Is Mariner Software (marinersoft.com), makers of Paperless dead?

[adib]

I know DEVONthink is overkill, but DEVONtechnologies has been around a long time, and they continually update their software (and it's not subscription based!); so I may just suck it up and try migrating things and see if I can't create a workflow that'll be somewhat similar to Paperless.

Guess what, DEVONthink is subscription-based starting on 4.x

 

[noraa]

Guess what, DEVONthink is subscription-based starting on 4.x

Well yes and no. You get one-year of updates included in the price, and after that you'll need to extend your license for another year. However, the program will continue to work just fine after that year, just no more updates. With a true subscription the program will just stop working after the subscription expires, so this is significantly better.

 

[TLMurray23]

I used Mariner for a few items, one of which was Paperless. I contacted them and asked something about "what happens when you go out of business?" I honestly don't remember the answer, but it was something I did not care for – so I decided to go back to the manual route.

I believe my method will withstand the test of time.

• Paper receipts are scanned to PDF then OCRed. If a receipt needs more info, I'll add it in a manual text block. I don't like using Adobe's Acrobat because it's expensive, and it still requires Rosetta for Mac. However, its indexing function is great, and no one else offers that, so I'm stuck with it.

• Paper receipts (and other important docs) are scanned and saved as a PDF. I mention PDF a lot because, unlike so many software titles and formats, PDF is going to last a very long time. If I get something in a popular graphic format, I might leave it as is; if it's oddball, I convert it to JPEG or PNG.

• If the file type supports metadata, I add that.

Then there are file names of the format "yyyymmdd-Vendor and info"; for example, "20251003-OfficeDepot Paper Ink Paperclips.pdf". I use yearmonthday (with leading zeros) because that format will sort forever (well, until the year 9999, so I think I have my life covered) and always sorts properly.

Some phone calls include time, as in 20251003_1424-IRS_LarrySmith.m4a. I use a 24-hour clock.

Here is the part very few people believe: A lot of transactions are recorded on green, multi-column ledger paper. Yes, much into software also, but I do have the paper!

 

[CalMin]

Well yes and no. You get one-year of updates included in the price, and after that you'll need to extend your license for another year. However, the program will continue to work just fine after that year, just no more updates. With a true subscription the program will just stop working after the subscription expires, so this is significantly better.

100%. Love the way they did this.

I've been a Devonthink user for years now and one of my fears was that if they don't sell new copies, they might cease to exist. I paid once, years ago, and wondered how they were able to keep developing the software and sending me updates.

This new model is great and seems more sustainable for the company. It's a subscription model where you can drop out at anytime. Unlike most subs, where you have nothing to show for your investment as soon as you stop paying, with Devonthink you can keep using the version you paid for, for as long as it works. More companies should do this.

 

[Nermal]

That's a "real" subscription model. Think of a subscription to a magazine: when it lapses, you can keep all your existing issues, but you won't get any new ones. Compare with the rental model that many companies are using, with their marketing departments calling them "subscriptions" to try to lessen the blow.