Evensift Open Evensift

What changed

Every version of Evensift, newest first, in the words of the person using it.

Version 0.4.5 · 9 Nov 2026

A new front page and a new mark.

  • Try it before you start. Beside the heading on evensift.com, a small example plays the process once: searches arrive, duplicates merge, two records are screened, then it is your turn, a colleague’s decisions come in and the PRISMA diagram draws itself. With reduced motion it moves only when you ask.
  • A new mark. The path through the records: one band laid down row by row inside a disc, so nothing is skipped. It is in the header, on the browser tab and on the app icon.
  • One colour. The front page, What changed, For libraries and the guides now share the app’s plum.
  • How it works, on its own page. The example’s five steps, each with a picture of the real screen, large enough to read.
  • What’s the catch? The front page says plainly why Evensift is free, and answers two more questions: how to get your decisions out, and what happens if you clear your browser’s data.

Version 0.4.4 · 9 Nov 2026

Going on to full text while a colleague screens title and abstract.

  • The way on, where you stop. When everything you included is waiting for your colleague, the end of title and abstract and the empty Full text page now say so and offer “Screen alone again” right there, beside “Screen with a colleague”, with one sentence on what it does.
  • Full text while your colleague screens. You can screen alone again, go on to full text, and bring your colleague’s title and abstract decisions in later. Screen with a colleague now says this plainly.
  • What goes back is said. When their decisions come in, a record you took to full text that the two of you do not yet agree on goes back to title and abstract until you do. Evensift says how many, and what you did on them at full text is kept.
  • Your full-text decision in Look at it together. Beside your title and abstract decision, Evensift shows what you decided at full text, and that it stands if you include the record.
  • A correction. While records wait for your colleague, the end of title and abstract no longer says that your maybes go forward too.

Version 0.4.3 · 9 Nov 2026

When a colleague is not screening, you can screen alone again.

  • Screen alone again. A screening copy makes each record wait for two decisions. If your colleague is not screening, “Screen alone again” on Screen with a colleague makes each of your decisions count on its own, and nothing you have decided changes.
  • What is waiting, said plainly. At the end of title and abstract, Evensift now says how many records are waiting for your colleague’s decisions, not only how many go forward.
  • An empty full text explains itself. When the records you included are waiting for a colleague, the Full text page says so and leads to the way back.
  • Both ways stay open. After screening alone, one click in the notice line waits for your colleague again, and bringing their decisions in later returns to two decisions per record.

Version 0.4.2 · 29 Sep 2026

Back up in one click, and screening copies anyone can fill in.

  • Back up, always in reach. “Back up” in the header, or ⌘S (Ctrl+S), makes the backup file at once, with every decision and PDF.
  • The Saved button. It says when you last backed up, and “Stop for today” backs up, keeps your place and keeps a note for next time.
  • Screening copies. What was called a packet is now a screening copy. Send it as an Evensift file, or as a spreadsheet your colleague can fill in with Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers. Their decisions come back into Evensift either way.
  • Open with a double-click. With Evensift installed in Chrome or Edge, an .evensift file opens with a double-click.
  • Decisions after a restore. A colleague’s decisions now find their records after you restore a review from a backup. This works for decisions files made from this version on.
  • Plainer promises. Your reviews are never sent anywhere, and About and For libraries now say that the code is not published.

Version 0.4.1 · 29 Sep 2026

Plainer words, and a clearer introduction.

  • Focus. The mode that shows only the record is now called Focus. Going in, the rest of the page fades away while the paper and the three buttons settle in place; going out, it returns. Full stop opens it and Esc leaves it.
  • A new introduction. It says plainly what Evensift does and that it is free, with pictures of the app itself. The records in the pictures are invented.
  • Opens faster. The introduction appears at once, before the rest of Evensift has loaded.
  • File names. A colleague’s file is now named like “Review (for Sam).evensift-packet”.

Version 0.4 · 28 Sep 2026

Free, kept in your browser, and made for two.

  • A new name. Evenhold is now Evensift. Your reviews, settings and backups carry over as they were.
  • Free to use. No plans and nothing behind a gate.
  • Backups hold everything. One .evensift.zip file with the review, every decision and every attached PDF. Older .json backups still open.
  • Works offline, updates quietly. Once opened, Evensift works without a connection and can be installed. A new version says so in one line on Home.
  • Screen with a colleague. Hand a colleague one file; their decisions come back with agreement and κ, and the records you differ on wait to be looked at together.
  • Figures made for where they go. Word, Journal, Thesis or Slides with one button, a named journal’s widths, and the Word pack from Export.
  • About, this page, and a note for libraries. The version, the privacy promise, how to write to us, and where the data goes.

Version 0.3 · 28 Sep 2026

Every screen is a page that holds still.

  • The window never scrolls. Every working screen fits its page, at a laptop’s size and larger.
  • A fitted reading card. Long abstracts turn in parts with Space or ↓, with “continues” where there is more. On wide windows, Spread lays an abstract in two columns so most fit at once.
  • The reading lamp. After a rest in One record, the room around the record dims a little. Any movement brings it back.
  • Pages that turn. Settings, Criteria and set-up, and Keys and help turn like a book’s pages with ← and →. Home’s covers sit on a shelf.
  • Import, PRISMA and figures. Import shows one file report at a time, and a file that is not a reference file is described, never refused. The PRISMA diagram always fits the page, and the figure panel is a four-step stepper.

Version 0.2 · 27 Sep 2026

Polish, full text, and figures ready for a journal.

  • Your place, not a score. A map beside the record shows the shape of the queue and where you are. Numbers wait in its card.
  • Everything explains itself. Hover or press W on a count, criterion, reason, label or PRISMA box to see what it means.
  • Full text. Attach PDFs and read them in Evensift’s own reader, beside the decision buttons, with retrieval keys and a reason for every exclusion.
  • Figures for Word and journals. The PRISMA 2020 diagram and two charts at 300 dpi, as PNG, Word-safe SVG, PDF or a Word pack.
  • Bring decisions across. Decisions, labels and notes can be brought in from another screening tool’s export, with a preview, and one Z undoes it.
  • Getting started. Cloth covers on Home, “Make it comfortable”, starter terms and a strategy helper in New review, and a public introduction.

Version 0.1 · 26 Sep 2026

The first working Evensift, entirely in your browser.

  • Reviews in your browser. Create a review and bring in database exports (RIS, MEDLINE, Web of Science, BibTeX, EndNote XML, CSV) at their exact counts.
  • Duplicates, kept reversible. Exact copies are merged for you; look-alikes are shown side by side for you to decide. Every merge can be undone.
  • Screening with equal weight. One record at a time, a List, or Focus (just the record). Include, Maybe and Exclude are the same size, and every decision can be undone.
  • A PRISMA diagram that adds up. It updates as you screen and says “Draft” while anything is waiting.
  • Exports and backups. CSV and RIS exports, and a backup file of the whole review.
  • Your reading conditions. Theme, type, spacing and motion are yours to set.

The guides