Hi there,
I have a database that has become much to large to download everything to my iPhone. Time to make it on-demand only for this instance of the database, which I normally only access from my laptop. Can someone clarify the correct workflow to make this change? I think it would be:
first assure all syncing is done from my laptop to CloudKit for this particular database, then ditto for my iPhone (my only other Apple device). This might take a while because I’ve been busy in the database. I’m fine with waiting for this to finish.
tell DTTG to stop syncing to this database
delete the database in DTTG
do a sync on-demand in DTTG and wait a while just to be safe
re-activate syncing to this database in DTTG, which should then effectively re-download the database’s items without the files themselves.
I started going about this path and got as far as deleting the database in DTTG, then freaked out when I saw the “permanent” warning. (My fear is probably unrealistic as I already told DTTG to stop syncing to this database.)
It is as of today. When I went back into iPhone>General to glance at storage/usage, I spotted a reduction in DT in terms of total GB allocated to the app and its content, but it didn’t drop drastically.
If that’s all I have to do, however, and the purge process simply takes time, that’s certainly a much more simple solution than all those steps I thought possibly were necessary.
@BLUEFROG Can you clarify first and third bullet? Sync location, I then assume, means making this adjustment on my laptop (database of origin), correct? Easy. Where is the Keep slider located? Thanks as always
You’re welcome.
No, I am referring to in DEVONthink To Go’s Settings.
Tap the Edit link then the sync location and make the change there.
The Keep slider is also in the settings.
Thanks for the informative help—I think I’m halfway there! I’m currently having a similar issue, trying to save space on my iPad. I have two databases that are currently set to “Always” download to the device, and am trying to make one of them “On Demand” to save space. My understanding is that there are three steps:
I see under “Info” on an individual database the option for “Always”/“On Demand”—I get that I should switch that to “On Demand” for the database I want to change.
I see under main Settings, the “Keep All” slider. If I have two databases, one set to “Always” and the other to “On Demand”, will this option affect the downloading behavior of only the one set to “On Demand”—or both?
Despite rereading all the above several times, I’m still baffled as to how to “set the sync location to a shallow sync”. When I hit the “Edit” button in the top right of the main screen (not in the Settings menu), it allows me to edit whatever database/group/item that’s highlighted, but I don’t see any Sync locations. I don’t see any “Edit link” under the main Settings. And the only “sync location” I see is on the main Settings screen, where I see “Locations”, “Bonjour”, etc. (ending with the “Keep All” slider). The only thing under “Locations” there is iCloud, and opening that simply gives me the option of including/excluding individual databases, but nothing about specifying what’s downloaded.
Sorry if I’m being obtuse, and, as always, the expert help is very much appreciated!
If a database is set to a full sync, i.e., Always, no contents will be purged. So logically, this slider only affects shallowly synced databases or items.
Post a screen capture of the Settings > Sync: Locations.
I feel so stupid—I was looking for it on the main Settings page! It turns out that was actually set to “On Demand” already, so I’ve just set the individual database to “On Demand” and moved the “Keep All” slider down to 250 items.
From what I’ve read, having set the “Schedule” to “Automatically”, the downloaded items will now automatically purge—is that correct?
Thanks again so much for all your help and patience!
It worked fine on my iPad—but immediately after, DEVONthink on both of my Macs became unresponsive and had to be force quit. Reopening DT3 causes it to hang again.
What has this wrought?
Update: I thought restarting one Mac had resolved the issue. But after leaving DT3 open for a few minutes, it hangs again. Odd that the same thing happened on two independent machines, apparently as the result of changing the iPad settings…
The Schedule pertains to how often it syncs. It is unrelated to purging.
DEVONthink would not become unresponsive to due to changing your sync settings in DEVONthink To Go. This is especially true since you’re using a remote sync option, CloudKit.
Thanks again! After restarting both machines, it seems to be fine.
Just FYI: both Macs had DT3 running when I made changes to DTTG on the iPad—and both beach-balled very shortly after making the changes. After force-quitting and restarting, both Macs found a new error when opening and verifying the same database for which I’d changed settings in DTTG. The issue was a months-old file, which neither Mac’s DT3 had flagged when the database had last been opened (prior to changing the DTTG settings). Repairing the error failed, so I simply deleted the file. The only other notable variable is that the file was one of the very few indexed files I have in DT3 (and in fact had been indexed by accident). So my only guess is that somehow the changes made to DTTG caused or revealed some error in the file, which was then synced to the Macs.
Happily, the issue seems to be resolved and I am back on track—with more space on my iPad, thanks to your excellent support!
