Afraid to empty trash

Sorry this is a tired question, but after reading several long posts that tend to wander into specifics that only confuse me, I’m just wanting to be sure I’m getting this because I did wind up losing some files on a couple of occasions in the past.

There are cases when deleting a replicant deletes the original. Or moving one to a different database vs. copying.
When looking at the tag pane, trying to remove one globally, removes all the files in that group.

I’ve read that there’s a difference between, Data > Move to Trash, Control-click > Move to Trash, and hitting the delete key, etc.

I’ve seen smart rules suggested, but can someone humor me and re-summarize the best practices for deleting any kind of file, replicant, or tag (globally)? :slight_smile:

Cheers!

R

Actually these options are all the same. Data > Move to Trash and Data > Move All Replicants to Trash (while pressing the Alt modifier key) are not identical. In addition, in case of search results or smart groups all replicants are always moved to the trash too (as the result is not related to a certain replicant or location).

Finally, old posts are of course not the best/latest guide and frequently outdated or even wrong, having a look at the help first is recommended instead.

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thank you, but could you expound on that a little. What do you mean exactly? Let’s say I have a 3 replicants, and I delete one, then only that one is deleted, but if I delete it, from a smart group or a search result they are all deleted. And all the ways I mentioned to delete do the same thing? What about deleting a single tag globally? If I delete the tag from the tag pane, then all my documents in that group get deleted. Sometimes in my trash a document is not crossed out. It all just gets very confusing which is why I’m afraid to empty trash. thanks!

You could always check the trash, items which will be permanently deleted (meaning all replicants in the trash or there’s only one) have a crossed out name.

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If I delete the tag from the tag pane, then all my documents in that group get deleted.

That is incorrect (and documented in Help > Documentation > Getting Started > Tagging > Ordinary Tags: Applying Tags )

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Thanks I had no idea why that crossing out was there for! I thought it was just to indicate you were in the trash bin and to be careful.

:smiley: I never use replicants or any kind of ‘doubling’ of files on purpose as it were. I don’t keep versions of anything either; the way I work is still very much like it was in the ‘paper’ days. Well really the days when a PC was really a typewriter, you still ended up with multiple copies of the print outs lying about here there and everywhere.

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And I believe this illustrates this…

This is a file moved to the Trash from within a tag group in a database…

Since a file in a tag group is a replicant of the file, it’s not crossed out.

This is the actual file moved to the Trash from the item list…

Since this is the only instance of the file in the database, it is crossed out.

With a replicated file, deleting an instance isn’t crossed out as there are other instances in the database…

On a side note: No replicant count is listed for trashed items. @cgrunenberg would have to comment whether that’s expected or not.

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You can immediately watch this after trashing e.g. search results - the location changes and the name gets crossed out.

I would like to add a recent issue regarding the help page: DEVONtechnologies | Dealing with Duplicates in DEVONthink

Long story, but I sometimes have between 2-6 duplicates of a file. As instructed, I click on the file and lookat the “See Also & Classify”. But when I click the additional duplicated files and hit delete, it also deletes the original, which is not even selected. If I use the remove all replicants, it sometimes works, but other times is also deletes the original duplicate. Not sure what’s the difference. (why also does it say “remove all replicants” and not “remove all duplicates”? There is no “Move All Instances to Trash” as in the instructions")

I wind up have to reveal each file and then delete, but this takes too long. I’ve also tried the script to find and remove similar contents, but that too deltes my original.

What does group with duplicates mean? when I tried that it only put the one file in a folder.

Thanks.

Note: That is a blog post from 2014, over 8 years ago now.

May I ask why you have so many duplicates?

Not sure what’s the difference. (why also does it say “remove all replicants” and not “remove all duplicates”? There is no “Move All Instances to Trash” as in the instructions")

@cgrunenberg : The contextual menu of See Also shows Move All Replicants to Trash instead of just Move to Trash.

chalk it up to stupidity on my part, I had so many different backups of old folders, I didn’t want to risk losing anything and dumped them all together, thinking I’d later find the duplicates using an app, or later in DT. Now I’ve got the horrendous task of cleaning up.

But still, why is the behavior as I described. Am I doing something wrong/understanding something wrong?

If you have an item selected in the item list and select an item in the See Also inspector, the item list’s selection still has precedence and is active. If you press the delete key, it will remove the item selected in the item list. Items deleted via the contextual menu command in the See Also inspector should delete only the selected item, unless it’s the first item which is always the item list’s selected document.

@cgrunenberg again: Preferences > General > Interface > Automatically reveal items does not apply to items selected in the See Also pane. Not sure if it should or not.

That’s intentional, neither the selection nor the inspector changes.

think I got it, so then using the method in the old help, if I have a file that has several duplicates, I select it, then go to the see also and classify and select all but the first one, then don’t hit delete, but use the contextual menu and select “move all replicants to trash”. This should delete all but my original. Is this correct?

Why does it say “move all replicants to trash”? Instead of duplicates, or simply move to trash - this is a bit confusing unless there’s a reason I dont get at the moment.

What does group w/ duplicates supposed to do as my testing with it doesn’t seem to do much.
Also find and remove similar seemed to delete my original too—how does one use it properly?

best,

R

if I have a file that has several duplicates, I select it, then go to the see also and classify and select all but the first one, then don’t hit delete, but use the contextual menu and select “move all replicants to trash”. This should delete all but my original. Is this correct?

That is correct.

Why does it say “move all replicants to trash”? Instead of duplicates, or simply move to trash - this is a bit confusing unless there’s a reason I dont get at the moment.

@cgrunenberg would have to comment on this.


Group With Duplicates creates a group with copies of selected documents.
This is an old script so @cgrunenberg would have to illuminate on what the intended purpose was.


Find and Remove Similar should present you with a dialog like this…

Are you seeing something like this?

Because that’s exactly what this command does and its name was actually requested to describe the behaviour better. E.g.the old name Move All Instances to Trash was confusing as it was unclear whether duplicates would be trashed too or not.

And in case of search or smart group/rule results all replicants are always trashed.

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yes I saw that, but does it leave one copy? I tried it and I think it deleted even my original, but maybe I used it wrong.

thanks, but still confused… when I’m selecting my files in the classify panel, they are all duplicates, so when it say to remove all replicants, I’m confused as to why. best, R

See Also & Classify results are handled like e.g. search results. It doesn’t matter whether an item is a duplicate or not.