For ages I have been scanning into DT using a ScanSnap iX1400, via a ScanSnap profile, which has put new scans in the global inbox. I haven’t changed anything, but the procedure now duplicates the scan and puts two identical copies in the inbox. I’m lost because I haven’t changed anything. I have checked the ScanSnap profile but don’t know where to go from there.
I’m using ScanSnap Home and DT is set up (as it always has been) as an available application.
Thanks for any help.
You shouldn’t set the output location of ScanSnap to the Global Inbox.
What application is doing the OCR?
I haven’t changed the output location. It was working before. Maybe it’s wrong now. It’s /Users/[name]/Library/Application Support/DEVONthink 3/Inbox
DT is doing the OCR.
Also something else I’ve noticed is that the process used to put a copy of the scan in my local documents folder, but it doesn’t seem to be doing that now. Weird. Maybe it’s putting that copy in DT??
The inbox folder was basically only intended to easily save documents to DEVONthink but especially slow operations like scanning or downloading are not recommended as DEVONthink might process the files before the operations have been completed.
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As noted in the Help > Tutorials > Scan with a ScanSnap, using the default directory suggested in the scanning profile safeguards against the potential issues @cgrunenberg mentioned…
I have selected “scan to devonthink app” in this scansnap settings. but nevertheless get duplicates sporadically since some time (but never got it in the previous years). Maybe scansnap (or DTP or macos) updates have changed anything… but normally it works quite well.
Is DEVONthink’s Preferences > OCR > Original Document > Move to Trash enabled?
I read the same thing in Joe Kessell’s excellent ebook. But of course I tried it anyway, and it seemed to work fine.
I could see that you could end up with a pot of archaically named files in the inbox, but what other drawbacks could there be?
I deleted the old profile, created a new one without changing the Save to field and now I get one copy in DT (and none in my documents folder either). Thank you!
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Just as expected! And you’re very welcome 
I could see that you could end up with a pot of archaically named files in the inbox, but what other drawbacks could there be?
See @frippet’s comments and also reread what @cgrunenberg said. Appearing to work is not a good measurement, especially in light of official statements to the contrary.
Side question: as a ScanSnap user, can you successfully scan multipage documents using the Import from Device option? When I use my Brother scanner this way, each page is a separate file.
Smart rules do not use this setting, by the way, as it’s the job of the optional Move to Trash action.
I use the Brother scanning software to drop the multi-page PDFs with OCR into a temporary folder, ~/desktop/scanner_output. When new files detected in that older, I have Hazel setup to move the file into the DEVONthink Global Inbox–hence minimising the risk of a partially complete file in that folder as described here by @bluefrog and @cgrunenberg.
So, do you also have the issue I have with scanning multipage documents directly in DT?
I had never heard of Hazel before visiting this forum. Is it a general purpose scripting tool or what? Is it free?
Why not have the Brother software drop the file into an indexed folder? I’m still trying to digest the advantages and disadvantages of using indexed folders for exactly this purpose. It seems to me the easy access from outside DT is almost a no brainer.
So, do you also have the issue I have with scanning multipage documents directly in DT?
Are you talking about controlling the Brother scanner via DEVONthink’s View > Import > Image Capture controls?
I had never heard of Hazel before visiting this forum. Is it a general purpose scripting tool or what? Is it free?
No, it’s not free.
However, there are some things Hazel does that can be accomplished in DEVONthink’s smart rules within your databases.
Why not have the Brother software drop the file into an indexed folder? I’m still trying to digest the advantages and disadvantages of using indexed folders for exactly this purpose. It seems to me the easy access from outside DT
Easy access for what purpose?
is almost a no brainer.
And it’s not a “no brainer”. If it was, it would be the default mechanism for getting data into DEVONthink. It’s not the default for good reasons, as outlined in the Help.
Yes.
Granted, some of my purposes are probably not worth the trouble.
The TLDR; version is after committing 13 years worth of notes, articles and documents to Evernote, and finding it cumbersome to migrate neatly to a new platform, I’m gun shy about obfuscating the files in a database where another app is required to get them back out.
Also access from non-Mac devices.
deleting a lot of tedious details about the import process I’ll save them for another post.
That’s why I said “almost” I’m still trying to learn what the disadvantages are.
Example: my initial assumption was that sync would not include indexed files, so I thought a good solution would be placing the files in my iCloud Drive.
Then I learned that I was consuming twice as much space by doing so because sync actually does include them. (I don’t understand this at all, does it dump them back out into the file system of the sync partner?)
Then I read in the documentation that there is an option in sync settings to disable that behavior. But when I look for the setting, it’s not there. Re-reading the documentation, it looks like it’s maybe a dropbox only setting.
Obviously I’m learning as I go and trying to figure out the best way(s) to use the software for my situation. So, your help is very much appreciated.
It’s not a scripting tool, though you can make it run scripts. It’s a full-blown automation tool that allows you to do more than can be described in a post here.
See the Help > Tutorial > Scan Paper Documents.
You’re not obfuscating things in DEVONthink any more than you’re obfuscating them in the Finder. Your files aren’t stored in nice, neat little folders in the Finder despite what you think you see, but you don’t question that. It’s very simple and straightforward and essentially the same in DEVONthink. Put them in the database and if you need them elsewhere you access them in their groups no differently than in the Finder.
Syncing indexed files does not inherently consume double the disk space. This is especially true when using a remote sync option like Dropbox where DEVONthink syncs directly to their servers. For a local sync store, yes extra space would be used for the sync data.
Yes, sync includes the content of indexed files by default. This is intentional and required if you’re going to sync with DEVONthink To Go. Otherwise, there would be no contents to import on other devices. You’d end up with file placeholders and their metadata, nothing more.
There is an option to exclude indexed content when syncing (and no, it’s not a Dropbox only setting). Control-click the sync location and choose Show Info. The setting to Synchronize contents of indexed items is there but no, you should not disable it without careful consideration.
That being said, cloud services do their own file syncing, so if you index cloud-synced files, DEVONthink lets those services handle their own file management. So the files in an indexed iCloud Drive folder on Mac A and Mac B are handled by iCloud processes, not DEVONthink. Pertinent metadata about those files is synced between DEVONthink on the Macs.
But for non-cloud-synced indexed files, yes they are synced between Macs and again, yes that’s by default. Create a folder in your home directory on Mac A and index it into a database you’re syncing with Mac B. You will see the same folder in the home directory on Mac B containing the same files as DEVONthink will sync to the same relative location on each Mac.
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