Need to update path to group of indexed items

I have several hundred images in a system of folders in Finder. These support my Family History research for which DtPO has been an incredibly helpful workbench.

All of these images have been indexed to at least one of around two dozen DtPO folders. This architecture worked beautifully – until I added one word (in Finder) to the name of the path leading to the system of folders housing these images. Not a good idea, and I should have known better.

The first time I ran “Verify and Repair” generated a list of around 100 “Missing Files.”

A search of the Forum confirms my experience that one by one editing within DtPO’s “Get Info” screen of the Index path for each image is impossible due to rights with respect to that data.

An approach may be to remove the word in the path (in Finder) causing this problem – restoring the pre-problem status.

I’m not experienced with scripts and am too timid to try one here.

Thanks very much for any suggested approach.

You should not rename the parent folder in the Finder. The quickest “fix” is to return the name to what it was.

Thanks for the quick response. Please bear with me while I make sure we’re on the same page.

The path name (in Finder) used when indexing the ~100 images was Pictures/ from A/[name of image]

I added “& B” in the Finder as follows: Pictures/from A & B/[name of image]

The “&B” has resulted in the Missing Files since I never changed the index path in DtPO.

Will the single step of deleting “&B” from the Finder folder path accomplish what you recommend in your second sentence?

Thanks for your patience, as well. :slight_smile:

Yes. Restore the name to what it was when you indexed the folder, and the indexing will be “repaired”.

BTW – these things are really easy to test for yourself. And I recommend testing any fix before using live data. Create a folder on the desktop “From A” and put something into it. Index “From A”. Change the name of the folder in Finder to “From A & B”. The index will be “broken” in DEVONthink. Go back and rename the folder in Finder to “From A”. The index is “repaired”. (It’s actually not repaired – your error is reversed is what happened.)

If you need to rename anything in Finder, then put your folders and documents in a parent folder, index the parent, never change the parent, but change only it’s child folders and/or documents. Refresh the index and those changes will be reflected in DEVONthink.

1 Like

Thanks, Korm. I’ll set up that test scenario you recommended.

It’s been a couple of years (or more) since I last “lurked” here to learn what I could. I’m delighted to see you’re still counseling us users in solving problems and trying to keep us from getting into deeper trouble. Much appreciated.

Terry