I’m not sure this is clear. Thanks to some computer problems, my two devices each have a different version of the same database. Is there a way to merge them so that I don’t wind up with duplicates of everything? Or should I think about something different? Thanks!
PS: I really appreciate how helpful this community is. I recently asked a–probably dumb–question on the user forum for a different program, and was simply shot down, essentially for being unsophisticated. That has not been a problem here.
Why not merge them and then remove the duplicates? I think there’s even a menu entry for that. If not, a smart group might help.
You should be able to get things back in order without trying to merge to copies of a database manually.
Are these Macs in different geographic locations?
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Create a new sync store on both devices, then upload & synchronize both copies to this sync store. This should merge the changes and use the latest version of documents. As usual it’s highly recommended to back up both databases first, e.g. by duplicating/compressing them in the Finder.
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I’m sorry, but I’m still grappling with this problem. I don’t seem to be able to create the same sync store on both devices. I can create it on one, but it’s not showing up on the other in Settings, and if I try to create it under the same name, it’s going to overwrite the first version. Sorry to be stupid about this!
What kind of sync are you doing?
I tried using a USB drive; when that didn’t work, I tried a new Dropbox sync (I already have a couple of databases synced via Dropbox. Didn’t work either.
BUT I just found the following in the “help” section, and I’m wondering if that’s the problem:
“If the second machine already has a opened copy of the database, you will have the option to merge with the sync data in the sync location.”
I have always made sure that I didn’t have two copies of a database open at the same time, and somehow I missed this exception. I’m going to try it that way and see what happens. (My databases are backed up separately as well, so I won’t lose anything.)
Have you gone through the Sync Troubleshooting suggestions in the “DEVONthink Manual” in detail?
IT WORKED! OMG [you’ll have to imagine the Valley Girl accent)!!! Once I had everything open on both computers, the new sync store showed up on both, and the Databases panel changed to “merge with remote database”. I’m sorry to have taken up everyone’s time for something I should have noticed sooner, but as always, I really appreciate the courtesy and patience of everyone in this forum.
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Glad to hear it’s working for you now.