Many of my indexed files cannot be open from within DT—not with the default or any other application and not with Launch Path. I have to open them from the Finder. I understand that many files will not open in DT, but shouldn’t I be able to at least launch them.
I have a folder format that I use with research and other projects wherein I number the top level folders within the project folder to keep the top level folder in a specific order. For example, within a Philosophy project folder I have “0-In-Box,” “1-Resources,” “2-Reference,” etc. Then, I take several such Project folders (Philosophy, Literature, Semantics, etc.) and place them in to a master folder, Personal Education. When I index Personal Education into a database, DT scrambles the top level folders among the different Project folder, creating many replicants.
Finally, i am not sure that I understand replicants. Are they identical files in both name and content? If one replicants content is changed, does it cease to be a replicant? It seems like replicants are the same as aliases when they are indexed files because they point to the same file in the Finder. In imported files, they seem like duplicates because they can be alteres independently.
The two modes of Index-capturing files from the Finder are: File > Index, or Option-Command-Drag to the database.
The text of recognized file types is captured for searching and analysis. There is also associated metadata for all of the captured files, including unknown file types. An important metadata element for Indexed documents is the Path - the link to the external file in the Finder.
There are two commands that will open an external file from its database counterpart:
Launch Path will open the file under its parent application.
Open With allows selection of the parent or other appropriate application.
But if the Path to the external file is broken, neither command can work. The Path will be broken if the external file is deleted, or is moved in such a way that the Finder loses track of it - e.g. by moving it to a different volume.
Not certain I understand what you are doing. Question: had you previously indexed some of those folders into your database? If so, I could understand the appearance of replicants.
If you are going to organize your projects in the Finder, do that and then Index - you will be able to continue to add files and even subfolders under the top-level folder. Then you can update your database content using the Synchronize command.
Replicants are not aliases. When a document is replicated, there are now two instances of the document. All the instances of an indexed document have the same Path.
If you have a file and its alias, they can be distinguished. If you delete the file, the alias is still present, but is non-functional. If you have two replicants, either can be deieted, but the document is still there - - and is no longer a replicant.
Replicants behave the same for Indexed or Imported documents.
If one instance of a group or document Is modified, all instances are modified.
