Multiple Folder Actions to import to different databases??

I currently use 3 different DT databases (one for business/financial stuff, one for tech stuff, and one for personal stuff)…

I’d like to create 3 folders in the Finder (named Technical, Financial, and Personal) each with a Folder action tied to it that will import newly added documents that are added to those folders into the corresponding DT database…

Ideally, I would also like the script configured to move the original document that was initially dropped into the folder-action-enabled-folder to the trash…

Is such a script possible?

What would happen if, after I drag a document into the Technical folder and it launches the Technical database to import the document into, I then drop some different documents into the Financial folder, at which point the folder action for that folder would attempt to launch the Financial database?

Will a folder action (or the DT prefs) be able to acknowledge that DT is currently launched with a different database than desired, then close the current (incorrect) database, reopen the correct one and import the documents into that database appropriately?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated… Thanks!

The current version of DEVONthink can have only one open database at a time.

I suppose it would be possible to rewrite a folder action script for each of several receiving folders, to direct DT Pro to open a specific database and capture the new item to that database.

But on the fly swapping of databases would get pretty clumsy and slow, especially as the databases grow larger. Something like this may become feasible in version 2.0, especially if the computer has adequate RAM.

A much simpler and quicker workaround would be to designate a folder for each database, and move or save materials into them as they are found. Next time you open database B, import the contents of folder B, then empty that folder.

I simply capture everything into my default database. If it’s financial data I organize it into a group for financial data. Periodically, I export the contents of that group to a Finder folder, change databases and import the contents of that folder into the Financial database. And so on. That way, I’m sure of maintaining metadata such as URLs of source Web pages.

So do you have separate databases, aside from your aforementioned default database, that you use primarily to manage documents for subjects that are completely unrelated (i.e. your science work related documents, and your financial documents)?

I think I am correct in assuming that simply having just one database for ALL of your documents for every subject under the sun screw up would most likely jeopardize DEVONthink’s AI capabilities, correct?

If this is correct, then as you stated above, you simply use this default database to capture everything into - then once its sorted and organized a bit, you export it to the finder with the intention of reimporting it to your primary DT database for the subject/topic/focus that the particular documents in question pertain to, correct?

Can you elaborate in more detail on some of the specifics of your workflow that you described in you preview post? Specifically:

When you say periodically…how periodically are we talking about? Wouldn’t exporting and reimporting to the proper location be your immediate priority (once you’ve quickly sorted all of the newly added documents into a group, added comments, sorted into subgroups, cross-linked, etc…)?

What do you do with the documents that you export from your default database after you re-import them into the appropriate subject/focus/topic database for those documents? Do you leave them? Delete them?

Any additional details you’d be willing to share about the minute details of your workflow would be greatly appreciated, as I am trying to hone my own workflow to suit my needs, and hearing (in detail) how you manage your own could only help me in the end…

Thanks!