I performed a “File > Update Indexed Items” followed by “Verify and Repair” to prepare for a monthly database backup.
An unexpected, very long list of missing files resulted. The log led me to something even more unexpected: the appearance of “Documents” as a subgroup in this DtPO database. Inspection shows that I have (somehow) indexed my entire Documents folder (in Finder) to this subgroup – the count appears to be about 21K. The missing file notice was correct since I’d archived some items from my Finder’s “Documents” folder a few weeks ago.
Is there a way for me to de-index this DtPO “Documents” group from this very important folder in my Finder? If I can break the links to the Finder folder, then I could move the unexplained DtPO subgroup to Trash. I’d then empty the trash being sure to specify “Database Only.”
I’m not going to do anything until I see what our forum members suggest.
Be sure you have current backups of the computer and the database. Make sure you have not moved any of the files in Documents into the database. You could select only Documents and its children and use the Move External command from the contextual menu. Delete the indexed Documents parent group. Empty DEVONthink trash – selecting the Only in Database option. Verify that ~/Documents is in good shape. Celebrate
Very much appreciate your response, Korm. Sounds straightforward.
My backups are current (multiple TM runs daily and daily clones in CCC). I haven’t moved any of the /Document contents into DtPO.
I’d like to do the Move External phase in increments. Other than the inefficiency, is there any other disadvantage to my trying it on smaller numbers at first? I’m old enough to shrug off the catcalls for being overly cautious.
For the benefit of anyone following this thread or finding it in a later search:
The procedure Korm described in his post of 6 July 2015, above, worked. The 21K indexed items mistakenly created in my DtPO database were removed from the DtPO structure.
Everything in DtPO looks normal again, and the (formerly indexed) files in my Finder’s Documents folder are intact.
