Argh! My files are acting weird!

DEVONthink Tips
1

OK… Here’s the scenario:

I was running DEVONthink (Dt) Personal, and upgraded to DtPro once it came out, and I now have several databases for use with Dt.

One of these databases, my development database, to be exact, consists mainly of PDF’s, and captured web content, which had been captured within Dt. This database also contains several .chm files, which are basically self-contained help files, which are launched in a program that’s external to Dt. These are not viewable through Dt.

As I was adding some new web content into the database today, I happened to click on one of several PDF’s that I had in the same folder, and the weirdest thing happened: Instead of opening in the PDF in a new Dt window (at normal resolution at least… read on), or launching it in an external application (Acrobat, Preview, whatever…), Dt opened a very tiny version of the PDF. Here’s an example:

Additionally, what’s opened behaves at its original size only… If you zoom in, the document acts just like a thumbnail, and enlarges by pixelizing itself. Also, the window can only be shrank from this initial size. It lacks the ability to enlarge itself until it’s zoomed into, and pixelizing. Here’s a zoomed shot:

“Not a big deal”, I thought, “I’ll just open the PDF externally (in Acrobat or Preview), and resave it from there into Dt”. But when I try and open the file externally to Dt using the “Open in Preview” context menu, nothing happens. Likewise, if I “Launch Path” via the context menu, nothing happens. the 1st time I did this, something did happen: I got a “Can’t open document” error, but since then, I don’t get this error, nor do I get an open document. :frowning:

So now I’m starting to get a little panicky… I decide to open the file directly by opening the databases “files” folder from within Finder. When I do this though, I find that the PDF’s not stored there. This is troubling in that I had both Dt Personal and Pro configured to import PDF’s into the databases folder, rather than the database itself.

There are some files in my databases folder, but very few compared to the number of files I’ve put into Dt since using it. I went to my backup folders (I had 4 in the databases parent folder), but none of them even contain a “Files” folder. Similarly, when my backups are opened, these files view the same as with my current database, in that they open as these weird little thumbnails.

Here’s some more weird stuff about this…

I’ve discovered that I can still drag out these files into Finder (on my desktop, for instance). In the past when I’d do this, I’d get a physical copy of the original file. For example, if I drag out a PDF form, I get a PDF form on my desktop, which was a standalone copy of the original document.

But now when I do this, I get what appears to be a text snippet (Image below - The icons due to a custom icon set, but is the default icon, meaning nothing’s associated with this file).

I can rename this “snippet”, adding the .pdf extension, but Acrobat and Preview refuse to open it. If I double click this file, it opens as a text clipping document within Finder, which contains all of the text from the original document, including all markup, and some other gibberish:

Another weird thing is that the document within Dt still thinks it’s displaying a PDF! If you look at the 1st couple of pics from above, you can see that the original file, along with its “.pdf” extension, as well as the total number of words in the document are displayed.

Finally, the aforementioned .chm files no longer work either. Admittedly, I’ve not used any of these since upgrading to Dt Pro, but in the Personal version, opening these files would launch it in the external chm view I have installed. Now, the files drag out as a Dt link (with the extension ‘.dtlink’), with what appears to be the .mac icon. They also no longer work, or are usable:

So what’s up here? I’d hate to think I loss all this data, but I’m not seeing the files where I’d expect them to be (in my “files” subfolder, within the databases folder), and I’m not able to open these files in a meaningful way.

As I’ve been troubleshooting since discovering this, I’ve discovered that it appears to affect all pdf files, as well as all “unknown” files, all of which was setup to be imported within the databases folder, based on my Dt preferences.

I’m also not able to view, or export these file from within Dt, so I’m kinda at a loss as to what to do next. Anyone has any ideas here?

2

WhyNot:

The icon view of your pDF files and the fact that the files can’t be opened externally from the Action toolbar menu is a symptom that the files are not where DT Pro expected to find them.

