Currently using DTPO trial. Here’s what I want to do: export several years of file-and-forget notes out of Evernote and into my 1TB Dropbox and then use DTPO to bring some order to the ones worth keeping.
But I’m hung up over importing vs. indexing, even after reading “Take Control of Getting Started with DevonThink.”
Part of the problem is I don’t understand where DTPO stores imported documents and how quickly I will fill up my MacBook’s hard drive.
I also like keeping reference materials — receipts, manuals, ebooks, etc. — in Dropbox (and Evernote before I decided to bail) because I can access them from any web-connected device.
For this reason, Indexing seems like the way to go. But if I make any organizational changes in Dropbox, I’m bound to break a bunch of DTPO links.
If I make DTPO the hub of my paperless workflow by importing instead of indexing, where are my documents stored? Can I keep a copy of my database and the documents themselves (not just the metadata) in Dropbox?
It’s easy to do, and nothing will get broken if you change names and stuff if it is all inside the indexed folder (index one folder and all the files and subfolders inside can be re-arranged as you like). But, indexing can be tricky (not buggy or complex, but unfamiliar in some ways), so I strongly recommend regular Time Machine backups (actually, I’d do this for anything).
Importing is easy, and you can always export it all if you end up not needing it. You can sync databases via Dropbox and access with other computers, or sync through Devonthink To Go on iOS. Lots of possibilities.
I’m glad Christopher added the reference to his blog – his advice, along with Greg Jones’ many postings in this forum are the best things to read about Indexing.
All of these questions have been answered in the forum, and I suggest you do some investigation here. You’ll find lots of folks have spent a lot of time developing detailed advice – such as this Import vs index (again)
“How quickLy” depends on how much data you have, and how much free space you have. I have 10GB of databases in my work folder and that was collected or created over 5 years. No where near full. This is really an impossible question to answer. Just be aware it isn’t DEVONthink that creates data – it is you.
Imported documents are stored inside the database. The database is a type of folder that OS X calls a “package”. If you control-click a database package (files with .dtBase2 extensions) in Finder and choose “show package contents” you’ll see a hierarchy of folders inside. (Look; don’t touch. Only DEVONthink should touch the contents of a database.)
One of these is “Files.noindex” and all of that folder’s subfolders contain your data. The data files themselves are untouched – DEVONthink NEVER changes your data files. But they are stored in what appears to be an obscurely-named set of folders. That’s just so DEVONthink knows where to locate (in an instant) what you’re looking for. You can always drag or export individual files or groups from a database using the DEVONthink program – or you can use DEVONthink to export the whole hierarchy of folders and documents (100% of the database contents) intact to an external drive or somewhere on your computer’s drive.
The other files in the database package with names ending in “.dtMeta” are used by DEVONthink to make Search and See Also & Classify, and other features, possible. They contain data about your documents, but these files do NOT contain your documents. Metadata files take up a minor amount of space so they are not going to fill up your hard drive. (E.g., in a 2000 MB database I have the metadata files take up 110 MB – 5%).
Your documents are safe inside the database – it might take a wee effort to export them, but if didn’t have the structure that DEVONthink uses inside the database then you wouldn’t have the benefits of the program you bought. The good news is that the same benefits that DEVONthink provides with imported data in terms and search and AI, you’ll get with indexed files.
I do a similar thing – I have a Dropbox folder with hundreds of manuals, tip sheets, etc.
If your manuals’ library is inside a root folder (say a folder creatively-named “Manuals”) and you index Manuals, then every child folder and document inside Manuals comes along too and is accessible in DEVONthink. As long as you do the reorg within the children of Manuals you’ll be ok. The alternative, moving something out of Manuals, is also possible – and I’ll tell you again to look for all of Greg Jones’ advice on how to do this. Search the forum – the topic is covered frequently and in depth.
You can index documents in Dropbox (most of my indexed documents are there) but NEVER put the database itself in Dropbox unless you want to see Dropbox shred it for you. If you need the database on more than one machine, use DEVONthink Sync (built in).
Edit: Here’s some other info that might be useful (sticky topics in the Tips, Tricks & Troubleshooting section of the forum)
Thanks for the links and pointers. Immensely helpful. DEVONthink has already solved one of my longstanding problems. I edit a magazine and have 25 years of OCRd PDFs on a shared server but until DTPO I had no way to do a universal search. If I wanted to find an old story, I had to have a pretty good idea when we published it and then open and search each issue separately.
Today I copied the PDFs to a folder in Dropbox and then used Index to get them into DTPO. Guess what? Universal search is finally a reality (at least for me; I still don’t know how to offer this to our readers via our website).