Global smart groups that are edited cannot be moved

DEVONthink
1

Smart Groups created to search globally (i.e., across multiple databases) appear in the Smart Group section of the side bar. But when such a smart group is edited to search just one database, the smart group does not move to that database. Nor can it be dragged and dropped to the database that it exclusively applies to. It just stays in the global smart group list.

2

But when such a smart group is edited to search just one database, the smart group does not move to that database.

That is correct. If you create a global smart group, it remains there despite the targeted location.
And currently, not it can be dragged and dropped into a database.

Development could weigh in on this but I don’t know if it would be implemented as each one dragged would have to check if it’s being dragged to the correct location. Also, there are technical things under-the-hood that would need to be modified when moving them from global to local.

3

Thanks for the immediate response. Obviously, this is not a big deal. Just wanted to report it.

4

You’re welcome :slight_smile:

5

I can understand that there may be some technical reasons that global smart groups need to remain in the global area; however, these groups do not appear to sync. Is there a way to copy a global smart group’s rules and create a database smart group with the same criteria? Import and export of smart groups only seems to work at the global level. I have some complex rules that I would like to see across my installs of DT3 that are currently global rules and I can’t figure out how to get them appear without recreating them from scratch.

6

You could either export your smart rules and import them on the other Macs or simply copy the file ~/Library/Application Support/DEVONthink 3/SmartRules.plist from one Mac to the other.

7

That would at least make the smart groups match at the global level, but is there no way to copy the global smart group criteria into a database specific smart group? Being able to copy criteria would be so helpful when creating similar but not identical smart group definitions.

Thanks so much for your prompt answer!

8

This isn’t possible (and only global smart groups can search in all databases or inboxes).