I have a 77k word book created in DTP that shows all my files missing.
I moved the file from my Dropbox folder back into my Documents folder. That seems to be the point at which the files disappeared.
grabup.com/uploads/b22de0012 … f979fc.png
How do I restore those files and avoid this terror in the future? This is incredibly unsettling. THanks for any help very soon!
Hm…a Wildcard “?” in the filename…maybe this is causing the troubles?
I’ve not renamed the files since starting work on this a couple of weeks ago so would be surprised if that were the issue (wildcard in name).
I’ve exported (just yesterday) each chapter to a text file so at least have that to port into InDesign.
But I want my confidence in DTP restored, to avoid this user error (I suppose) in the future and continue to enjoy the software predictably for the long term. Again, help (and some degree of hand holding if sol’n is very high powered) appreciated!
Let me clarify: all the files in this database are missing, not just the one highlighted.
If you navigate inside the .db2 database file (right click - Show content) to the final location of the file (as it is written in the error message inside DT)…is the file visible in the Finder, or is it completely missing at all?
With other words: Is the file still there and only DT unable to see it, or is the file gone?
Looks like there’s something there. Screenshot in PathFinder
Go deeper to the following location:
“Files.noindex/rtf/3”
and then look for your file
“Unstructured Outdoor Necessity?.rtf”
Normally it should be there.
But do not change anything inside the database…this will break things for sure.
But if you find your file there, you can copy it out of the database easily.
Thanks, will try (am at work now and wo DTP) but it is all 111 files in the db that are missing. This is major to have to replace each of them individually. Cannot the whole db be refreshed, restored, rebuilt or some such?
And could I drag a working copy from TimeMachine?
And I’m very interested in NOT repeating this mistake (of mine most certainly) so open to any ideas. Thanks!
There are a few tools in the “Tools” section in DT to check, repair and backup the database…maybe they help.
And if you have TM backups, normally you should be able to restore the database from a few days before the error happened.
But still no idea what really happened in your case…maybe DT Team can help further…
Thanks, I’m okay as far as workflow goes since I converted all to txt files before things “broke”. But I do want to NOT lose my structure towards future revisions, searchability, etc. I’ll hope to hear from the DT folks shortly. 
Fred, you said that you moved the database from DropBox to your Documents folder, and that the missing files problem became evident after the move.
Was the database open at the time? Copying or moving a database while it’s open is a potential for disaster. The copy may be incomplete or have errors. A “moved while open” database may completely confuse things.
I haven’t used DropBox. But if your database was stored on a remote server and the copy on your computer had not fully synchronized with it, content could be missing at the time the database was moved.
Can I retrieve a copy from Time Machine, and if so, any suggestions on how best to do this?
Thanks for the bad news, at least now I know. Hopefully a hard lesson learned before the consequences were worse!
Yes, you can retrieve a database from a Time Machine backup.
Read the Help for the Time Machine application. Perhaps you might experiment with something simple, such as a deleted photo or TextEdit file.
Roger that, I’ll be happy to be back in business again with DTP; the new version has made all the diff in usability and usefulness for me. I’m hooked for life!