Time for a little detective work. While one of your PDF documents is displaying the small, unreadable icon view, Show Info and look at the Path for that document.

Does the Path indicate that the PDF file is supposed to be inside your database package file, in it’s Files folder?

If yes, is your database still at the location shown by the Path, or have you moved it? (That’s a trick question: DT Pro always knows where its Files folder is, so you can move your database around freely, from volume to volume, without messing up the Paths of files stored in Files.)

If no – meaning that the Path shows another location than the db Files folder – it’s probably displaying the location of the PDF file in its original location, before you imported it. And DT Pro can’t find the PDF file there. Have you perhaps moved or deleted the original PDF files? And a similar indication for the .chm files; the external links to the files are broken.

Here’s how I’ve got preferences set for import of PDF files:

PDF & PS documents: Create thumbnails (checked)

Files: Copy files to database folder (checked)

Index & Convert: Use PDFKit (Tiger) (checked)

With those settings, PDFs are placed in my database’s Files folder, and that’s confirmed by Info Path. So I see a full, resizable, easily readable PDF+text document display for such PDF documents.

So what could have gone wrong?

WhyNot, could you please tell (or show) me exactly how you had the preferences for PDF & PS when you were importing your PDF files?

Also, how were your General preferences set up for unknown file types such as the .chm files?

And what version of OS X are you running?

3

Another possible explanation coming to my mind - did you use (or experiment with) some of the “Scripts > Path & URL > …” scripts? Are there still some PDF documents in the “Files” folder of the database package?

4

Does the Path indicate that the PDF file is supposed to be inside your database package file, in it’s Files folder?

[color=blue]Yes

[i]
If yes, is your database still at the location shown by the Path, or have you moved it? (That’s a trick question: DT Pro always knows where its Files folder is, so you can move your database around freely, from volume to volume, without messing up the Paths of files stored in Files.)[i/]

[color=blue]The database has not been moved, and is still in the location that Dt thinks that it is.


If no – meaning that the Path shows another location than the db Files folder – it’s probably displaying the location of the PDF file in its original location, before you imported it. And DT Pro can’t find the PDF file there. Have you perhaps moved or deleted the original PDF files? And a similar indication for the .chm files; the external links to the files are broken.

[color=blue]Not applicable as the path and location are correct

[i]
Here’s how I’ve got preferences set for import of PDF files:

PDF & PS documents: Create thumbnails (checked)

Files: Copy files to database folder (checked)

Index & Convert: Use PDFKit (Tiger) (checked)

With those settings, PDFs are placed in my database’s Files folder, and that’s confirmed by Info Path. So I see a full, resizable, easily readable PDF+text document display for such PDF documents.
[/i]

[color=blue]The setup you describe is identical to how my copy of Dt’s configured.


WhyNot, could you please tell (or show) me exactly how you had the preferences for PDF & PS when you were importing your PDF files?

[color=blue]As mentioned above, my setup is identical to that which you describe: It’s setup to copy PDF & PS files to the Database folder, creating thumbnails, and using Tigers PDF kit.


Also, how were your General preferences set up for unknown file types such as the .chm files?

[color=blue]Dt’s configured to create links to unknown file types, and to copy them to the databse folder.

And what version of OS X are you running?

[color=blue]Tiger, v10.4.1

I’m hoping we can figure this out… I like Dt a lot, but I am concerned about continuing to use it at this point. Luckily I still have originals for about 60%-70% of what Dt contained, but that still leaves me losing a heckuva lot of data, not to mention my time, if I can’t get this figured out.

Suffice it to say that I appreciate the help! 8)

5

No… I haven’t used any of Dt’s scripts yet.

6

WhyNot:

I’m concerned that your PDF files don’t seem to be in your database Files folder.

You indicated that your files (or many of them) were captured into a DT Personal database.

Let’s start over, working from your original DT Personal database, which is inside /YourUserName/Library/Application Support/ in the folder named “DEVONthink”. Copy (Option-drag) that file to another location, such as your Desktop folder.

