I very clumsily ran a duplicate file scan on my computer and deleted a bunch of documents, mostly pdfs, that I thought were internal to the database but, it turns out, were not.
Now I have 133 missing files, according to the Verify and Repair Log. Identical copies of these files exist outside the database. The manual fix is to import each file one by one and file them in the appropriate location in DTPO. Then I would delete the unlinked instance in DTPO.
Is there a faster way to do this? In Mac OSX, if you try to open a missing file, you are given a search window that allows you to find the correct file anywhere on the computer and repair the link. Does something like this exist in DTPO?
I have also considered going back in Time Machine. If I do this, how do I restore the previous database, but also save work I have done since then?
Be EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS in even thinking about any action that modifies, renames, moves or deletes file contained inside the database package, especially from the Finder or another application, and most especially if such actions are done automatically. The likely result will be lost information, or even a bollixed database.
The exception, of course, is an action that the database is “aware” of and designed to handle, such as triggering an outside edit by an external application using the Open With command.
First, identify the content that you have added or modified since the date/time of the last Time Machine backup. The History tool may be useful for that, or perhaps one or more smart groups created for that purpose (if more than one smart group is used, make separate exports into separate Finder folders for each). Export that content to a new folder in the Finder.
Now, as a precaution, zip the database file (with DT Quit!), then delete the database package file. If you had made a mistake in choosing the documents to be exported, you may need to go back to the database for another try.
Next, pull in from Time Machine the database file backup. Open it and inspect it to make sure it doesn’t have the problem you had encountered. If all is well, import the folder holding your exported material. If the group corresponding to that folder contains some duplicates, those are likely later-edited versions of files contained in the Time Machine backup.
It’s fairly easy to update the backup file with the content you had subsequently modified or added. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for changes in organizational structure. You will have lost that work, and will have to spend some additional work organizing the transferred files that were exported/imported.