Managing full books pdf: indexing vs importing

Why? You created two for some reason. Do not delete till the reason for having two goes away.

99.9% of my files are imported. Indexed files too much trouble. Indexed v Imported discussed extensively and repeatedly on this forum. Perhaps read those posts if you still are undecided.

as I said before…

Duplicates don’t create themselves. Why do you have these duplicates to begin with?

Of course it was my fault, but NOW this is my situation…

Are you creating duplicates instead of replicants?

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I’ll push back a bit.

Importing creates a fully self-contained package of your documents and data. By being fully self-contained, it is portable. But also, by being fully self-contained, it has absolutely no connections to its original source material that was (and may still be found) at the Finder level, and it will never have those connections again at any time. To use an analogy, all wires and any assembly between the content that you import into DT and its source content that existed and may still exist on your computer or on another device are completely and permanently cut.

The “no dangling wires or …” leads to the implication that indexing, by inverse reasoning, is a rat’s nest of dangling wires. And that severing the connections is all everyone should ever want all the time.

Which is by the way not to say that indexing, if not done with care, will never cause a rat’s nest of dangled wires. :slight_smile:


JJW

Better practice is relative. What is “better” for me or anyone else here may be total disaster for you. Please consider answering these questions.

  • Do you want to share the file that you work on in DT with someone else? This question is independent of whether you share with email or iCloud or Google or … Simply put, do you want someone else to see things you have done in DT to the file?
  • Do you want to work with the file in DT on one device (e.g. your macOS computer) and then also work on that same file on another device (e.g. your iPad) without using DT on the other device?
  • Do you want to work on the file using a different application along with working on it using DT?
  • Do you want to avoid having to increase the size of your internal HDD or SSD just to be able to use DT to work on an entire collection of files?


JJW

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It was a genuine question, not criticism.
There are valid reasons to have duplicates. I don’t want to give suggestions on what you can delete when I don’t understand if the duplicates have a purpose.

What is your situation? It’s not clear to me.

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For me there are the following points why I decided to have my documents indexed and not imported.

  • Having started organizing my documents on a windows machine going back more than 30 years in a folder structure has become my way of how I feel comfortable working and knowing where I find my documents. At that time I was using a mindmap to link to files and have an additional structure. As it was manual and cumbersome, I wouldn’t recommend it today.
  • When I got my first mac and found DEVONthink, I was really happy that I could get rid of my mindmap layer. But old habbits are hard to break and I continued to use a folder structure (with some tagging) and choose to index my files. I agree, that there are some points to consider, mentioned in posts above to keep in mind when you go this path.
  • In addition, I can use python scripts for reading and changing file content. I find it easier to operate within my own structure.
  • But the real “killer argument” for me using indexing is: Getting older, I want to leave a file structure behind which my wife and children find easy to deal with finding important documents. As they are not used to DEVONthink, I believe this to be most important.

In addition, I haven’t found an advantage I could gain if I switched to importing which compensates for the points above.

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Can you give an example of these “connections”

My situation is the one examplified by this screen shot

I have many instances of the same files (imported or indexed) and I dont know how to get rid of the less important among them

  • Edit the source at the Finder → the copy in DT is not changed
  • Annotate over the source at the Finder → the copy in DT is not changed
  • Duplicate the copy while in DT → the duplicate is not a duplicate of the source that exists at the Finder, it is a duplicate of the copy of the source that exists in DT
  • Make an alias of the source at the Finder, with the alias residing in the same Finder folder as the source → DT shows no alias
  • Move the source in the Finder up one level in folder structure → DT shows the copy at its location in DT

The emphasis is, importing creates a self-standing copy. The copy in DT and the source in the Finder have no (automatic) idea about what happens to each other’s subsequent history. And they never will.

By another analogy, the process of importing is like making a copy of your birth certificate, putting away your original birth certificate (at the Finder level), and taking the copy to a consulate (into DT) to apply for a visa or passport.


JJW

As with @troejgaard (and perhaps others), my confusion remains. What does “less” important versus “more” important mean to you? Are you asking this forum to make that decision for you? Or are you asking this forum to explain how to remove a file safely if it is indexed versus how to remove a file safely if it is imported?

We cannot help you in the first case. We can only give suggestions (questions) to help you decide for yourself what is and is not important. See my previous list. We can help you in the second case.


JJW

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It’s unwise to keep multiple working copies at different locations
Of course edits will cause differences

If you’re importing files to DT; delete the original

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As has been said many times before, there’s no reason to leave the original file lying around outside DT after importing.
If you do, you can’t expect it to reflect changes you make in DT.
Same as annotating a book. These annotations will not appear in any other copy of the book. Fortunately.

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exactly this, please show me these two ways… thanks

In summary, the message being promoted is as follows:


After importing files into DT, delete the originals at the Finder level. From that point on, always use DT to access those files.


Am I right that this is the core lesson about importing files into DT?


JJW

Except for very specific circumstances, yes that’s what we recommend with files imported from the Finder. Also, it seems to be the most prevalent, intuitive behavior of our users as well.

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Perhaps my english is not enough clear…

in DT I have the same files indexed and imported…

Can I get rid safely of the indexed ones?

… therefore keeping only the imported?

Stating it as these four steps might be clearer.

  • Make an archive at the Finder level of any and all files that are to be imported into DT.
  • Import the files into DT.
  • Delete the original files at the Finder level.
  • From this point forward, always use DT (as a replacement for the Finder) to access the files.

I already understood this. I remain concerned that others (e.g. first time users) might not appreciate the nuances covered by each step, and that glossing over them (e.g. as though importing should be the blissful default for all times) only compounds a potential for confusion (e.g. lost files or “why can’t I find it in the Finder anymore” questions).

Thanks.


JJW