Hey everyone,
I have a short question regarding an individual search term. I want to see all files that have an alias. So in other words, I want to exclude every document which doesn’t have an alias. How can I do it?Because I haven’t found anything regarding “null” or “blank”.
Thanks!
There is no need for null or blank, or even “empty”. You just leave the text field empty, e.g., Aliases is not ____, ___ denoting the field is empty.
You can also use the item search prefix, which queries based on state or presence of properties. It’s a very useful prefix to be aware of more generally.
So in this case: item:aliased.
Other examples include item:tagged, item:annotated, item:indexed, etc. They can also be negated, i.e. item:!aliased finds records without any alias.
True enough.
@BLUEFROG Thanks worked! 
@troejgaard Sounds interesting. Just found the “item” section in the help. But to be fully able to use it: How can I insert sth like “item:aliased” in the search window/form?
What do you mean? Just type it in the search field
@BLUEFROG Just a quick note: I’m creating an intelligent group and the Aliases is not part wont be synced from DT to DTTG. I have to add it manually again on DTTG.
@troejgaard I’m sorry, I haven’t expressed myself well. I want to create an intelligent group. Therefore, I mentioned the “search” window/form.
Ah! The official terminology is the “Predicate editor”.
Here’s a tip: you can show the predicate editor in the normal search pane by clicking the gear icon (“Advanced search”). Now whatever you type is reflected in the predicate editor and vice versa. This is a nice way to learn how the raw query syntax and graphical editor correspond to each other.
Also, you can save the search as a smart group directly from the search pane.
Looks like this:
Ahhh 
OK, it’s the “Predicate editor”.
Awesome! Thanks for the help and explanation!
But - now I notice - there is one problem. This kind of search (item:aliased) isn’t reflected on DTTG when the intelligent group is synced. (@BLUEFROG a bug or on purpose?)
I’m still on version 3 of DTTG, so I don’t know much about that. There’s been discussion in multiple threads on issues with syncing smart rules. It’s complicated and there are some hiccups to sort out.
It’s not a bug nor on purpose. DEVONthink and DEVONthink To Go are not the same application on the same platform. They are independently developed with different underlying technologies. While development has been working in concert to consolidate parts of the code they can use in both, it’s a work in progress. At this time, what you are trying to do with item:aliased isn’t supported. I have filed an issue to extend this criterion but logically can’t promise anything or timeframe.
