Database maintenance activity still hidden: please add visible ACTIVITY WINDOW and STATUS REPORT

I can confirm that the protocol window’s “raise” behavior is kind of erratic on Monterey with DT 3.8. Sometimes it moves itself to the foreground, sometimes it doesnt. And sometimes it appears on a different space then DT.

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I asked what might be a related question in this thread: Easy Way to See Date & Time of Last Synchronization?.

Basically, I received one borderline offensive response for daring to ask a question (the first response in the thread) and then several others trying to be helpful (which I appreciate) but essentially changing the subject, as some responses above do.

You’d think database and sync status are important things for which info should be instantly available, unless the developers can guarantee that there will never be any issues, which obviously they cannot.

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Thanks for pointing out the similarities between the two posts. For what it’s worth, I find your suggestion (well, it was initially a question really) very valid - an icon which displays the current sync status when clicked would be a “nice” way to access that information in my opinion; would a subsection of the log displaying the last sync status and the last successful sync be equally good?

I feel the difference between the posts is that here I understand the OP to be asking for something which is already available (with the log window) or would be intrusive to some (an obligatory popup or always visible window).

Is it not acceptable to assume all is well if no error is reported? I’m not trying to be facetious - are there incidences where errors occur but none are reported? Or is the log just something which some ignore and therefore don’t recognise a problem exists? I’m worried a paragraph made up of three questions may appear as if I am trying to inhibit your opinion or feedback - pls don’t take it that way. Both you and the OP in this thread have pointed out a problem I don’t have; I’m trying to gather a better understanding.

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No it is not i think. Sometimes the thing is still ongoing,n sometimes it has finished without any error report VISIBLE, so it is really important to have the health status of databases ALL THE TIME visible. In a car, oil warning light is ALWAYS visible, even when it is NOT activated, and i often have a look on all warning lights im my car.

I don’t understand why with DTPO developers very pertinent claims are often declared as “not commonly claimed”. It was the same thing with the Highlight behavior in PDF. NOW it is great and similar to Acrobat and other software, but we had to ask for it for years (!), and the answer was often “These are YOUR specific workflow needs”, although all other sophisticated softwares HAD the claimed highlight pencil (so , obviously, it was a commonly needed behavior)

Obviously, i am not the only one who would like to be informed CLEARLY about the Sync status. Once again, i was working for ten days or longer on a database that had’nt be synced any more.

It isn’t in my car :see_no_evil: It lights up for a few seconds on starting, so I know where it would be. But what you are describing is just as DEVONthink does - the log symbol is always visible and changes to “on” when there is a problem; it doesn’t tell me what the problem is (low oil pressure, yes - but not the root cause); it triggers me to delve deeper. So, in the case of DEVONthink, to take a look at the log.

I understand that your requirements and mine are different. You are not alone in your ideology, but nor am I. So what I am saying is that I see a logic in what DEVONtech have done. “I didn’t see the warning in the log” is a reflection on both you and DT in my opinion. You, because it suggests a lack of awareness, DT because it suggests that the UI could be optimised to bring more users on board. That’s why your feedback is valuable.

Would an icon per database showing sync status (e.g. synced last 24 h or not) be a solution? Users could place those icons in the icon bar as required. Maybe an additional icon which shows overall sync status for those who want a less granular indicator? Or does it have to be a sync status window (I ask, because I feel that would be a break with the current UI)? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a DT employee; I’m just wondering whether we users can come to an agreement on what feature to suggest or ask for. I kind of assume something we’re in agreement about would have better chances of implementation than something we’re at odds about.

the activity monitor in the lower left pane should be a little bit greater and stay always visible (and also scrollable), i think this would be great.

Thanks for the feedback :+1:t3:

I guess you have sometimes a look on that place where it would be?

I don’t actually, no; I operate on the “it will appear when it needs to” principle. A significant difference in the analogy is the colour, however. Warning lights in cars are typically graded - either yellow or red, depending on urgency. So a red light appearing is likely to attract my attention even if I am not specifically keeping an eye on it. The log symbol in DT changes from light grey to black, both of which colours are not typically associated with a warning.

I do understand you though; when I develop my own scripts, I often add visible feedback for the initial phase. When I’m happy it all works I adjust that feedback to be included in the log.

(Again: I’m no more right or wrong than you here; we have different approaches; for DT the difficult thing is to make us both happy - and all the other users too.)

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FWIW, my experience was that the error was not reported in the log window. It was as though sync had stopped, so there was no sync error to report because no attempt was being made to sync. I don’t know why, nor whether it was a problem due to Devonthink, the OS, or both.

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Now, i have an inconsistence, but DT does even not report WHERE. No way to repair manually.

@cgrunenberg do you have an idea what i could do?

Are there log items above what you show that gives a clue?

At this point I would rebuild.

Not every possible internal inconsistency is directly related to an item in the database and therefore can’t be logged, just like not every possible filesystem issue is related to a file/folder. If emptying the trash shouldn’t fix this issue, then the only option would be to rebuild the database.

Empty trash helped, thx. But once again, i have been informed about the inconsitancy and the fail of sync only 4 days later :frowning:

According to the screenshot the Log panel should have been automatically shown. Wasn’t this the case?

Did you try this…

  1. Clear Window > Log.
  2. Do a File > Verify & Repair on the database.
  3. Press Repair when prompted.
  4. Press Ok in the next dialog.
  5. Check Window > Log for zero-byte files.
  6. Control-click a result and choose Reveal if you’d like to see where the file resides in the database. Then use the Move to Trash option.
  7. Empty the database’s Trash to remove the zero-byte files.
  8. Repeat the steps with other databases as needed.

No, i had to force “view log” in the menu