do than open your databases, we would have said so. The transition from DEVONthink 2 to 3 didn’t require anything more and neither does 3 to 4.
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I happened upon DEVONthink through a rather thorough and ongoing search on the Internet for something that would meet my Content Management needs. I have a (very) long term project that overlaps between post-structural philosophy and visual neurology, in the context of linguistics; and as a result, I have a large number of PDFs drawn from current research in neuroscience. Getting everything together in one place, tagged and in a form I could easily search, was a very enticing proposition for me — that’s what drew me to DEVONthink. But unlike a lot of long-term or power users, I only have one database — one I’ve painstakingly put together, document by document. As a result, the idea that “Open Database” was the command needed to successfully update from version 3 to 4 did not occur to me — because I’ve only ever had one database (which was always open in version 3) and probably will only ever be using this single database. There may be more people in my position than might be expected by those who have multiple databases running.
Just an aside: You actually have two open databases as the Global Inbox is a database and a core component of the application. 
OTOH: why do you expect the database to change from version 3 to version 4? Or if it does indeed change, that you’d have to do anything about it?
Other apps I use, notably for accounting and banking, update their databases regularly with new versions and I don’t care a bit.
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