I have a “number” of .numbers spreadsheets that have been imported into my databases. I process them using the “open document with numbers” icon (arrow pointing to dotted square) in the toolbar on my mac and save the changes using ⌘S. If I edit them under iOS, I launch the Numbers app, then select the spreadsheet by browsing the DTTG location in files. I don’t remember, but I think those files are automatically updated in iOS. On the mac, the spreadsheet shows edited until I manually save it.
I have encountered a problem with the tags in these spreadsheets. These were tags added and edited from within DT3. I have a smart group which identifies 8 of these spreadsheets in DT3 based on a specific tag. It just started indicating only 1 of the 8 and the other 7 have a previous version of the tag that I used before deciding on the current value.
I keep regular backups using Arq so I restored a number of backups to try and see when the tag had been updated. This revealed a lack of understanding on my part. The restored files had no tags. At first I thought that it was specific to my Numbers files, but I restored a simple markdown file and again the restored version had no tags.
I had fully expected the backed up files to have contained the metadata within them.
So my question has become how do I backup and restore individual files within a database so that I can later restore that single file’s data contents and metadata (tags).
Separately, are there any special considerations with editing Numbers spreadsheets that have been imported into a database? I discovered a lot of discussion about pages documents going back to 2005 that noted that those files, like numbers files, are actually packages. Is there anything that I need to be aware of when saving edits?
@BLUEFROG - Arq is known to work well with metadata based on reviews and tech support. I verified this for myself with new files created and tagged in Finder and DEVONthink.
However, I am tracking down a situation where restoring some older backups don’t have the tag but newer versions do - even though the modification date for the file precedes the date of all of these backups. Specifically the file’s modification date is May and I have backups in November that either first don’t then do contain the tag.
I am curious how sync works since metadata changes don’t change the modification date of a file.
I currently sync locally and my iPad sometimes doesn’t get used for a while so I am wondering what happens if I fire it up and edit data or metadata before the sync has completed if there had been (unsynced) changes on the Mac.
Interesting, and pertinent to me as I also use Arq. Perhaps a question to Arq as to whether metadata changes touch the file data, and if not, perhaps they should. Does this neither apply to metadata changes in DT3?
I wasn’t thinking of Arq when I wrote that, but it would be nice to know if a metadata change would “touch” the file from Arq’s perspective even though the modification date remains unchanged.
What I am uncertain of is what happens if there are two devices running devonthink, synced locally in my case, and #1 is most up to date and at the time that #2 edits the metadata of a file it is not up to date. It then syncs. What happens to the then most recent version on #1 and #2.