HELP! I can't find my database anywhere

I thought it was supposed to be in the Devonthink 2 folder in Application Support in Library – and that’s the location given in “database properties” in the program. But there is no Devonthink folder there, of any kind. When I do a spotlight search of my computer, the closest thing I find to my database is a file in my documents folder called “Warhol Biography.dtBase2.zip” – but that’s only 83MB, whereas my database stores many gigs of images and PDFs and documents (“database properties” says it is 16GB). A while back a techie at DollyDrive (the cloud backup company) went into my computer to arrange cloud backup of my computer, including my DT database, and might have moved things around without telling me…
My database represents years of work, so not being able to find it terrifies me (I have my whole computer backed up via Time Machine, to an external hard drive, so I hope that makes me safe – even though I can’t actually FIND my database to restore it in case of a crash.)

Right-click on the database name in the Sidebar (under the section ‘OPEN DATABASES’) and select ‘Show in Finder’.

Don’t see anything marked “Open Databases” – I think because I’m using Devonthink Personal, so only one database allowed. Make sense?

That database with the filename extension “.dtBase2” is probably a remnant of a test of DEVONthink Pro or Pro Office, and isn’t your DEVONthink Personal database.

As you are using DEVONthink Personal 2.x, yes, there is a database folder named DEVONthink 2 and it is located at ~/Library/Application Support/. If you don’t see any data when DEVONthink Personal is open and you have a view window open, it’s likely that you simply have an empty database.

And as you have Time Machine backups, you can Restore your database from that location in a Time Machine backup to the appropriate location in your user account on your computer.

For whatever reason, Apple decided to make your User Library folder invisible. That’s why you didn’t see the existing DEVONthink 2 folder at ~/Library/Application Support/, nor can you see it when looking at your Time Machine backups. That’s not very convenient in your case. :slight_smile:

For my own convenience, I’ve used a Terminal command to make my User Library visible. Here’s how:

  1. Launch the Terminal application (Applications > Utilities).

  2. Enter this string: "chflags nohidden ~/Library/“ without the quotation marks - (copy/paste works)

  3. Press Return, then Quit the Terminal app. Now Apple is no longer hiding your user Library from you.

Now, whether in the Finder view of your computer’s files or in the screen displaying Time Machine’s backups, you can click on your User Account name in the left column, see the User Library folder and navigate among its contents. Select the folder named DEVONthink 2 (at ~/Library/Application Support) and check its file size. As you mentioned gigabytes of data should be there, a much smaller file size implies that it’s just an empty database.

I don’t have any information about your online backup system. But as you also have Time Machine backups, here’s how to use Time Machine to recover a backup file:

Quit DEVONthink.

  1. Make certain that there’s a Time Machine “clock” button in your menubar, which when clicked will display the backups. If the button isn’t already in the menubar, launch System Preferences, click on the Time Machine icon and check the option, “Show Time Machine in menu bar”.

  2. Click on the Time Machine button in the menubar and then click on your User Account name to make your User Library folder visible. Click on the Library folder to open it, then open the Application Support folder and select the folder named DEVONthink 2. Click on Restore to move that backup folder to the proper location on your computer, ~/Library/Application Support/

Launch DEVONthink. You should now see a working copy of your database. Run Tools > Verify & Repair to check for errors.

Tip: Like other backup utilities, Time Machine will happily backup your database whether or not it has errors. It’s a good habit to periodically (perhaps weekly, or immediately if something flaky happens) run Tools > Verify & Repair to check for errors. I haven’t seen database errors for a very long time, but this is a good habit. :slight_smile:

Wonderful. I will try all of the above