Deleting and importing?

I have beginner’s questions:

  • when I import documents to Devothink do I import only informations about docs?

  • when I delete documents from Devothink do I delete only informations in database?

thanks

R.

Imported documents are copied, indexed documents are NOT copied.

Yes. Otherwise an alert is presented asking if external files should be deleted too.

OK, thank you.

So better is indexing than importing?

Yes and no. This depends on your needs.

And why is better importing?

If you want to keep stuff outside the database, use indexing. Otherwise use importing.

I personally use a mix of the two. Reference documents I’ll directly import into the database so I know I won’t lose them. However, for projects I’m working on, I’ll index the folders.

Oh, this makes me wonder, is there a way to exclude file types/subfolders from indexing? For instance, the .log and .aux files from LaTeX compiles? I’d also like to skip my .git subdirectory.

It’s possible to disable certain file types (Preferences > Import) but there’s no sophisticated exlusion available right now.

Thanks. That will come in handy. Even something simple like a file in a directory (like .hgignore or .gitignore) with exclusion patterns would be a nice feature for the future. This would allow the synchronization of indexes to be controlled on a per-directory basis.

Maybe the Files: section of Preferences > Import can eventually be reworked to accommodate more flexible inclusions/exclusions that tjl and others would use.

Btw, it would be handy if specific Preferences help pages could be opened directly from the Prefs window, e.g. by clicking a purple question mark bubble often seen in the bottom-right corner of other app Prefs windows.