Is This Memory Usage Normal with Indexed Databases?

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1

Hello everyone,

This is my first week using DEVONthink. I have three databases, all of which contain Indexed Folders:

  • Database 1: 77 GB (mostly PDF files)
  • Database 2: 178 MB
  • Database 3: 4 GB

Here’s the issue I’m observing:

  • In the morning, when I first launch DEVONthink, it consumes around 2.4 GB of RAM.
  • After performing the first search for a PDF book title and opening it, memory usage jumps to 4.2 GB of RAM.
  • By midday, after doing various tasks within DEVONthink, RAM usage exceeds 6 GB.

Is this memory consumption normal for DEVONthink in such a setup?

Specs:

  • DEVONthink Pro Version 3.9.8
  • MacBook Pro 16" (M1 Pro, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD)
  • macOS Sequoia 15.3

Thanks in advance for your insights!

2

Memory usage depends basically on the number of opened databases and their number of items & words. The size of the database or files does not really matter, likewise it doesn’t matter whether files are imported or indexed.

Anyway, the memory usage usually increases while using the app due to extensive caching. Therefore it’s most likely working as expected.

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3

As my understanding is macOS gives apps memory if available and requested and takes away when memory short. So memory use is also under control of macOS. Have I got that sort of correct?

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4

No, that’s the behaviour on iOS. On macOS virtual memory usage might be used if there’s not enough real memory.

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5

Thank you so much for your reply. Based on that, can I reduce the caching without quitting DEVONthink and reopening it?

6

I’m not sure if that’s true. macOS uses virtual memory long before the “real” memory runs out.

Quitting and reopening DT frees up memory immediately. And because it’s so quick and easy with DT, I do it from time to time.

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7

That’s not possible and would impact the performance. The only option is to open as few databases as necessary (and maybe to split large databases if only a subset of their data is usually required).

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