Search and Spinning Wheel

Hello, I’ve recently updated to DEVONthink Pro 3.0 and whenever I search for documents, I get the spinning wheel for about ten seconds and the search window is generally slow to respond while I type in my search terms. I’ve turned off the live search option (including partial live search), which improved the situation quite a bit. When I had those turned on, it was nearly impossible to type in my search terms. Now, it’s just a slow and tedious process.

Is this normal? Is there anything that I can do to speed it up? Thank you.

How many databases do you have open?
What are the database specs in File > Database Properties?

I have four databases open. Here are screenshots of the database properties for each.

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Thanks for the tips. Hopefully that fixes things.

This is almost certainly the issue…

A maximum of 200,000,000 total words is a comfortable limit for most modern machines. I would seriously consider splitting this into smaller, more focused databases. I would also suggest you don’t leave this database open when you aren’t using it.

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Thank you for your help. I appreciate it.

You’re welcome.

Here are some suggestions…

  1. Make sure your local backups are current before attempting to split the database… and just in general.

  2. If you’re going to move files en masse between databases, i.e., large numbers of files at once, you can use File > Export > Files and Folders to a newly created folder on your Desktop.
    You can then use File > Import > Files and Folder in the destination database.
    Do note: Metadata will be preserved except the Date Added, so if that’s a critical bit of metadata, you won’t want to do this.
    If that’s the case, I would suggest moving smaller batches of files via drag and drop to ease the burden of the process. There’s a lot more going on here than a simple file move. :slight_smile:

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Ah, OK. Thank you. I will be mindful of that.

Could you please launch Apple’s Activity Monitor application (see Applications > Utilities), choose DEVONthink while it’s beach balling in the list of processes, select the menu item View > Sample Process and send the result to cgrunenberg - at - devon-technologies.com? Thanks in advance!

You were right. I closed the big db that you suspected was the problem and searched for items in other databases, even while having the rest of my db’s open, and the search was very responsive.

When I have time this weekend, I will be splitting the big one into smaller databases.

Thank you for your help.

Will do. Thank you for your help.

You’re welcome :slight_smile: