BLLOYD  I have been a long time user of DEVONthink, and a long time "tinkerer" with all sorts of applications in this area, including Yojimbo, Together, EagleFiler, and others. I had kept coming back to DEVONthink because it was flat-out superior in search, stability, and speed. But it really bugged me that it was ugly, couldn't be customized as I wanted, and lacked a number of "modern" features like tagging and smart folders.

DEVONthink Pro is immensely powerful and customizable, but the implementation (custom applescripts) left a lot to be desired. Plus, it is unable to view unsupported file types (Pages, Keynote, Excel, etc.) and it permanently munges Word files to RTFs on import. Not great, but I tolerated it.

So I had kept looking at alternatives, including EagleFiler, but EagleFiler also was on the ugly side (IMO) and lacked customizable smart folders. So, not enough to tempt me to switch.

As I waited for DEVONthink 2.0 (and waited...) lo and behold, along goes EagleFiler 1.4. The GUI is overhauled, true smart folders are there (that I can define myself), it supports all file types... and unlike Together, the search is actually powerful. So I give it a try, and migrate all my data over.

I come up with a few snags (file naming, titles, etc.) and within an hour find scripts that help me batch change everything. Awesome! And it's full of good surprises. After a week of use, it keeps getting better... so we have a product that searches well, looks nice, is flexible, and is fairly fast (DT Pro is still faster, but EagleFiler is certainly tolerable).

So, IMO, for document management, flexibility, searching, tagging, organization, etc., EagleFiler is now the top of the heap. Certainly enough for me to plonk down the $40... given many of the features it has (save OCR) are only present in DT Pro Office which is $150.

Nice work, Michael. I'm somewhat shamed to admit that the GUI overhaul had a big part in my final decision, but hey. It's Mac software. We're fickle like that :-)  
(Version 1.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  All I can say is WOW! What a terrific update. Every new feature makes EagleFiler incredibly more usable and versatile.

The new custom smart folders are a huge leap forward in terms of being able to filter and modify one's data in EF. The sheer flexibility of the criteria one can use (17 different kinds, from tags to notes to labels to file size to URL to creation date to just about you-name-it), combined with the ability to nest criterion give me unmatched horsepower in terms of seeing my gigabytes of research data the way I want to see. If such powerful smart folders weren't enough, I can now add actions to the smart folders and further modify my data. Unbelievably cool! I'm only just beginning to see all that I can do with the new power of these smart folders. This is the first time I've begun to think that I could find a replacement for DevonThink Pro in my daily use; this version of EagleFiler is that much more powerful.

The new Stationery Folder function has immediately become a huge time saver for me - for example, I can now create MS Word files, or MindJet MindManager mind map files, instantly, from within EagleFiler based on templates I've created in these, or other, programs. Sweet!

I am especially loving and using the new tag cloud window for quickly see what tags I'm using with an item and for quickly adding or changing the tags I have assigned.

Now that I can drag individual e-mail messages into EF as free-standing .eml files, I'm finally going to start using EF as my mail archive database, because I really wanted to be able to store individual e-mail messages along side my other kinds of data in my EF folders. Now I can make a individual message a "to do" or "next action" based on tags and other criteria within the email message. And to top it off, I can search for these individual files with Spotlight, and not just within EF.

Although it's short bullet in the list of changes, perhaps the most important new function for me as writer/researcher has been the addition of a Find panel for searching *within* PDF and Web archives. This was one area where DevonThink Pro really outperformed EagleFiler for my daily research. I really needed to see *inside* the hundreds of PDFs I had, not just look at titles or tags. And what's more, EagleFiler does this search within PDFs and Web Archives much faster than DevonThink Pro does, though DTPro still has some advantages in its interface on searches.

As a user of Punakea, I'm really pleased to see the new options for importing tags, especially since the "Import as notes and tags" helps me get Punakea-style tags into EagleFiler without having to lose my non-Punakea style info in my Spotlight comments.

Finally, I've used the new contextual menus dozens of times today -- how cool is it to be able to select text and instantly make it the title of the something you've grabbed from the Internet or some PDF, or instantly to make a keyword in record a tag? Huge time-saver.

Yes, this is a rave review, but I think these improvements deserve my rave. I make my living as a writer/editor and I'm constantly doing research. EagleFiler has always been great in terms being able to instantly grab or import just about anything anywhere on my iMac or the Internet. But with these new features, it takes a huge leap forward in helping the end user filter, classify, and categorize data and research quickly and efficiently.   
(Version 1.4)

HEZMANA  Well things change. Overnite the new version came out and no longer supports Drop Box making the $104.00 spent on 3 lic #'s a loss.

To bad they went back to isync.  
(Version 1.4)

HEZMANA  Love it, I used to use Yojimbo which appears to be ignored by it's developer. Eagle filer is easier to use, but it does not have the slick interface of Yojimbo. As noted in other reviews, it allows you to use a library that can be placed where ever you want, what an idea. It works great in Drop Box. My Yojimbo no longer worked with .MAC (ME), on any of three computers.

Again Eagle Filer is great, maybe a bit expensive, but worth it.

