I moved a folder, with subfolders and a few dozen files, into the Finder Inbox. The folder structure was mostly copied into the DT Inbox as expected, but the Finder Inbox was not emptied. What remained was the folder, a subfolder, a subsubfolder and within that one .download file (which was not successfully copied into DT).
This situation apparently triggers DT to try import this folder structure again and again, but after setting up the folders, it apparently chokes on the .download file each time, leaving an empty tree in the Inbox. I have five of those now sitting there.
DT 3.5.2
MacOS 10.15.6
I suggest a little more information is needed.
What is “the Finder inbox”?
What type of files were in the “few dozen folders”.
Where did you “move the folder” from?
Something you’ve done is triggering reentrancy it seems, but its not obvious for the information provided in the post what that might be.
What is “the Finder inbox”?
The folder called “Inbox” that DT installed in the Favorites sidebar of the Finder. Stuff I move into there, within the Finder, ends up in my Global Inbox in DT.
What type of files were in the “few dozen folders”.
PDFs. They were imported correctly, together with the folder tree. This almost always works. But not with this file at the end of one branch, and so that branch remains in the Inbox in the Finder, and is copied regularly. The triggering seems to happen if visit this folder to see if it’s gone.
Where did you “move the folder” from?
Desktop
Something you’ve done is triggering reentrancy it seems, but its not obvious for the information provided in the post what that might be.
The trigger seems to be visiting the Finder Inbox or its contents. The basic problem is not the triggering, but the fact that DT does not seem to be able to accept this .download file into its Global Inbox, so that stuff remains in the Finder Inbox.
All good except…
That’s an unfinished, incomplete, or failed download. Since it is a “work in progress” managed by the operating system, don’t try to import the file since until the download is finished there’s nothing there that DEVONthink can use.
If the downloads never complete, then troubleshoot. Might be an issue with the original site you are downloading from, or the network connection, or something amiss with macOS … etc. Simply rebooting and trying to download again often unclogs the situation. There’s nothing DEVONthink can do about an incomplete download, though you might try the Download feature built into DEVONthink.
Good advice, thanks.
However, I still consider it a bug that DT will leave anything sitting around in the Inbox, even more so when it repeatedly, albeit partially, keeps importing that, filling up the Global Inbox with multiple copies of an empty folder tree (eight and counting).
That’s in no way functional behavior.
Open DEVONthink Help. Press the Option Key to make the “Report Bug” command appear. Report the bug you perceived.