I agree with you that the ability to use Classify to get AI assistance when moving content out of the Global Inbox would be very useful.
Currently, See Also and Classify don’t cross the boundaries of a database.
Christian has posted elsewhere that a future release will allow See Also and Classify to work across open databases. I’m eagerly anticipating that, too. 
Any update on when Classify will cross database boundaries ?
I was hoping it was going to be in the final 2.0 release.
I was hoping for this, too. Maybe for 2.1?
Best wishes, Sven.
So, this thread started in 2009. It’s now 2016, and you still can’t use the classify button in the global inbox!
At the very least, selecting “Global inbox” under Preferences > Import > Destination should pop up a giant warning telling you that you’ll have to classify everything manually.
Is it really that hard to fix? Or has it just fallen to the bottom of the pile because we’ve stopped moaning about it?
(If you can’t classify from the global inbox, what exactly is the point of the wretched thing, anyway? Who wants to file everything manually, like a caveman?)
What I have done in the past is to dump a bunch of files into the global inbox and later manually move each one into the inbox of specific databases. From there I can process each inbox into specific folders using the means you mention.
Now I rely on Hazel to automatically process files I dump into some “inbox” folder in Dropbox by moving them to appropriate indexed folders on my Mac. Not all files get processed since the Hazel rules that I defined target repeated file sources such as monthly bills. For those not processed, I manually move into the destination folder (which is indexed into DTPO). I use Dropbox as an inbox (having nothing to do with DTPO) because I can reach it from Mac and iOS devices.
Personally, I no longer want the AI routines such as Classify and See Also to cross database boundaries. For example, two of my important databases are topically related, but have different purposes. One holds scientific papers and reports, case histories, policy issues, and regulatory information about a topic. The other holds methodological documents including sampling procedures, chemical analytical procedures, quality assurance methodologies, data evaluation procedures, risk assessment procedures, cost-benefit analysis, etc. Both databases are large and important for research. I find that separating them, with isolation of Classify, See Also and See Related text to each saves me a lot of time and aggravation.
What’s the use of the Global Inbox? That’s up to the user. I often don’t use it. But I use it when I’m dumping in batches of new items that include content intended for multiple databases, or content that may require creation of a new topical database.
To identify content in the Global Inbox for filing purposes one can use Hazel, for example, or create smart groups that collect items to be sent to specific databases, based on search criteria. These and other approaches can be used for automatic or semi-automatic approaches to filing mixed content from the Global Inbox to other databases. Your hands are not tied. To repeat an aphorism of the late Senator Russell Long, “there are more ways to kill a cat than by stuffing it with butter”.
The Global Inbox is a temporary storage area for transient or not-yet-classified data. It is a very handy place for general quick data capture.
Umm… you are dealing with a computer here.
For routine documents I use an indexed process almost exactly like pvonk. Hazel handles the sorting and classifying for me for this set of of highly structured repetitive input.
For active projects, I use an indexed system in dropbox, partially because it is very dynamic and changing as I progress the project and learn more and partially because I want a small key group of 2-4 people to be able to access and use/edit the files. Where and how I want the documents grouped changes, and DTPO cannot handle this. After the project is complete, the whole set of folders and documents are moved into DTPO into a massive completed projects and consulting database. I happen to have a preference to have all this info in one big database in order to do searches and smart groups.
For research materials, completed projects [I do a lot of consulting] , or other items of interest to me [analogous to DeVille] I use a process similar to DeVille’s, except I use one large database.
I found that when I tried to force everything into DTPO database [ being a purist] it was too much fiddly work. After stepping back and thinking about how I wanted to use the items I and minimize fiddliness, I started using the process above. It has worked well for several years now.
DTPO is a great tool but like any tool,I use it for what it is best designed to do. Forcing it do other things leads to fiddliness and frustration. If you use a screwdriver to try drive nails, you will be frustrated, the nail will bend, and your screwdriver may not work well anymore.
Gah! I have Hazel, and I never thought of that. Thanks! That’ll mostly solve the problem, though it’s still annoying to have to keep resetting the Scansnap destination.
Of course, the real solution is for me to scan incoming documents more frequently, rather than having to set aside a few hours to go through a massive pile of them…
If you run into a problem using Hazel for this activity, so a search in the forum for “Hazel”. There are older posts that give step by step instructions.
This thread seems like the best place to post this, even though it’s really old.
I am trying to use the “move to” command to move ~15,000 emails that accidentally landed in the Inbox rather than the correct database.
The problem is, whenever I do this, I get:
12:40:39 PM: UUID already in database
Yes, a few of the messages have already been imported.
However, instead of DT just skipping the already existing items then continuing on it’s merry way to move the other ~14,500 non-duplicate messages, it chokes and stops.
That’s bad behavior. If you’re using the metaphor of a finder move command, the finder will pop up a warning that asks whether you want to clobber the original file or skip over it. It also allows you to repeat for all such warnings (so you don’t have to click through hundreds or thousands of such warnings).
How can I get Devonthink to move these files without manually sorting through hundreds of potential duplicates?
Thanks
Morgan
It’s hard to sort through these UUID issues – which are rare but annoying, as you discovered.
Instead of move, I’d suggest exporting the emails to an external folder. Delete them from DEVONthink. Empty the trash. Go to the target database, and import the email export. This will force DEVONthink to create a new record with a new UUID for each email. If there are duplicates they will be highlighted and you can deal with that.
You might also want to do a verify and repair on the target database before the import, just in case there are some corrupt records there.
Thanks, I will try that
I hope the developers will consider fixing this behavior in the longer term…
Cheers