Close/Delete Database

In the File menu or right click on a database the command “Close Database” is immediately above the command “Delete Database” and I have just deleted a database rather than closing it :frowning: Fortunately I knew what I had done as soon as I did it so could Undo the delete. Yes I know it was my own stupid fault and I will be more careful now, but is there any chance that in a future update “Delete Database” could be put somewhere else, (perhaps in the section that has Add/Remove from Favourites)? Cheers.

very good idea. the same almost happened to me several times. i have a large email database that i close whenever not needed because of RAM usage.

I thought it was just me that had a problem with this. Well, I haven’t deleted anything on accident yet, but every time I close a database I feel really nervous doing it! It would be nice to move the two apart a little bit. Also, it might be nice to put the database in the trash or something that will put a step (besides a popup “are you sure” message) before the actual deletion.

“Delete database…” pops open a confirmation

Is that not happening for all of you?

Yes. The message appears. And, your database goes into your Mac trash. I guess the DT team has thought of everything already :slight_smile:

I had forgotten about the message, and didn’t remember ever seeing it in the trash. Should’ve checked before I posted.

I’d still recommend moving the command on the basis of good design principles, but it’s no big deal if it doesn’t change.

Do not recall seeing this!

It’s weird, but I don’t ever remember seeing it either. Then again, I don’t delete databases very often, so I don’t trust my memory on this.

Just tested it and I am now seeing it, I must have missed it—obviously it is one of those things that I do automatically without thinking :blush: Even so , may still be a good idea to split them up.

Yep. Definitely there now. But, was it there before? I kind of hope not, because then I won’t feel like my brain is broken :slight_smile:

Your brain isn’t broken – but AFAIK, the message has been there a long time. :open_mouth:

Serious question-if the user is selecting a menu item by mistake due to its proximity to another menu item, how will changing the order of items in the menu help alleviate that?

Doing so would avoid confusion. “Close” and “Delete” have similar meanings, yet they are arranged right next to one another, and one of the commands has the potential to cause problems if selected. It would be like putting the button for “reply” and “reply all” right next to one another on an email program interface so that people are constantly accidentally sending very private messages to mailing lists, co-workers, and sometimes the entire student body of universities :slight_smile:

There is a lot of ineffective design out there that follows logical principles. It doesn’t mean it’s “wrong,” but sometimes there is a more effective approach. After all, we want users to accomplish tasks with the least amount of friction.

Now, the commands are grouped together topically, but they don’t have to be in that exact position. For example, re-arranging the commands in alphabetical order would put “close” at the top, and the grayed-out “open” at the bottom of the list so that it is much less likely that the wrong command will be pressed. Sometimes, just putting space or some visual cue (like a line) between items is enough.

It’s not a big deal to me (as I mentioned before), but I would prefer some other arrangement, if possible.

I’m always going about asking people to “delete the door, please” :laughing:

Or, “new” the door :slight_smile:

Conceptually speaking, “close” and “delete” are things you do to remove them from your interface. And, conceptually speaking, it makes sense to put “new,” “open,” and “close” together.

“Delete” is just hanging out on its own with no friends, so it could go anywhere. Why put it next to something with similar associations? I am guessing that the developers originally had it in the list with the others above, or at least thought about putting it there, but separated it in order to avoid just this kind of error. All that I would suggest is they move it a little farther away.

The delete command / key is often a source of friction for users, in my experience. For example, on the Mac keyboard, it is placed right next to the on/off button. Why? I miss the old on/off button.

  1. Yes, the warning has always been there. (Your brain may not be broken, but our reflexes are faster than our recognition. :mrgreen: )

  2. I agree that this menu item should be moved. Though I haven’t made the mistake spoken of, I am always hyper-aware of it when I bring up that context menu (and I open mine more than most for Support reasons). I think moving it to the bottom of the menu would be a good idea.

DEVONthink has that now, in both the contextual menu and in the File menu.

It’s not a big deal to me either. Perhaps the answer is to have the order of items in the contextual menu mirror (as much as is possible) the order in the File menu. As it is now, the Close command appears in very different locations. I would expect this inconstancy to create more potential for problems than the actual order of items.

Thanks! Was hoping that something had changed, but I guess that in addition to misplacing my keys today, I have forgotten about warning dialogues as well!

I was going to suggest moving it to the bottom of the menu, which is something I often see, but the trash is there too, so it might cause trouble there as well. It would be an improvement, but perhaps not ideal. This raises the question – does anyone use the “empty trash” command? I say this because it is a global command that empties all of the trash, yet, to get to it, the user is selecting on an individual database. This seems counter-intuitive to me. Why would there be any global command here?

So, my suggestion would be to replace “empty trash” with “delete database.” I am guessing that no one would miss the “empty trash” command from this dialogue box. Obviously, when selecting the trash, we want it there (and I suspect that is why it is showing up in this menu by default as a dialogue for all items in this part of the interface). Also, this might more closely approximate the location of other deletion commands (move to trash) in the rest of the DEVONthink interface; namely, at the bottom. We don’t need a Procrustean consistency throughout the entire app, but it is true that consistency is generally a good thing for interfaces.

I think Greg’s point was that even if you move the menu item, it is going to be next to another menu item and could still be clicked by error.

Maybe another answer is for DEVONthink to open the OS X authentication dialog and request the user’s password before deleting the database.

That would be correct.

No one would ever do that, now would they? :laughing: