Indexed document suddenly shows in non-existing folder! I'm worried!

What’s the path of these folders, are they located in a cloud folder or a folder synchronized by another software?

Thanks for chiming in @cgrunenberg.

The docs folder is a normal folder in my Dropbox (~/Dropbox/docs).

Did you update the Dropbox.app recently? The latest version moved the Dropbox folder to a different location. See e.g. WARNING - if you index files, BE CAREFUL with how you install new Dropbox + Mac OS [edited!] - #30 by BLUEFROG

I don’t think Dropbox got updated recently. Here the version number in its preferences:

Screen Shot 2022-11-08 at 11.16.20 pm

I’m on Catalina.

And do all your computers use Catalina? Is the path of both 2022_to_keep groups identical? See Info > General inspector.

Yep, all computer use Catalina.

The paths of the 2022_to-keep groups are different though:

  1. ~/Dropbox/docs/finance/invoices/2022_to-keep
  2. ~/Dropbox/docs/finance/invoices/2022_to-keep-1

But I never created a folder 2022_to-keep-1 in the invoices location! The view in DT should – I think – just represent the structure in the filesyetm!

Could it be that now, or sometime in the past, you had Dropbox setup to be “online” and not “offline”.

I don’t know where in the version of Dropbox that setting is in, but check with the preferences setting in the app, or possibly right-mouse in Finder (as it is in the current Dropbox app).

I don’t think so.

In any case, how can I tell DT3 to properly update the folder to what’s on disc?

I tried the Menu item “Update Index Items” while having the top docs folder selected, but it doesn’t do the trick. What can I do to tell DT3 to just reindex the folder from disc as is?

All folders seem to exist and the path is not identical, only the name in the database. Is that right?

Yes, that’s right.

(I have no idea though how it came to this folder 2022_to-keep-1 which in DT is mapped to one of the 2022_to-keep groups.)

If that’s the only affected folder, then the easiest fix is to simply rename it in DEVONthink.

Mmmmh, I just want to tell DT3 to update its info to what’s in the file system – in the whole docs-tree. Why doesn’t “Update Index Items” do this?

The paths seem to be valid & up to date, the name of the items doesn’t matter.

I see. Thanks. Makes sense.

But how can I tell DT3 to go back and make/keep the names as they are in the file tree on disc?

If only one folder is affected, then simply renaming it is indeed the easiest solution.

@cgrunenberg The file tree has 6969 items. I don’t know whether this is the only folder affected.

I’m looking for an one-step re-indexing solution which I can kick of from time to time. Possible?

Please try a toolbar search for kind:group filename:>-1 item:indexed.

Only by removing the indexed items from the database (without deleting it on disk) and then indexing the folder(s) again.

Very clever! Thanks. (Update: Actually even better in my case: kind:group filename:>-1 name:!>-1 item:indexed)

Ok, I guess that’s what I better do from time to time…

But wait, the odyssey continues:

The same clever search (kind:group filename:>-1 item:indexed) on my 2nd Mac which uses the same DEVONthink database and has the same Dropbox account in the same location (~/Dropbox) doesn’t return any result! No folder 2022_to-keep-1 exists either.

What a mess!