I am collecting documents in Smart Groups and then replicating them to specific groups as a way to bring structure to a mish-mash. I would like to have a front-and-center way to see the distribution of instances of a given document in a Smart Group. As it is now, I have to click on the Info inspector, then click again on a popup menu, and then parse the hierarchy picture to appreciate everywhere the document is located.
The app Papers3 displays categories of a document directly in column views. I suggest this is an approach that is concise, far less cumbersome, and far more useful.
Tags will do the same but … I will reserve tags for other meta-characteristics.
BTW, I think we might argue whether a document that is replicated one time has 1 replicant or 2 replicants. The understanding I have is that a replicant has no source, whereas a duplicate does. So, replicating once gives TWO replicants (with no true “source”), whereas duplicating once gives ONE duplicate (and one source). Distinction without a difference perhaps but technically correct as far as I understand.
I know that the DEVONthink manual indicates that there is no ‘source’, or difference in the occurrences of replicants but technically there is a ‘source’ document. The ‘source’ is the first occurrence of the document in the database, and the ranking hierarchy of its replicants is based on the creation date and time of the replicant. As example, if I add a document to the database and replicate it on day 2, again on day 3, and yet again on day 4 I now have 4 occurrences, or replicants, of the document in the database.
If I perform a document search or create a smart group that includes a document with replicants, then revealing that document in the database will show the location of the first document added (or created) in the database. If I delete the original occurrence (replicant) from the database, then the replicant created on day 2 becomes the new ‘source’ and will now be the replicant revealed from the results of a search or smart group.
The most significant distinction of this replicant behavior is when documents are indexed into the database, then replicated to other locations in the database. If I have a document in an indexed group, replicate the document to other locations in the database, then finally delete or move the replicant from the indexed group, the document is still indexed in the database and will remain in the original, source folder in the Finder. This of course can be a source of confusion when the user doesn’t understand why the contents of the indexed group in the database does not 1-1 match the contents of the source folder in the Finder.
That shows the path on disc. I want a cleaner method (e.g. in a column view) to see all of the groups to which an item belongs. Groups are internal to DT.
OK. Apologies. The Location column shows the Group of the current document internally to DT. Got it. My confusion is because the name of the Group is the same as the Path to the indexed folder on my hard drive.
(When “Location” is called “Group”, this type of newbie-level confusion could be avoided.)
The Get Info + click on a popup shows all of the Groups to which the document and its replicants (and presumably its duplicates) belong. I want to see ALL of the Groups that contain replicants and duplicates of a given document without needing to take multiple steps. The efficiency with which I can review how I have categorized various documents internally to DT is otherwise hampered.
