Moved my folders, broke things in DT3.0

DEVONthink
1

I had a folder named ~/CloudStation with several folders within (School, Research) that I have indexed the folders within those into various databases (School, Research). I’ve had to move that folder, and it is now called ~/Drive, with the same folders within (School, Research).
Now I have a mix of items in my databases, some of the items are in the databases, and some of them are indexed.
I can go through each folder and move the items to the External Folder, which recreates the ~/CloudStation hierarchy. I could then move all the items from there to the ~/Drive hierarchy, taking care of duplicates, etc.
Is there a better/more efficient/more robust way to do this to help ensure I don’t lose items, and so that I don’t have to select all items in each folder, Move to External Folder, etc.

Thanks

2

Now I have a mix of items in my databases, some of the items are in the databases, and some of them are indexed .

Are you saying moving the indexed folder in the Finder caused some items to be imported instead of remaining as indexed files?

3

No, some of the items were in the databases, and some were in external folders, so I had a mix of the two. When I moved the external folders, the indexed files became missing to DT3, but the items stored in the databases remain. Items such as web links, emails, and files.

Most of this was created in DT2, if that is a factor.

4

This is why indexing needs to be considered carefully before using it. There are ramifications you have to think about.

This is what I would do, though @Greg_Jones could offer his advice too, as he likely has used indexing more than any of our customers…

I would…

  1. Recreate the ~/CloudStation folder and put things back into it like they were. Then go into the database and verify things are as they should be.
  2. Index the empty ~/Drive folder.
  3. Move the folders in the Finder from CloudStation into Drive. DEVONthink should detect the changes and update the database.
  4. Afterwards, you can delete the Cloudstation group in DEVONthink.
1 Like
5

That’s what I would do as well. I will say that indexing a top-level folder (in this case ~/Drive) is a great approach when indexing as all sub-folders in ~/Drive can be renamed/created/moved under ~/Drive as needed without breaking anything. However, if the top-level folder (~/Drive) is moved and/or renamed, then all of the hierarchy breaks down. Also note that with DEVONthink 3, all documents added to indexed groups in a database will be moved to the indexed folder in the Finder. You won’t have the mixed imported/indexed set of files as was the case with DEVONthink 2.

2 Likes
6

Thanks @BLUEFROG and @Greg_Jones.
This will take care of items in ~/CloudStation that are indexed by DT, but seems like the items in the old database will be left behind - or am I missing something.

(I do like the new behavior of DT3 where it puts items into the indexed folders.)

7

Are you creating a new database?

8

Ah, I missed that it was the same DB in BlueFrog’s post.
Thanks.

9

I got around to moving those files back to a CloudStation folder.
Updating index for School (8GB) went fine.
When I try to update index for Research (384GB), DT3 takes a dump.
Any suggestions?

10

I’d suggest you try breaking the Research index into chunks. Move some data out of Research, update the index and if successful, add back more and repeat. I have no idea how small the chunks need to be, but I’d start with a very small set of data to ensure there is nothing otherwise wrong with Research.