Archive databases while keeping links between documents intact

DEVONthink
1

Hi All,

I am trying to find a method of moving all my audio productions older than 5 years out into its own archived database. I have organized my work of text and audio in separate databases and would like to keep the links between the text and audio documents.

My scenario: I keep the scripts of my radio shows in one database and the full audios in another (to save space in the cloud, that audio database is not synced). The show script in database A is linked to the audio in database B and vice versa via item link in the URL fields of the respective documents in the inspector. This results in the text of the script being shown in the annotation field of the audio file. Very handy for looking up stuff and getting to the audio position in no time.

Now, I would like to save/export/archive some of the audio files to a new database C (on an external drive) that holds only the audios older than 5 years. I would like to keep the show scripts in database A (my main work database) and keep on adding new audios to database B (my main audio database). The idea is to move the older shows year after year from database B to database C. I know that when database C is not open, the links from the scripts in database A will not work. But…:

Will the links work again whenever I re-open database C while A is open? And: Is there a way to semi-automate this move procedure so I could hit a button that exports/import to database C only the documents not yet included? (To avoid having to hand-pick the files…?)

I know, I could just try and see, but I’m afraid to break stuff and it is a LOT of audio and text files…

So, if anyone has any ideas how to go about this, I’d be grateful to know.
Best,
Christoph

TL;DR:
What is the best way to continually export seldomly used older documents from my current database to an archive database (on a different hard drive) but maintain the links between those older documents and the respective documents in my current working database?

2

Item links? These remain valid as long as items are only moved between databases. But exporting files and then reimporting them would break the links.

One possibility might be to set up a smart rule.

3

Thanks for taking the time.

Would it be possible then, to move the given files to a new database and have the links working whenever I open the two databases with the documents that link to each other?

I will look into the smart rules again and see, if I can design a solution for this. Thank you!

4

As mentioned…

5

Great. Thank you!

6

Hi again,

I encountered an unwanted side effect:

Since I put the item link of the show scripts that I keep (and would like to keep) in database A into the URL field of the audio files in database B, the script moved (as its annotation) with the audio file to database C. Now I have to manually move the scripts back to their respective folders in database A.

Is there some option to prevent this behaviour or am I misusing the item link and URL fields? The idea is to have the show script available from the audio and vice versa.

Best,
Christoph

7

Disable the option to automatically move annotations, see Settings > Files > General

8

Found it. Thank you!