Hello everyone,
I have stopped using DT for certain reasons.
Now I want to say goodbye to DT and also uninstall everything.
What happens to the data? Where is it stored? What do I have to do to save everything properly on my hard disk?
Thanks
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What I’d do, but you have to try yourself and check you got everything you want, select the database in the sidebar, and then in the view at the right select everything and Menu: File → Export. Inspect and check if all exported as you expect. In not, investigate and repeat.
I recommend (as it says in the documentation) try to burrow in to the database package where the data is stored. Hopefully you know where the database packages are so that after you are done you can delete all the databases.
You asked where the data is stored. In those macOS “packages”. The data is there as unmodified files, but organised in folders such that only DEVONthink understands. Messing with that might cause you to corrupt the database.
@rmschne’s export suggestion is a good one. However…
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Go into Preferences > General > Interface and disable Unify inboxes first. This will display the Inbox in the item list along with the items in the root of each database.
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When you do the export, click the New Folder button, enter a name, e.g., the name of the database, and export into it.
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Sorry to see you go. Hope you find a good home for your data. I am sure the two posts above answered your question.
But, for archival purposes, if anyone happens to come across this thread in the future, one of the nice things about DT is that you can set it up so that you don’t have to “start” or “quit.” I index all of my content these days for reasons (way too long and uninteresting to anyone but me). Because everything is indexed (not imported), if I didn’t double-click on the DT icon again, it would not impact my content.
At this point, the only factor that would make me stop double-clicking on that icon is if the developers did something awful to it or I switched to Windows. Both possibilities seem unlikely, but next month I am moving to a Windows-heavy environment at another university and have to at least consider the possibility.
After about 16 years of using DT (time flies!), I still haven’t found a better solution for my needs, especially since the app requires no effort at all to “opt into” or “opt out of” if you are indexing. Ironically, perhaps, it is precisely this portability and freedom to easily leave that makes it so appealing to me. You could say that DT is a significant factor keeping me in the Apple-verse, so maybe Apple should be paying DT some thank-you money.
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You might also want to take and retain Database Archives in “zip” form in case in future you wish to restart your use of DEVONthink.
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on a separate note, if you have compiled anywhere, your thoughts on why index, and what challenges you faced, if any with indexing, please share. and if not, would look forward to reading your compiled thoughts if you choose to.
I like the idea of indexing as well. do want to understand what might break - some things that might break are things like an item replicated or belonging to multiple groups, not sure if the tags get written to Finder tags etc. Whether deleted files get deleted from the folder - I believe when deleting that option is presented.
Anyhow, many questions in my head. As of now, I have a mixed bag of indexed and imported. Would like to move to indexed if can understand the issues involved.
Thanks!
A good place to start getting this understanding is what’s already documented in the “DEVONthink Manual”.
The only things I “index” into DEVONthink are those files that are needed by other applications or people, and I really need help from DEVONthink to search and find them. Not so many files fall into that category.
Would like to move to indexed if can understand the issues involved.
Why?
do want to understand what might break
Have you read and understood the In & Out > Importing & Indexing section of the built-in Help and manual ?
Ok - will read the relevant section of the manual again. @rmschne
Why?
Because I would like my wife to be able to access the documents should I not be around (morbid 
). She does not use DT3. So, I wondered if it would be better to have all scanned documents and bills and notes outside of DT3 and sync with out Mac mini so that the documents are on the Mac mini also not only on my laptop.
They are still being backed up from the DT3 but not accessible to others.
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Look around the forums for threads with posts from Greg_Jones. He will be far more helpful than anything I have to say. For example:
Indexing has worked well for me as I head into my 17th year of using DT. It is also helpful for the use case you have in mind, though I think a simple list of instructions (double-click and search) might also be sufficient. It’s always a good idea to think about what happens to our data when we die because we are all going to die, right? In this world of passwords, two-factor authentication, etc., a lack of preparation could lead to real problems for our families.
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hookmark can handle changes in the file system, wouldn’t a similar system be possible with indexed files through DTP - so if an thing is changed in the finder, DTP still identifies the file? @cgrunenberg
(I have no techhnical background, just wondering)