Migrating Inbox Error DT2 to DT3

DEVONthink Tips
1

Hi everyone.

Definitely a rookie mistake, but I upgraded from DT Pro Office to DEVONThink 3, not thinking about my global inbox.

Now I can open each of the three databases I had fine in DT3, but the global inbox is empty (and I had dumped a tonne of files in there previously, when the databases were using DT 2).

I went back to my old DT app to try and export but now I can’t load it because of the upgrade… And a search of my computer (Mac mini) doesn’t pull up an inbox file.

If anyone has a suggestion what to do to bring back my global inbox files, please let me know.

Thanks!

2

If you’re referring to upgrading on a single machine, the Global Inbox should have been copied to DEVONthink 3’s resources.

In the Finder, select the ​Go ​menu while holding the ​Option key​, then choose ​Library​. In Application Support/DEVONthink Pro 2 you’ll find the Inbox.dtBase2 file. Note the file size.

Check what’s in the Application Support/DEVONthink 3 directory. Note the file size.
Is there a discrepancy?

If so, you could move the Inbox from the DEVONthink Pro 2 directory into the DEVONthink 3 directory, overwriting the existing file.

3

Thanks for this.

Unfortunately, when I go into the Application Support folder both DT2 and DT3 have the same ''Inbox.dtBase2" files (and they are the same size). But opening either .dtBase2 file still gives me an inbox that is empty.

Is there any way I can undo the migration to DT3? The last time I had DT2 open there was a tonne of files in the inbox, so maybe going back will make them appear again?

4

when I go into the Application Support folder both DT2 and DT3 have the same ''Inbox.dtBase2" files (and they are the same size).

Correct, because DEVONthink 3 copied the Inbox.dtBase2 file, as I mentioned.

  1. Open DEVONthink 3.
  2. Select the Global Inbox.
  3. Hold the Option key and choose File > Restore Backup.
  4. Choose a previous date and see if the files appear after rolling the metadata back.
5

No luck there, either. I can open the ‘Restore Backup’ and backups appear from several months ago–though they are way smaller than I would expect (just a few 100mb).

More importantly, when I try to open the backup I get a message ‘Restore Backup: Switching to backup of database failed.’

6

Do you have current Time Machine backups?

DEVONthink 3 doesn’t convert anything when opening databases.