# Discovering DEVONthink 4: Handling Email

**URL:** <https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726>\
**Category:** Blog\
**Created:** [August 14, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726 "2025-08-14T15:21:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![rmschne](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@rmschne](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/rmschne)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2025, 9:54am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/21 "2025-08-22T09:54:16Z")

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> **[DEVONtechnologies | Discovering DEVONthink 4: Handling Email](https://www.devontechnologies.com/blog/20250814-new-in-devonthink-4-email)**
>
> DEVONtechnologies develops DEVONthink, DEVONagent, and other Mac and iOS apps for document and information management and web research.

I do this set of keys which if am reading above correctly is what you want

_Settings \> Files \> Emails_, you can now define a hotkey for importing a mailbox or selected emails in Apple Mail and Microsoft Outlook\*. For those who previously used the plugin, set them to ⌃⌥⌘M for messages and ⇧⌃⌥⌘M for mailboxes and it will feel like it did before.

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**Author:** ![Pda0](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/pda0/32/20323_2.png) [@Pda0](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Pda0)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/22 "2025-09-15T11:49:03Z")

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+1, It would be great to see more development resources allocated to the mail archiving side.

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**Author:** ![MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/mslogica/32/23244_2.png) [@MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/MsLogica)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 7:19am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/23 "2025-10-07T07:19:41Z")

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Very slow reply to this, but I finally got round to troubleshooting my issue this morning and the short answer to your questions are: no 😆 There are no scripts running (though I appreciate the belief in my ability to set one up!) and although the log is flagging that there is a duplicate, no such duplicate exists (I checked properties and there are 0, and I ran a search on subject line to see what files might come up).

I bring in emails into my database via drag and drop from the Mail app, and did wonder if the warning of a duplicate email is being caused by the Mail app being visible in the import sidebar on DT. I don’t need it in there (and don’t know if I am the one that put it there). I couldn’t see a way to remove it, is that possible?

To be honest it’s not the end of the world if I keep getting the error message. I’ve had it for months and I know it’s incorrect (as does DT given that it’s still importing my emails) so it’s not really inconveniencing me!

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**Author:** ![cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/cgrunenberg/32/7172_2.png) [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 7:35am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/24 "2025-10-07T07:35:53Z")

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> [@MsLogica](#):
>
> and although the log is flagging that there is a duplicate, no such duplicate exists (I checked properties and there are 0, and I ran a search on subject line to see what files might come up).

It’s not necessarily a duplicate but could also be existing email with the same message ID in the database.

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**Author:** ![MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/mslogica/32/23244_2.png) [@MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/MsLogica)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 8:19am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/25 "2025-10-07T08:19:50Z")

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How would I check if that were the case? It seems unlikely (I assume message IDs are unique? The email is only being brought into the db once. And although DT is reporting that it’s skipping the import of a duplicated email, it isn’t skipping it.)

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**Author:** ![cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/cgrunenberg/32/7172_2.png) [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 8:39am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/26 "2025-10-07T08:39:12Z")

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> [@MsLogica](#):
>
> I assume message IDs are unique?

They should be. Unfortunately they aren’t always, especially in case of e.g. old emails sent by buggy software or mailing lists. A screenshot of the logged messages would be useful.

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**Author:** ![MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/mslogica/32/23244_2.png) [@MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/MsLogica)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 10:35am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/27 "2025-10-09T10:35:14Z")

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Here’s a screenshot. It does it for every email I import though so I’m not sure how helpful this screenshot is! (I drag and drop the emails I want to save from Mail to the relevant group in my database.)

 ![Screenshot 2025-10-09 at 11.33.09](https://devontech-discourse.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/original/3X/c/4/c4cadbf198f84157d794514cdf9ac6f58d28065e.png)

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**Author:** ![cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/cgrunenberg/32/7172_2.png) [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 10:37am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/28 "2025-10-09T10:37:26Z")

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Seems there’s indeed already an email with the same message ID in the database.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/mslogica/32/23244_2.png) [@MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/MsLogica)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 11:17am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/29 "2025-10-09T11:17:09Z")

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Yes, but that’s my point. There isn’t. I’m getting this error for every email, and the emails are only imported into DT manually by me. Unless we think none of the emails I archive have unique IDs, DT has an issue somewhere. (But I do still wonder if it’s something to do with that import sidebar.)

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**Author:** ![cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/cgrunenberg/32/7172_2.png) [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 12:10pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/30 "2025-10-09T12:10:16Z")

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Are you able to import them to a new database? All of them?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/mslogica/32/23244_2.png) [@MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/MsLogica)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 4:04pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/31 "2025-10-12T16:04:15Z")

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Fun question! I set up a new database and tried moving some new emails into it, and I get the same error message.

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**Author:** ![BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bluefrog/32/135_2.png) [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/32 "2025-10-12T16:08:27Z")

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In DEVONthink, hold the Option key and select **Help \> Report Bug**.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Modularist](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/22d042/32.png) [@Modularist](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Modularist)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 9:02am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/33 "2025-10-13T09:02:40Z")

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I have this problem too. 4.1.1. Sequoia.

DnD from Apple Mail fails, even single mails, with Devonthink claiming that the mails have already been imported. Only restarting Devonthink with no databases and creating a fresh database seems to get the emails in.

Airmail, which Devonthink will only take one email at a time from, does import almost correctly, but I have to run a script afterwards to correct the mtime back to the email date.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/cgrunenberg/32/7172_2.png) [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 9:03am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/34 "2025-10-13T09:03:20Z")

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> [@Modularist](#):
>
> DnD from Apple Mail fails, even single mails, with Devonthink claiming that the mails have already been imported. Only restarting Devonthink with no databases and creating a fresh database seems to get the emails in.

Are you sure the emails were not already imported to the same database or are still in the trash?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Modularist](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/22d042/32.png) [@Modularist](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Modularist)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 9:55am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/35 "2025-10-13T09:55:49Z")

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One set of emails was in the trash (trashed from a different open database). The second set failed on the first import (I think one email was imported from 29), but attempting to reimport failed because Devonthink claimed all 29 had been imported.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/cgrunenberg/32/7172_2.png) [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 10:16am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/36 "2025-10-13T10:16:45Z")

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> [@Modularist](#):
>
> The second set failed on the first import (I think one email was imported from 29)

The number of imported and failed messages is logged to _Window \> Log_.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Modularist](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/22d042/32.png) [@Modularist](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Modularist)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 10:21am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/37 "2025-10-13T10:21:20Z")

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Indeed, that is what I was watching in real time.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/cgrunenberg/32/7172_2.png) [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 11:30am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/38 "2025-10-13T11:30:23Z")

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A screenshot of the message(s) after trying to import some emails to a new database would be useful, thanks.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/mslogica/32/23244_2.png) [@MsLogica](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/MsLogica)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2025, 8:52am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/discovering-devonthink-4-handling-email/84726/39 "2025-12-12T08:52:13Z")

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Very slow reply, but I did some email filing yesterday and watched the whole time, and none of emails triggered the duplicate warning, so it looks like something in a recent update has fixed this! Thank you!

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