DEVONthink generating copies of indexed files

DEVONthink
1

I can’t quite figure out this behaviour.

I’m reviewing PDFs and highlighting them in DEVONthink Pro Office. They’re indexed files. The files are open over the course of hours (it’s dense reading, okay?).

When I check the file directories in DEVONthink and Finder, I’m discovering copies of the files that I haven’t created. The copies include some of the highlights I’ve added to the PDF.

It seems like the “genuine” file is the latest and greatest—i.e., it has all of the annotations—while I don’t think the copies are exact duplicates (e.g., they seem to be being created as I move through the document over time).

Any ideas on what’s happening?

2

You are likely using Duplicate documents as conflict resolution in DEVONthink’s sync preferences.

3

Aha, thanks. But what would cause the sync conflict?

4

Are you not syncing while working on multiple devices?

5

Nope, I’ve only opened these files in DTPO on the Mac.

I have the database synced via both a Dropbox and a local sync, but DTTG hasn’t been open on either iOS device for any meaningful amount of time.

6

What is the name of the copy?

7

Here’s a sample. This is taken from the Finder Trash—it doesn’t include the original file.
30%20PM

8

The only process in DEVONthink that would cause this would be syncing.

Switch Mac and mobile to use the latest document, as this is what’s causing it.

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9

If you are worried about data loss as a result of changing your preferences (looks like you are also doing academic reading and don’t particularly fancy reading a paper twice), my anecdotal experience is that I have seen a significant decrease of this happening since switching from WebDAV to iCloud. However, I must admit I had far fewer occurrences of this to begin with.

1 Like
10

It’s always interesting to learn about different experiences. I’m using WebDAV as my sync engine since a long time and never experienced any duplicates.