The simplest, and most macOS-native way, to export items is via drag and drop. This is something you do in the Finder all the time and there's no need to vary your behavior with the documents in your databases. Groups export as Finder folders and include their contents. When dragging out documents, there is no conversion of the dropped file just as there is no conversion when importing them. The only change to the file is the inclusion of Finder tags or custom metadata.

One of the common misunderstandings about using your documents with third-party applications is that they are "locked away" in your database. This causes people to try and get into the internals of the database to use them. You should not do this and there is absolutely no need to. With few exceptions, you can drag and drop a document from your database into another application. This includes dropping into a Save panel, e.g., when uploading to a website using a Choose File button.

Remember, the receiving application controls whether they accept dropped data and how it is handled. If you do run into an issue, you can try dragging and dropping to the Finder first, but this should be a rare exception.

In the Files > Export submenu, there are a variety of commands for exporting data. A range of options are available, including some commands to export an aggregate file from a selection of documents. For example, if you have multiple rich text files selected, you can export to a single document from this menu. This is in contrast to using the Data > Convert command, which produces one PDF per document.

Beyond drag and drop, you can use the File > Export > Files and Folders command on a selection of items in your database. When you use this command, it's a good idea to export to a newly created folder to keep the exported items separate from unrelated files. You may see a DEVONthink export produces a support file, a DEVONtech_Storage file, used for future reimporting. If you're not reimporting, these files can be removed.

If you are serious about backups (and we hope you are!), the Export > Database Archive command creates an optimized and compressed ZIP archive of a selected database, perfect for a secondary backup. The ZIP can be safely archived to an external disk or even a cloud service. Note this is a full backup, so it takes longer to backup and requires more disk space as your database grows.

For those that like to script, there is a specific export record command. Just provide a record, including a selection, and specify where to export with the to parameter. If used with a group, the group and its contents will be exported to the specified location. This command also produces the storage file mentioned above, but you can disable exporting this file with a without DEVONtech_Storage parameter.