The File Menu

New & Open

New: Create new databases in your selected location. Read more about each type in the Building Your Database section.

• Database: Creates a unencrypted database.
• Encrypted Database: Creates an AES-256 encrypted database file at a user-specified size.
• Revision-Proof Database: Creates an archival database for storing information that cannot be subsequently modified. This creates a database that conforms to many governmental and legal policies.

Open Database: Opens previously created databases. You can select multiple databases.

Open Recent: Presents a list of recently used databases, which gives you quick access to your frequently used databases. Choose Clear Menu to remove all items from the menu.

New Window: Opens a new main window for a selected database.

Import & Export

Import: The Import submenu contains various options for importing data, e.g., selected files, bookmark, contacts, and some data from compatible applications. Some options will import files into their own special groups at the root of the database.

• Files and Folders: Imports selected files or folders to the current location. Finder comments will be imported. Finder tags may be imported if enabled in the Import > Tags settings.
• Bookmarks: Imports bookmarks from: Brave, DEVONagent Pro, Firefox, Google Chrome, or Safari. Bookmarks are imported into a newly created group bearing the name of the chosen browser. Only new bookmarks are imported if you use this command again.
• Bookmarks from HTML file: Imports bookmarks from an HTML file, e.g., exported from the Orion browser.
• Contacts: Imports Apple Contacts addresses selected in the import dialog into a newly created group named "Addresses". Contacts can be imported as a sheet, as vcards (.vcf), or as bookmarks. Previously created groups are reused. Tip: To import all addresses, select all addresses in the group "All" and import them. Address card bookmarks link to the original card in the Contacts application.
• Folders & Attachments from Notes: Imports your notes from Apple Notes.

Export: The Export submenu presents options for exporting selected documents or groups to the file system. In addition, the Export menu provides export methods based on plugins. DEVONthink comes with a number of standard plugins for exporting documents in different formats. For these formats, the export creates a single merged document when multiple files are selected.

• Document: Exports the currently viewed document in its native format. For images exported from a separately opened document window, DEVONthink lets you choose the desired file format or image quality. E.g., you can export a PNG file as a JPEG file.
• Files and Folders: Exports the selected documents in their native format. Groups are exported as Finder folders, preserving the group structure you have built in DEVONthink. DEVONthink tags are applied as Finder tags to the exported files. Internal metadata for the items is preserved in .DEVONtech_storage files in the exported folders. These files are used for reimporting into DEVONthink. If you will not be reimporting the exported files, you can safely delete those files. Be aware the addition date of reimported items will change, if that is a critical piece of metadata for your database.
• as HTML Bookmarks: Export selected bookmarks as an consolidated HTML file that can be e.g., imported into Safari.
• as LaTeX Document: Exports Markdown documents as LaTeX (.tex) files, preserving title, author, and date metadata, if available.
• OPML: Exports the selected items as one OPML file.
• PDF Document: Exports the selected items as a paginated PDF. Hold the ⌥︎ Option key to change allow the command to PDF Document without Annotations.
• as PDF Document (LaTeX): Exports Markdown documents as LaTeX formatted PDF documents, complete with embedded images, active hyperlinks, etc. Note this requires pdflatex, typically made available by installing MacTex or possibly the smaller BasicTex.
• RTF/RTFD Document: Exports the selected items as one merged rich text file without embedded items (RTF) or with them (RTFD).
• Text: Exports the selected items as one merged plain text file.
• Word 2007/97 Document: Exports the selected items as one merged Microsoft Word .docx (Word 2007) or .doc (Word 97) document.
• Website: Exports the selected items as standalone web site that you can upload to your web server and share with colleagues. In the presented dialog window, choose the desired template, text encoding, and whether DEVONthink should convert diacritics and accented characters to HTML entities or not. Check Create Index Pages to create index.html pages with cross-links to all included documents. Markdown and formatted notes are rendered to HTML, other file types that cannot be displayed in a web browser, e.g., Pages files, are converted to PDF if possible. Cross-links are converted correctly. For the export templates are used that you can modify yourself.
• HTML Bookmarks: Export the URLs of all selected items and their children as an HTML bookmarks file.
• Template: Saves the selected documents as a template, which can then be used to quickly create new documents using Data > New from Template. Export multiple documents and/or groups at once to create e.g., a project template. Data > New from Template > Open Template Folder can be used to organize templates.
• Database Archive: Creates an optimized ZIP file of the current database in the selected location. This can be useful as a secondary backup strategy. Databases are exported in their original format, e.g., an encrypted .dtSparse file. For encrypted and revision-proof databases, you will need to provide an encryption key before exporting.
• Metadata (JSON): Export the metadata of the selected items as JSON data.

Share: This opens the standard Mac Share menu.

Index and Update

Index Files and Folders: Link to files in the Finder, leaving them in the current location. See the In & Out > Importing & Indexing section for important information on indexing.

Update or Refresh: This command dynamically changes, relative to what is currently selected.

• Update Indexed Items: Force DEVONthink to check for filesystem events and newer file dates on indexed items, and update them as needed. This is often used when indexing cloud-synced locations, e.g., folders in Dropbox, or when indexing items on networked volumes, as some volumes don't reliably support filesystem events.
• Update Items: Similar to Update Indexed Items but works with imported items. Sometimes used after editing documents in external applications when the application or the database is closed. It may also be needed when accessing a database stored on a networked volume.
• Refresh Feed: Manually refresh selected RSS feeds.

Synchronize

Synchronize: Synchronizes the selected database with all its locations. Note, this command will be disabled if the current database has no active synchronization. Holding the ⇧︎Shift key shows the Synchronize All option to synchronize all actively syncing databases.

Download Pending Files: Downloads the files of selected documents if they are available through one of the database's locations. Only necessary if none of the database's locations is set to synchronize indexed files.

Database Properties & Close

Database Properties: Opens the Database Properties popup for the current database. This panel presents a few options, statistics about the database, and allows you to change the displayed name, add comments, and add a username and password.

Close Database: Closes a selected database. If multiple databases are open, use Close All to close them all at once. If you'd like to keep the current database open but close the others, use Close All Except. Note that closed databases will not reopen on launch. Only databases that were open when DEVONthink quits will reopen on the next launch.

Database Maintenance

Like any database, DEVONthink databases need a bit of maintenance from time to time. All the commands you'll need for this can be found here.

Verify & Repair: Verifies all database structures and repairs them if possible. By default, DEVONthink automatically verifies the database structure every time you open a database. If it finds significant errors, DEVONthink will advise you to run this command.

Use this command whenever you feel it is necessary. If you're a heavy user of DEVONthink, running a Verify & Repair once a week or more often is a good idea.

Check File Integrity: Verifies the stored checksum for each file in the database. The results are reported in the Log window or popover. Note: If you are indexing files and they have not been updated, they will report a checksum error. Read more…

Optimize Database: Creates an internal backup of the database and then optimizes the database structure. Optimizing removes unnecessary internal elements from the database and rebuilds the internal structure to optimize performance. DEVONthink also creates internal backups on a regular basis. Hold the ⌥︎ Option key to display the Restore Backup option. This allows you to roll back the metadata to a previous date. This option would only be used in troubleshooting situations.

Rebuild Database: Completely rebuilds the database by exporting all items to a temporary folder in the file system, creating an empty database, and reimporting all items. This removes any structural problems. Depending on the size of your database, this can take from a few seconds to several hours. This option is typically only used in a troubleshooting situation.

Delete Database: Closes a selected database and moves it to the Finder trash.

Print

Page Setup: Sets your preferred page size and printer settings.

Print: Prints the current document or view.