I recently decided to index many onedrive folders in a database dedicated to these indexed folder. Once the indexing completed I started moving files around within the dedicated database and mostly subfolders within one of my top level folders. All changes appeared to be reflected in OneDrive, however, onedrive now crashes while ‘looking for changes’ and I think this might be related to the changes I made in DEVONthink with the related indexed folders/files. I am looking for a way to fix the onedrive problem but also wanted to know if there is some good practice with working with indexed onedrive files in DEVONthink. If this is well documented perhaps someone can point me to the relevant information. Thanks.
Are the OneDrive files set to be “offline” and available to DEVONthink.
2 Likes
On my last gig I indexed a few folders from SharePoint/Onedrive into a DT database.
Because they were shared files with over 50 people having different levels of access,
.
I don’t index much and my feeling (i.e. not a fact) is that OneDrive is already a fragile member of the Mac file system and indexing into DT is another layer on top of that so I didn’t do any file re-organization.
The DT part I did use was a bunch of smart groups to foreground what docs had been recently edited by other people, and tag smart groups to get disparate files in one place along with emails I would import to go along with them. At the end of the gig I converted all the indexed files to imported on the day they shut down the SharePoint and killed all the email accounts.
Did you read the In & Out > Importing & Indexing section of the built-in Help and manual before you started indexing all those folders?
What is shown in OneDrive’s menu, e.g.,…
PS: What is shown here – with the files downloaded in demand and evicted by OneDrive – is not ideal.
And how much were you reorganizing? Are we talking tens, hundreds, or thousands of files?
Lastly, as the crash is OneDrive not DEVONthink, we can’t say for certain. You could open a support ticket and attach the crash report (not copy and paste all the text) and we could give it a look.
2 Likes
The OneDrive files have not been set to “offline”. I had not read the help file saying: “Also, you should only index local data, e.g., on the local hard drive or connected drives. DEVONthink doesn’t support indexing data that resides only in the cloud.”
I have now read the importing and indexing section carefully and except for missing the fact that I should only index downloaded files all the rest seems to align with what I have been doing, i.e., indexing a top level folder in OneDrive and making changes within DEVONthink to subfolders and files which seemed to be reflected in OneDrive changes. Could the problem be related to the fact that I have also indexed many files that are in the cloud (I use OneDrive’s on demand downloading of files) to prevent overuse of disk space)? I understand this is not ideal. If I am unable to index non downloaded files from OneDrive I will have to abandon this capability. Is there anyway around this issue?
Also, I have now opened a ticket for support and uploaded the error report to see how I can get OneDrive syncing again or at least understand the cause of the crashing and if it’s DEVONthink related.
PS. The main reason that I index versus import is that I like the ability to access my files from anywhere (and share them) in OneDrive but I also want the search and organize functions of DEVONthink. Any other suggestions are welcome.
Well, DEVONthink is not the application that’s crashing so the crash is really a question specific to Microsoft.
I think OneDrive is just getting confused and I would bet it’s due to you not downloading the files locally. At least, that’s where I would start.
2 Likes
I managed to resync my onedrive by unlinking onedrive, clearing onedrive cache and relinking/resyncing. Now my question is whether you have any suggestions for me given I don’t want to download all my onedrive files (too many for disk space) but would still like to use DEVONthink indexing. If I stick to a rule that all my changes take place inside OneDrive and use Devonthink index to help me make associations, tags, etc., would that be wise or could the problem still show up? Thanks
As we don’t know the cause of your issue specifically, could it happen again? Possibly.
I have no idea about your organizational habits, but I would recommend you don’t index a top-level folder and instead index individual subfolders where possible.
Here’s the thing that would help me make the decision to index Microsoft OneDrive vs. importing to DEVONthink. When things go “funny” even if my fault/mis-undertanding, will DEVONtechnologies or Microsoft be ready to assist?
1 Like
Actually I index 2nd tier folders. If my top folder is the entire OneDrive I am indexing folders just beneath that but still very large with many subfolders. Is this ok or should I move down the tree and how far down.
Also, now that I have resynced my OneDrive (after restoring it to an earlier version) the indexed folder in DEVONthink is not a mirror image of the OneDrive folder. I tried an update but got many missing files. I assume my best bet is to unindex and consider reindexing but I am not sure of the unindexing process. From other discussions here I understand that I must first move the entire indexed folder to trash and when I empty trash select only from database. Is this correct. I don’t want to inadvertently delete the folder.
Thanks
Have you actually done anything with the documents in the database, e.g, tagged, linked to any in other documents, etc.?
If not, I would recommend you delete the database and start a new one afresh.
but still very large with many subfolders. Is this ok or should I move down the tree and how far down.
Index folders you need to use in the database.
Setting aside the issues with moving files around inside DT and confusing OneDrive, how do you expect DT to index a file that doesn’t exist on your computer?
3 Likes
Devonthink help does not warn against moving indexed files or “confusing OneDrive” so I assumed that would be ok and a helpful function. Regarding non downloaded files I was ok with them not being indexed since these are files less used, I missed the part about this not being ideal but the forum has clarified this for me. I may have to abandon indexing my OneDrive files altogether.
OneDrive is crap in macOS (and it is a little bit less in Windows, only a little bit).
Facts:
- You cannot have indexed online-only files in DT in any cloud, by definition.
- Indexed files in any cloud set as always in disk is prone to have duplicates due limitations on the way the clouds work.
- OneDrive is crap.
Consequences:
- Your macOS never will be reliable having OneDrive installed. It is even worse if you have more than 10.000 files in OneDrive, and completely unusable having near 1.000.000 as I have.
Corollary:
- You never will have a stable system mixing OneDrive + DEVONthink.
Conclusion:
- Forget having indexed files in OneDrive synchronized with DT.
3 Likes
I have fully taken aboard the message that online files shouldn’t be synced. You seem to be suggesting that even offline files in OneDrive shouldn’t be indexed in DEVONthink. Is that right, since I haven’t seen a warning against that in DEVONthink Help?
I have not had issues with OneDrive on Mac and I am thinking of selectively indexing folders in OneDrive that are fully downloaded. Should I avoid any indexing of OneDrive with DT as you seem to imply?
Yes
And yes.
However, you can try with some downloaded folders. Depending on the amount of synced files and your internet connection, should work if you are patience enough to allow OneDrive propagate the changes, but be aware you are going to get some duplicate files, mostly if you “sync in real time” (*). And AFAIK, no tags or other filesystem metadata are synchronized under OneDrive. And avoid some non-basic characters in file names, as OneDrive does not likes most of non ASCII ones.
(*) I mean, having for example other laptop/mac/windows not suspended with OneDrive running. Depending of the size of the file you will have a duplicate, with or without DT indexing that folder.
2 Likes
I thought they were talking about “indexing,” not “syncing”?
2 Likes
The last page of that thread is unmissable. 
3 Likes
The last page of that thread is unmissable.
I have to agree!!
3 Likes
Hi,
What solution would you recommend?
Thanks