Look inside the files folder inside the database folder. Are there lots of PDF files there, especially ones that you had recently found to be missing? Close the DEVONthink folder.

In the Finder, select that DEVONthink folder and show Info (Command-I). In the Info panel, rename the DEVONthink folder by adding the suffix “.dtBase” (without quotes). Press Return and close the Info panel.

Now double-click on that new database icon to open it under DT Pro. Check for your PDF files, especially some that were missing. Are they there? Do they display properly? Show Info (Shift-Command-I) and check the Paths of several of your PDF documents. Do the Paths point to the Files folder inside the database, or to external locations? If you had set Import to store PDFs in the database Files folder when using DT Personal, they should be present in the Files folder.

With this reconstructed database, you should be able to recreate your Development database.

7

Sorry for the delay in replying… Had a lot of minor crisis’s come up in the last week. Back to the problem though…

I am also concerned by this! :slight_smile:

I’m not sure I follow here… Dt Professional uses the same folder(s) as Dt Personal did for me… I don’t have an old, unused Personal folder anywhere. And the files folder in the Dt folder is the one that’s missing the PDF files.

I don’t think this is applicable in my case, as the files simply aren’t there. Or am I misunderstanding the instructions?

8

WhyNot:

As you were previously using DT Personal, I suspect you still have a copy of that database. I think you had indicated that you imported lots of PDF and .chm files into DT PE.

Look in /YourUseName/Library/Application Support/. You should see a folder there named DEVONthink, as DT Pro did not delete it. Look inside the Files folder. Do you see lots of PDF and .chm files there, including ones that are missing from your DT Pro Files folder?

If so, I can only speculate that DT Pro was somehow unable to complete copying the contents of the Files folder into the new database. If not, it would appear that the PDFs were not being stored in the original DT Personal database Files folder.

And if the files are there, we can do a quick manual conversion of the DT Personal database to the DT Pro format:

[1] Copy (Option-drag) the DT Personal database folder to another location, such as Documents or Desktop.

[2] In the Finder, select the DEVONthink folder and press Command-I to show the Info panel

[3] In Info, rename the folder by adding the suffix “.dtBase” (without quotes). Press Return and close Info. Note: You can rename the database to prevent any confusion. Call it “Harry.dtBase” if you like. :slight_smile:

Open this database and check to see if your PDF and .chm files are there and the PDFs are displaying properly.

I understand that you had added content to your current DT Pro database. A good approach would be to merge the recently added material to the good (I hope) DT Personal database we’ve just converted. First, in the Finder, create a new target folder that will receive some exports.

In your database with missing PDFs, select Tools > History. Sort by date (the default sort) and select all the items that were added since you started using DT Pro. Then select File > Export > Files & Folders and choose the target folder created above. (As you are working with several databases, you may need to do this more than once (each time to a new target folder) to get back to a good starting point.)

Now open “Harry” and select File > Import > Files & Folders, and choose one of your export target folders. And so on.

If the PDF and .chm files were not inside your DT Personal Files folder, post again and we’ll try to figure out why.

9

I’ve got a similar thing happening all of a sudden and I can’t figure out why. I’m using Pro. My database is on a mounted disk image. I’ve been using this method for over a year now but all of a sudden today I’m getting the small blurry previews instead of the real PDF documents when I import. I notice the path of the imported blur is not going to the database under get info. In fact the Path is blank. But if I look in the database package and the document name is there but the docment size is zero! What happened or what did I do? Better yet, what should I do?!

Thanks.

10

OK I think (!) I may have found the problem. I rebuilt the database onto a fixed drive, imported the filesin question and all was well. Copying the database back on to the disc image gave me a “not enough space” error. I thnk there might not have been enough room on the disc image to import the files originally so they weren’t copied and the low res thumbnail was used. Interesting if that was the case that I didn’t ge some kind of message saying there wasn’t enough room. Hope this was all the probelm was.