I have couple of inbox issues.
Ghost files keep reappearing. I thought it must be a sync problem, but I have verified, repaired, rebuilt, cleaned the databases from the sync store and resynced everything. There is nothing in the iOS inbox, but the same group of files keeps reappearing.
The Inbox is empty, but database itself is 2.18Gb in the Finder.
Question, if I delete the inbox will DEVONthink recreate it for me. Or am I asking for a world of hurt?
Do you use multiple sync locations?
The inbox might still contain older internal backups. Does File > Optimize Database… reduce the size in the Finder?
DEVONthink will create a new one.
Just the single location, iCloud Drive.
I optimized the database already, but tried it again. It trimmed 100mb, so I deleted it. No problems recreating the inbox.
However, the same 8 files are still periodically reappearing. They all seem to be created on different dates.
Check if the items are in the ~/Library/Application Support/DEVONthink 3/Inbox folder. If they are, delete them.
Nothing in there. I even checked for hidden files. I use that folder intensively with Hazel, so files are coming in and out all the time. This has me stumped, nothing I do seems to stop them reappearing.
I should have mentioned, I’m on DT 3.6 Running on macOS 10.15.7
When exactly are the files added? After launching the app? Or synchronizing the global inbox?
Did you try removing the Inbox.dtBase2 file to see if the issue persists with a new Inbox? You can merely change the name of the current database file, if you want to preserve it for the moment.
Yes, it persists with the new inbox
Disable the Hazel rule and see if the problem persists when manually using the Global Inbox.
This is tricky to answer, I have tried manually syncing to see if they appear but no dice. I kept an eye on the inbox yesterday and they didn’t reappear. However, I left DEVONthink open overnight and found the files back in the inbox this morning.
Tried this already. I used EasyFind to search for the files too, but they are nowhere on my machine. Honestly, this has me stumped.
What kind of files are actually added? Is it possible that they’re created/imported on another computer/device by an automatic workflow/rule/script?
I seem to have fixed this. I think it was a problem with iCloud Drive, but can’t be sure. I have had other iCloud problems so I logged out of it completely (which sucks by the way, don’t do it unless you have no choice…it creates as many problems as it solves).
The only workflow I have picking up PDFs like this is a Hazel rule sweeping my Zotero storage folder for attachments (which is in iCloud Drive). This didn’t seem to be the problem as none of the files were associated with anything in Zotero. However, once I logged out of icloud and back in again it stopped happening. I have versioning on my bibtex library through GitHub, so I checkled to see if maybe I had deleted the guilty files…and yep, 4 of them had bibtext records.
It still seems strange that the files were never visible in the finder when Hazel was switched off, and yet it was somehow grabbing them – maybe its even more magic than we realise 
Anyway, thanks for your help.
Definitely a very environment-specific situation but thanks for the follow-up.
