Moving databases

DEVONthink Tips
1

Hi, I have several databases under /documents/… What is the best way to move them to a subfolder, let’s say /documents/devonthink/… so that I do not cause any problems with devonthink not finding them anymore…

(is it true, that you do not recommend to save any database under documents, as this folder is synchronized on macos mojave between different devices? if yes, why is this DT’s standard folder for saving databases? and where to save databases securely?)

2

It isn’t DEVONthink’s standard. DEVONthink remembers the location of the last created database.

We recommend a folder in your Home directory, like ~/Databases. Just close the databases via File > Close Database > Close All. Then move the databases in the Finder and double-click each to open them in DEVONthink.

3

I had hoped to save some space on my local (Macbook) drive by moving the databases that I don’t use as frequently onto my NAS and symlink-ing back to the path where my local databases live. Since doing that, every time I try to launch one of the moved databases from the NAS, the database opens in DTPO but warns me that the database appears already to be open. If I continue (rather than cancel), I have full visibility into that database but cannot add any new records to it. When trying to do so, the log just shows that the operation failed without providing any further information. Is there a better way to relocate my scarecely used databases to NAS so that they are accessible both also still writable?

4

You have a permissions issue then. It may be as simple as adjusting the permissions in the Sharing & Permissions section of the Get Info pane , but then again, it may not. That’s where I’d start.
If not, open a Support Ticket.

5

Thanks, as always, for your quick response. It seems that the permissions for the database that I moved to the NAS do not expressly authorize me (my macOS user profile) to access the database file. Here are the permissions as for the database I’ve moved and which is giving me trouble [1st/left] as compared to a database stored on my local machine’s SSD, which runs without a hitch [2nd/right]:

image image

I imagine that I should not adjust file permissions while I have the malfunctioning database open within DTPO, but even if I close it, is it safe to adjust the permissions for a NAS-stored database through the macOS interface? This is not intuitive to me because the NAS requires specific access credentials and thus the permissions on the database should never expressly authorize me (through my macOS user profile) to access the database stored on the NAS, but rather should access any macOS user that has access credentials to the NAS location where the database is stored. Am I missing something in understanding the setup this way?

6

I would close the database first, but it should be fine to adjust the permissions through the Get Info pane. I personally would add the Me account at a minimum, but I also can’t speak to your specific situation.

Note - while I don’t know if this is a generally accessible NAS, giving access to other Users could lead to a situation where others would try opening the database simultaneously. This is not supported.

7

So in trying to adjust the permissions as recommended, I noticed something strange (to me, at least):

  1. It is not possible to mirror the permissions on the NAS database to match those on a database stored locally on my Mac; every attempt to “add user” using my macOS alias fails (error message: “The name you entered isn’t valid. Please try again.”);
  2. Copying the database back to my macOS local drive and launching from there works fine;
  3. Launching the NAS-stored database by navigating to the NAS path from within DTPO »» Open Database fixes the problem but launching it by navigating to an alias on my local drive that points to the NAS location results in an open database that cannot be written to.

I am not sure whether I should’ve created a symlink to the NAS-stored database instead of an alias, or if there is some quirk with accessing the database stored on the NAS through an alias on my local drive, or whether there’s something else that I’m missing entirely…

Do you happen to have any further insight on this? I would much prefer to be able to launch my databases from a single location on macOS since I have some databases stored locally and others stored on the NAS.