Avoiding Sync Drama When Deleting Custom Metadata

DEVONthink
1

Greetings:

Background Context:
In the course of trying to strip out financial data (from PDFs) I “experimented” with Custom Metadata. (I highlighted relevant fields and data, then tried to export these highlights into customized columns of DT3 sheets.) Although this adventure proved to be unsuccessful, I learned new things about DEVONthink—so the effort wasn’t entirely wasted. Now, however, I just need to get some work done…

My Issue:
I simply want to click my ruby slippers and return to a simpler time—with default metadata. (“There’s no place like home.”) Yes, I’ve read the relevant postings—and so I’m prepared to shut down DEVONthink3 and then pluck out that pesky “DEVONthink 3/CustomMetadata.plist”. Sounds simple enough…

But before I remove this DEVONthink3 Plist, I want to be sure to avoid any unnecessary drama with my DTTG3 (CloudKit) sync. My Questions:

  1. Should I disable my DTTG3 sync while I re-establish a default metadata Plist on the Mac’s DT3 setup?

  2. Would it be worthwhile to clean my DEVONthink3 sync location BEFORE removing the Custom Metadata PList? (Note: Aside from the Global Inbox, none of my DEVONthink3 databases have yet been synced.)

  3. Anything else I’m missing here?

Thanks in advance for your good counsel!

GP

About my setup:
DEVONthink3 on MacBook Air M1
syncs “Global Inbox” to
iPhone12
via CloudKit
(All OS and software up-to-date)

2

This file contains just the setup of Preferences > Sync, changing this setup or removing the file doesn’t affect the actual custom metadata and the sync. Therefore this shouldn’t cause any troubles, assuming that you do not want to retain any of your former attempts.

3

Thanks, @cgrunenberg, for the clarification.

Following the Plist replacement, my DEVONthink3 metadata defaults returned without incident. When I synced my iPhone, however, I got error messages that the sync was “broken or incomplete”. I cleaned those IOS syncs, and now everything looks fine.

I appreciate your help!

4

I think the sync errors are coincidental but @cgrunenberg could offer a more authoritative comment on that.
Either way I’m glad to hear things are looking up :slight_smile:

5

It’s indeed not related to deleting the plist.