There are times when I retrieve a database using a file name and the retrieval shows that the file is not there, however the file is actually in the database.
I’m not sure what to make of this situation, or if there is something wrong with my settings, or some other possibility.
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How do you “retrieve” a database? From your description, it’s not clear what you’re doing and what you want to achieve.
There are times when I retrieve a database using a file name and the retrieval shows that the file is not there, however the file is actually in the database.
I probably should have used “search” in that sentence.
When I enter the file name in “search”, the file is not found. However, the file is actually in the database.
That’s what DeepL made from it:
When I enter the file name in “search”, the file is not found. However, the file is actually in the database.
That tool is free (at least for short texts), might avoid some roundtrips.
Back to the question: Are you searching for a file name in Chinese glyphs? I remember some questions around that, as the search seems to handle those not as expected by native speakers/writers in some cases, e.g. here:
In any case, an example with screenshots might be helpful.
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I tried the following keyword search and I’m trying to find the filename of：(Palgrave Perspectives on Process Philosophy) Nathaniel F. Barrett - Enjoyment as Enriched Experience_ A Theory of Affect and Its Relation to Consciousness-Palgrave Macmillan (2023).pdf
1，(Palgrave Perspectives on Process Philosophy) Nathaniel F. Barrett - Enjoyment as Enriched Experience_ A Theory of Affect and Its Relation to Consciousness-Palgrave Macmillan (2023)
2，Enjoyment as Enriched Experience_ A Theory of Affect and Its Relation to Consciousness
3，Enjoyment as Enriched Experience
4，A Theory of Affect and Its Relation to Consciousness
None of the above four keywords could find the file I was looking for.This doesn’t always happen, but it happens often.
Try enclosing your search in quotes, e.g.
"A Theory of Affect and Its Relation to Consciousness"
Does that help? (Also, as I said, a screenshot would be helpful).
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thanks for your time。
FYI, if you want to limit your search to the name of the document, you can prefix your query to do just that: name:theory of affect.
There are other prefixes. To see them all, try searching for “search prefixes” in the DEVONthink Help (⌘?).
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And if you type a string in the Go to Document popover (activated by control-command-O) it will perform a name search on that string. This has pretty much displaced Finder navigation entirely for me; it’s usually quicker just to find a document this way in DT than it is to browse to it in the Finder.
Can you clarify what you’re doing here?
Nothing at all sophisticated! Just invoking the popover from keyboard, typing part of the name of a document, selecting it from the resulting list and hitting return – and then if I want to open it in an external app, command-shift-O.
But what’s this about using DT versus the Finder?
Ah, I see where we’re crossing purposes – I should have prefaced that by explaining that I have an always-open “Workspaces” database to which I index folders of all the places I have working documents (various subfolders of my Documents folder plus Downloads folder, Mail Downloads folder, and Desktop); plus a “Books & articles” database – again indexed in my case – with all my downloaded, well, books and articles. These are so deeply embedded in my entire workflowing existence that I didn’t think to mention it or to stop to realise that not everyone else in the world does the same. I recommend it, though…
Gotcha 
And I’m glad to see you have judiciously indexed and made that clear for the thread readers.
Interesting, indexing the Mail downloads.
- Which specific directory?
- Do you find you access it often?
I index the Mail Downloads folder used by Apple Mail. Every time I open an Apple Mail attachment from the e-mail itself (instead of downloading it to somewhere sensible first), it downloads a copy to a newly-created subfolder of this folder, and I have to file it manually later and delete the annoying new folders created for each individual message. Having DT keep an indexed eye on this folder enables me to keep tabs on as yet unfiled attachments and attachments that duplicate existing files, as well as enabling me to do See Also & Classify on things as they come in. (I don’t do a lot of this, but it’s yet another function that’s great to have.)
May e i can return the discussion to the original topic and chime in: Searching for parts of the filename works for me almost never.
I do have most files/database entries named in the format: yyyy_mm_dd - title. Entering title or yyyy_mm_dd almost never yields appropriate results. However:
The described workarounds help: using “name:” does and using “go to” does.
A concrete example would be useful. Most likely the filename/title conflicts with the search syntax.