Database on Mac is Empty and iPad has 3 entries for the DB - not able to re-establish DB on mac

Hello,
I have a DB on my Mac named “Reference”. This is synced to a remote location on a NAS and my DTTG database on my iPad is synced to this database as well.

The DB on the Mac appears to be completely empty. I’ve verified the entry but that hasn’t helped. I’ve closed and reopened and tried to initialize a sync manually but nothing appears to re-establish the version on the Mac. Not sure if I can recover but I would hate to lose the content.

However,

The iPad has 3 entries

  • Reference - 210 items
  • Reference - 0 items
  • Reference - 37 items

I don’t know when this confusion with the DBs occurred on the iPad nor on the Mac since I use this DB as a deeper reference file.

Any thoughts on how I can re-establish the proper database (presumably the 210 item version) on my Mac and clean up the coppies on the iPad???

Any help will be appreciated.
Tom Tensfeldt

Any backup available on macOS?

It is unclear what you’re referring to here. A screen capture could help.

Also, quit and relaunch DEVONthink. Any change?

Relative to the question concerning backups. I haven’t found one from time machine that I think will rescue this content but I’m still in the hunt for that…

As for the question about the 3 database entries on the iPad, I’ve captured the following screen shot:

Restarting DTTG or even the iPad hasn’t impacted this.

Tom Tensfeldt

It appears you have created three databases with the same name, perhaps on a Mac and in another iOS device. Is this the case?

No That didn’t happen. I would have understood these results if that occurred. The 3 entries on the iPad were only generated automatically. I DID select “Reference” from the synchronized store to include in the syncing to the iPad but there was never 3 databases created independently. I suspect that something occurred in synchronization that has now left me with 3 entries with varying content and an entries accessible on the Mac that has exactly 0 entries. I don’t appear to have a timemachine entries that will allow me to fix this. What do you suggest I do to repair and re-establish the database. If I had the option, I would include the content from the 37 item reference entry on the ipad in the the content of the 210 item reference entry, remove the 0 item reference entry, then remove the 37 item reference entry and then re-sync to give the mac a chance to pick up the update version of the reference database. But I don’t see any direct way to do this. I’m concerned that I will forever lose the content of the reference database from the mac and potentially these entries on the ipad.
Tom

This would be the one and only report of this ocurring then.

  • What do you see on the Mac?
  • What do you see in the Remote section of the Databases list when the sync location is selected in DEVONthink?

I’m using a WebDAV connection to the NAS. The Local section has check marks for each of the sync’d databases. The remote section on the Mac (Preferences → Sync → Databases → Remote section) has nothing listed at all.

Note today I eventually was able to

  1. Find a backup in Time Machine from several weeks ago which I think will help. I’ve made a copy of the local database first and then restored that backup to the Mac volume.

  2. Deleted the “Reference” entry with 0 items listed on the iPad using DTTG.

I’m trying to figure out how to copy items from the “smaller” Reference entry on the iPad to the “larger” Reference entry on the ipad to merge these entries and then delete the “smaller”. Not working as I would have expected since “Move” action doesn’t appear to permit selecting multiple items and moving to a different database, only to a different group within the same database but perhaps I’m not doing it correctly.

Interesting that this is the only time that multiple versions a database has appeared on DTTG. Leave it to me to be unique.

If there’s any additional information that I can provide so you can guide my efforts here more effectively, please let me know.

Thanks

Tom Tensfeldt

Are the files downloaded to the device?
You can’t move shallowly synced files.

Jim,
Only some of them are downloaded.
Can they be downloaded completely? i.e. all of the items in the database in a group not one by one on DTTG?
Once done, can they be moved into a difference database on DTTG?
Thanks
Tom Tensfeldt

You can set Download Files: Always on a group or a database’s Info popup provided the sync location is set to On demand.