Had several databases damaged by external drive failure and Backblaze (don’t do that anymore; thanks for suggesting Arq, had data retrieval warranty on drive, and Time Machine now on new drive, so mostly OK now). dragged everything out of failing drive to Finder, but when I imported those files back into new databases, the Inbox is missing.
What to do?
The Global Inbox is missing or the Inbox of the database is missing?
Inbox of the database
Can you post a screen capture of DEVONthink, including with the Globals section expanded?
The Inboxes are in the Globals section, unified (see Settings > General > Interface > Unify inboxes). And there is your Books Inbox and the Computer Inbox as another example.
Yes, they are up with the main Inbox, but they aren’t in each database, like they were before. ArtPhoto is up above and in the database, Books is up above, but not in the database. I’ve been accustomed to putting things in the database Inbox for distribution – not up above.
As @BLUEFROG asked, what is your setting for Unifying the Inboxes?
Clicking on the “?” in bottom left corner of that dialog box will call up “Help” on that dialog box and you can read what “Unify Inboxes” means.
Try it check “on” vs. checked “off”. Behind the dialog box, DEVONthink will change the view of inboxes. Position the dialog box so you can see the changes. I think you may find what you are looking for.
Trying to clear up confusion about unified tags, basically the same:
The inboxes are still part of their respective database, they are just displayed together in the sidebar.
Unchecking “Unify inboxes” should give you what you want.
I don’t know why you also have a group called *Art/Photo Inbox – but look at the icon, it is a group, not an inbox.
Problem was some of the databases had their inbox, some didn’t, an anomaly that suggested I had a problem. That was never the case before (all my databases had an Inbox), and I never changed the setting in General:Interface (didn’t know about it). But I unchecked Unify Inboxes and now they all have the local inbox.
I guess I need to read the manual more carefully to really understand this, and turn these options on and off a few times to get a grasp on what they do, but right now, I’m grateful to have my Inboxes back! Thanks for your help.
PS: I just noticed – if I uncheck Unify Inboxes I have Inboxes in all my databases, but not in the Global list. If I check it, I have a list of open database Inboxes under Global Inbox, but some of my databases do not have a local Inbox, and the missing Inboxes are all in newly created databases.
Could this have anything to do with the way I imported the files into them? These are all the files I put in Finder when my drive failed. I used the Import Files command from within the newly created Database, and it copied them in – all the files seem to be OK.
No telling what you might glean from the outstanding “DEVONthink Manual”. Give it a speed-read sometime.
Glad now working for you.
I do read it from time to time, but this issue never came up before. And check my last forum post, something is still not right. And I do not know why my local database “inbox” is a folder, and not a proper Inbox. This is getting more complicated all the time.
At this point, I’m a little confused as you are using nomenclature not known to DEVONthink. There are no folders in DEVONthink–they are “groups”. And I do not know what you mean by “local database”.
I’m guessing you may have deliberately or accidentally renamed the Inbox in “Art/Photo” database at some point. A guess, of course. And special characters in group names and database names “*” and “/” … something I would avoid but shows my age in avoiding special characters like that which may confuse the file system.
Maybe verifying and/or rebuilding the databases that you notice are odd helps? Can’t hurt. Guidance about that in the Troubleshooting chapter of the DEVONthink Manual.
Yes I know that what most apps call folders, DT calls groups. In the manual it says: “One of the two basic items are groups. No different than the folders and groups found in many other applications” and “these are analogous to folders in the Finder.” So rather easy to slip up and say folders when I’m here at DT.
I misspoke by saying “local” database (I’m a little tired tonight). I have several databases, and each one is supposed to have an “internal” Inbox. I put an asterisk before the filename of an Inbox to keep it at the top of the hierarchy. Ditto a group that contains all the Smart Groups. It’s been working fine that way for twenty years (yes, my first DT was purchased Jan 6, 2005, and cost me $65).
But that’s not what this is about:
With Unify inboxes unchecked, all databases contain an Inbox (with that distinctive Inbox file icon). But there are no database Inboxes within the Global Inbox – it’s empty.
If I check Unify inboxes, an inbox for every open database appears in the Global Inbox. However not all databases have an Inbox within it – some do, some don’t.
I just created a new database; it’s empty. The database icon appeared in the Global Inbox group, but there is no Inbox within the database itself.
I opened an older database, created several years ago, it appears in the Global Inbox, as well as within the database itself.
Please provide screenshots showing what you describe. All the screenshots you posted do not show an Inbox in any of the databases, because you had “Unify inboxes” checked. Which is the expected behavior.
And: Even if you do not see the inbox for a database, it is there. It doesn’t appear out of nowhere just because you uncheck “Unifiy inboxes”. This option just changes the display. Not the underlying reality.
And the Global Inbox doesn’t have an Inbox, because it is an Inbox (as the name suggests). It can’t be more inbox than it is already.
Why would there? You have exactly one inbox per database. They are shown either all unter “Inbox” (if you have “Unify inboxes” checked) or each in their own database. Tertium non datur.
I’ll try to say this more clearly and provide screenshots
During all the years I’ve worked with DT, the Global Inbox showed all open database inboxes, and each database had a visible, functional Inbox at the top of the Group hierarchy. I never touched the Unify inbox option; had no reason to read about it or do anything with it; everything seemed fine.
First screenshot is of the left panel with Unify inboxes checked. There are two open databases. The Global Inbox shows both of the open database inboxes. However, in the database, “Books”, no Inbox is visible. In the database, “Computer”, the Inbox is visible.
Second screenshot is with Unify inboxes unchecked. The Global Inbox shows no inboxes for the two open databases. In both databases, their Inboxes are visible – Books now has one, which it didn’t before. Computer still has one – (so, regardless of whether Unify inboxes is checked or unchecked.)
Books is a new database (the original was corrupted). I used the Import command to bring in all the files I’d saved in Finder. This is not the only corrupted file I’m dealing with – I created another new one, and imported it’s files, and it is behaving just like Books. I created another one that is empty; same situation.
In summary, My older databases have visible inboxes regardless of whether Unify inboxes is checked or unchecked. In the new databases, the inboxes are only visible if Unify inboxes is unchecked.
That the databases are behaving differently is the issue – they should all behave the same way, yes?
I doubt that „Computer Inbox“ is what you believe it is. Check the icon.
. Here it is:
