Completely new user testing out Devon think.
I’m trying to delete all the external urls from my eBook collection and I’m not sure what to set in these fields.
All I would like to do is to remove all the external link urls. I’m scared if I do something wrong I will wipe all of the important and critical metadata. There are almost 7,000 PDFs so I wish to be very careful
Welcome @ChoFun
Are you referring to the URL on the document, e.g., from where it was downloaded?
Hello Brufrog, yes I’ve been collecting PDFs on my favorite subjects for over 25 years.. finally trying to tidy them all u. The first hard drive contains around 7k so I’m starting there. Yes I’d like to strip all the urls from where they came because these places is don’t even exist anymore.
How about copying a few to a new group for testing of the rule before running it on the whole collection?
Tools > Batch Processing… and setting the URL via the action Change URL to an empty one is sufficient. A rule would be only useful if this is a frequent task.
Sorry could you kiindly show me a screen shot of the right setting I should do in my screen shot please?
That did not work.
Tools > Batch Process or Option-Command-B.
Press the plus (+) button and set up the smart action like so…
This will work on selected documents.
Thank you.. I already tested that on a document, did not work. The URL remains.
Can we try it with the option I first tried rather than the tools/batch option please? I just need to know what to select in those two drop down menus.
Doing it in a smart rule will have no different effect. The action is the same.
I already tested that on a document, did not work. The URL remains.
You need to provide clarification on this because what I suggested absolutely works. Show me where you’re seeing this URL.
I have tested it and for me it works. Did you select the document(s) and CTRL+ click to bring up the menu?
Just to point out why this isn’t doing what you want. I think this rule looks in E-Books for documents without a URL and All matching nothing (I’m not sure this matches anything). When you activate the rule the dock icon bounces.
Still not working I create the rule to remove all urls from a small test art folder of PDF files. I apply the rule and check the PDFs and the URL’s are all still there.
URL matches … is a condition, you’ll need the Change URL action.
Sorry I have no idea what you mean.. could you share a screen shot of this same window with the options set a you described please?
The current action on your screenshot is Bounce Dock Icon, just click on it to select the desired Change URL action.
Like this? That seems to be the offering to replace the URL rather than getting rid of it completely because the OK button is greyed out as it’s requiring further input?
I don’t want to change the url.. I want to erase then all.
I suggest that you check the fine manual (accessible under the “Help” menu) and acquaint yourself with the mechanics of a smart rule:
You basically select documents with empty URLs. So there’s nothing to remove.
