Replicants not showing Red & how to delete all but one

DEVONthink Tips
1

Hi,

Looked through the forum but couldn’t see how to:

Remove all but one of the Replicants I have in a database. The options under DATA script menu don’t appear for me as some forum threads indicate. Also the Replicants don’t appear in red txt as Ive read. Am i doing something wrong I wonder…

Any help much appreciated and apologies for being a little vague.

Glen

2

Which script is missing?

That depends on the preferences, see Preferences > General > General.

3

HI there,

Thank you for replying. I noticed in google searches that people people were suggesting how to remove all replicants (except one) using a script. I honestly cant remember what the script was called but it was under the Scripts/Data menu option. I suppose in short…Do you know if theres is a way to remove all replicants that match a certain selection?

Thank you for the advice on the colouring for Replicants I found it :slight_smile:

Thank you again
Glen

4

You could create a smart group with the following specifications:

Screen Shot 2015-12-05 at 11.49.32 AM.png
Screen Shot 2015-12-05 at 11.49.32 AM.png1264×336 30.3 KB

This will show everything that is currently being replicated. You could add other criteria to limit it further depending on your needs.

This could enable you to rather quickly, though still manually, delete all instances of a file but one. Sorting and additional search criteria could help make this even easier.

5

Fantastic!

I think, that really works. Im still a little unsure on how to proceed though.

The smart group shows only one of the instance of the Replicant. If I have the Data base set up so files are also tagged when added to a group I think I can remove a Tag manually and hence remove one of the Replicants from a group.

Does this sound right? If I don’t have files auto tagged by the group they are in I couldn’t really see which instance I deleted and end up deleting all the instances.

Thank you again for the tip, it certainly helps if I have the auto tagging option for groups set in the DB properties.

Glen

6

If “Exclude Groups from Tagging” is unchecked…

  • Adding a Tag that is the name of a Group will replicate the selected file into that Group. Note: Having Groups with the same name can lead to unexpected behavior in where the file ends up and the Tags applied.
  • Removing the Group Tag will remove the file / destroy the Replicant in the Group.
7

Hi BlueFrog,

Thanks for the advice on tagging.

Still not sure how to deal with removing all (but) one of my replicants though.

Glen

8

Make sure you try this on a test case before committing to the method on a larger scale:

  1. Create a smart group for replicants as mentioned above
  2. Navigate to the group that contains a replicant that you want to be the “surviving” instance
  3. Duplicate that replicant – select it and press ⌘D
  4. Navigate to the “replicants” smart group and delete the single instance of the replicant that appears in the smart group

All the replicants will be deleted and you’ll be left with a single copy of the document – which will no longer be a “duplicate”.

This is time consuming if you have a lot of this to do, unfortunately.

9

Hi Korm,

That sounds like the fix! Thank you.

Do you know of an elegant way to find which group the Replicants are in from within the Smart group?. At the moment I’m (right) clicking on the file and looking at the ‘Move to’ option and seeing at the top of the list to get a clue.

A script would be great for this kind of thing :slight_smile:

Thank you again for the help
Glen

10

When in a smart group, the full path, document type, size, and modification date for a selected document appears directly below the window toolbar.

11

Brilliant. I see the path where you described.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Glen

12

I also suspect that the replicant shown in the smart group is the “original” file. If I have a document in group A and replicate it to B and C then the A instance is probably the one shown in the smart group. So, Greg’s tip will show you that “original” file’s location.

13

HI there,

Yes, I just tested your suggestion and it does indeed show the original in the smart group.

So apart from having to manually go find the file to duplicate (not much hassle at all compared to my original situation) I am very happy to know I can track and delete Replicants, especially as I learn more ( and make mistakes) in how I order my work

Glen

14

If it’s true that the “replicants” smart group shows the “original”, then merely select these files inside that replicants smart group, and press ⌘D to make all the duplicates you need. Then delete the replicants. If you have a smart group like the one below, you’ll be able to locate the duplicates you want by selecting the file in that smart group and pressing ⌘R to reveal it. (The smart group works because DEVONthink appends “copy” to duplicates.)

15

You guys are good, That works well !

Thank you
Glen