Background: running DT 3.9.17 on macOS 15.7.5. Same machine has been in use since DT installed. I have a “scanning in” folder in my downloads that I save scanned documents to. A smart rule moves them into the database, OCRs them and then moves them into a “scanning out” folder. Both of these folders are subfolders of Global Inbox.
I now have a second Mac for travel (macOS 26.4.1) so have installed same version of DT, copied the 2 databases I have from original Mac and setup sync via the same WebDAV server.
After a bit of processing they appear to be in sync as (nearly all) folder counts match.
The one folder that doesn’t match is Top Hits which is off by 1. The new machine has an additional Top Hit.
The other thing that has me scratching my head and hoping to better understand what’s happening is the following:
With both DT instances the Scanning In folder shows as empty.
On the original Mac the Scanning In finder folder is empty.
On the new Mac the Scanning In folder has a file in it. If I delete the file from the finder folder DT will say that the file is missing and gives an option to download it. If I click download it reappears in the finder folder on the new Mac.
I’d like to understand what’s happening here if possible and, ideally, clean up the stray file in the new instance of the scanning in finder folder.
There is nothing in you’re post showing anything named Top Hits(or Top Hit).
Also, when deleting with indexed files in DEVONthink, you need to be routinely emptying the Trash. This is discussed in the In & Out > Importing & indexing > Indexing and the filesystem section of the built-in Help and manual.
Lastly, since you’re indexing this Scanning In folder, are you processing the contents with a smart rule? If so, which one? Post a screen capture of the criteria and actions.
Thanks for the reply and apologies for leaving out Top Hits from the screenshot…it’s a built in Smart Folder that was part of my DT setup. I assumed it would be well known. I’ve never changed it and only noticed and mentioned it because the counts were off between the two clients.
I’m unsure if Scanning In qualifies as an indexed folder as the documents get moved out of it and into DT unless the document fails the rule’s conditionals. In the cases where a file stays in the folder I just manually remove it.
I read the Indexing and filesystem section of the manual but didn’t find it particularly helpful to understanding what’s happening here. DT is really powerful but a complete mental model of how it works still eludes me.
I did empty the trash (database only) and the trash is now gone. This did not affect the file in the Scanning In folder.
I manually deleted the from Scanning In again and saw the same “file is missing” message for the DT item but this time I noticed the DT item wasn’t in the Scanning In folder but rather in the folder Inbox > Main. I clicked the Download option for the file to fix the association, chose Move Into Database (from menu), and then deleted the DT item.