The only issue I have is that you must encrypt entire libraries and cannot just do one document. Maybe a future feature request.  
(Version 1.3.8)

TEKKIEMOM  Great product, great support. Did not even finish the trial period before I purchased. I use it to archive email and store research. It's fast and stable and easy to customize to your needs. I love the fact that it keeps your files in their original format (non-proprietary). I have trialed Yojimbo, Together and actually purchased Journler -- and EagleFiler has exceeded them all.  
(Version 1.3.8)

BOBZOZUS  First off, Kudos to the developer. One of the few Mac programs that unfortunately has little buzz- but is worthy of much praise.

I have been particularly impressed that in my brief time knowing of EagleFiler- 2 months- it has been updated a total of four times! With no upgrade fee. And, the price- for it's functionality- is very reasonable.

Why do I feel EagleFiler is such a value. First, the developer is extremely responsive to concerns. I had a difficulty with EagleFiler- and he was quite responsive in trying to solve it. On my particular system we could not solve the issue- but his responsiveness made me even more confident in the Eagle Filer.

Other reasons I like using Eaglefiler. Ease of import from web pages, Word Documents, PDF (from Skim) & RTF files into Eagle Filer. Very impressive. Import is accomplished with a few keyboard controls. Allows one to specify tags quite easily in the process.

Very accurate search and retrieve. Many different types of search strategies can be utilized- including a very useful "search by phrase." Top notch.

I like to keep a nested hierarchy of information. Eagle Filer does so easily.

Most important- it keeps the information it archives in the original data format in which the material was made. It does not translate your material into it's own proprietary format. For this reason, alone, EagleFiler is much superior to it's competition. Should you decide not to update to the latest version of EagleFiler- or chose not to use it in the future at all- your data will still be organized (in the hierarchy nests you specify), and easily accessed in the data format the file was originally created. Unfortunately, I had previously used SOHO notes. In order to transfer my data from this program to EagleFiler- I had to convert each and every file individually from SOHO notes format to an RTF file (340 notes in all). And, only then could import into EagleFiler. What a pain! A pain I will never have to endure while using EagleFiler.

Allows one to archive important Email folders. Obviates the need to purchase another program to do the same- such as Email Commander (which I think saves me at least $40 in itself). Nice!!

The way in which the data is saved is very reliable. And, I have had a few catastrophic crashes where I had to restart the computer after another program hanged (I know, not supposed to happen in X- but I found a way!)- and the data I had been working on in EagleFiler was saved. Quite unexpected and pleasant- to say the least.

Finally, it strikes me that I would remiss if I did not note that I have found the capture technology much quicker and useful than using, for example, then using DockNote or QuickNote in SOHO notes. Using a few keyboard controls, EagleFiler allows one to import into one of several libraries- to drill down and place the material in the appropriate subfolder- to specify tags to be associated with the material- and to use a color code should one wish.

Oh, I should also note that EagleFiler is quicker in my experience than SOHO notes. As long as one loads EagleFiler on log in. And, EagleFiler will load all pertinent libraries automatically on start up. I have several libraries that contain specific types of information- which also speeds up EagleFiler.

I should also mention that I have a PowerPC G4 (1 ghz)- a relatively slow & old computer- EagleFiler works well. An added bonus- since I use Tiger- the latest version of EagleFiler is still relevant. With SOHO notes- the newest version only works on Leopard.

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that Eagle Filer uses an ingenious method of encrypting sensitive data libraries. This allows me to password protect not only the individual files- but the EagleFiler directory upon which holds the file. Sweet! Allows another layer of confidentiality and organization to sensitive and important information one wishes to organize.

There are many other ways in which EagleFiler is a most thoughtful and well-implemented program Take the 30 day test drive- and see what you think. I did, and am not regretting my decision one bit. EagleFiler is well worth the investment in both time and money- to me!! Thanks, Michael Tsai!

  
(Version 1.3.5)

MACSTERDAM  Have been using EagleFile intensively for about a year now, after switching from DevonThink Pro, which I'd used for years prior to EF. I'm really glad I made the switch. At present DTP be still be a wee bit smarter than EF when it comes to search, but that's the only advantage it currently has. EF has a much lower memory footprint, better OS integration, feels and looks more like an OS X application and doesn't store its documents in some database file. Plus, capturing webarchives in the background is much much faster

So, for now, hands down winner.  
(Version 1.3.2)

MACBLISS  Thanks -- I did not know that. I am considering your fine software.  
(Version 1.3)

GLOBETROTTERDK  All in all an excelent app. I don't understand the decision not to support bookmarks, however. Every bookmark that is added (from Yojimbo for example), is converted into a web archive. That has got to add unnecessary bloat.  
(Version 1.2.4)

MAMAMAC  The program is very stable, i've been using Yojimbo for a while now, like its slick look and its simplicity, the problem with Yojimbo is that there is no nest folder. Unlike Eaglefiler, it let you have nest folder, well, it's great. I now switch to Eaglefiler, but the problem is that, it's slower than yojimbo on my ibook g4, which run smoothly with yojimbo, but eaglefiler, it slows, and take very long to load. i hope developer address this issue.  
(Version 1.1.6)