Searching for "an universal" in DT3 and DTTG

I have an article which talks about “A or An Universal”.

In DT3 I can find it easily with a phrase search for “an universal” (including the quotes!).

In DTTG I get lots of documents back which for sure not contain the phrase “an universal” but only “an” and “universal”.

  1. Why is this search different between DTs and DTTG?
  2. How can I search for the phrase “an universal” in DTTG

Do you use straight quotes? Curly quotes might not work for defining phrases.

Yes. I just type it with the iPhone on-screen keyboard.

Here the list view with the document in the group:

So the dovument is there.

Here a screenshot when I search from the same location ( but in all databases):

This shows lots of documents, but they all do not contain the phrase “an universal”.

Finally a screenhot when i switch the same search to the This Group scope:

There is something wrong, isn’t it?

I just tested it on my device, using the exact test data phrase, and the search works fine for me.

However, I did see one thing that was curious. If I had All databases selected, when I began to enter the search string "An then the predictive search listed all documents containing “An”. If I had This database or This group selected, no search results were given until after I typed the second ".

That might well happen, @Greg_Jones. Maybe we should filter out the first quotes before the second pair is entered?

Yes, which if I understand you correctly is how it works now when searching all databases. Whatever you decide, I believe the most important goal would be to make the behavior consistent across all three scope options (all db, this db, this group).

So why doesn’t it work in my case, @eboehnisch? Any ideas?

Could the search indexes between DT3 (where it works) and DTTG (where it doesn’t work) out of sync?

Does each device creates its own search index? Or is it one index shared through the syncing mechanism?

Each device has its own index.

Try this: Select Help > Appendix > URL Commands > Performing Service Tasks and click the Execute link under reindex .

Does it work when you don’t search for a quoted string but just one word? Just to make sure the index works and quoted strings are the problem.

No, it doesn’t work in either case. Here the screenshots for this scanario:

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Did you do the reindexing?

Yes, I did. (Not much is happening though when I go to Help > Appendix > URL Commands > Performing Service Tasks > Reindex > Execute: Just the “Execute” becomes underlined.)

Quit and relaunch DEVONthink To Go.
If it shows its indexing, let it finish.
Otherwise, try the search again.

Tada, it works now - with and without quotes!

Thanks for all the help! :slight_smile:


So… Re-indexing on iOS seems to be the key. Two questions about this:

  1. How often do I have to do this to get reliable searches on DTTG? After every sync?

  2. And what the most reliable way to go about the reindixing? From my current experiencing and the tips in this thread I conclude:

    1. Go to the Execute link in the Help pages and click it.
    2. Kill DTTG.
    3. Reopen it and wait a bit.

    Then you should be (hopefully!) a happy camper! :slight_smile:

Reindexing shouldn’t be needed at all as the index is updated with every file you change or add. So something must have happened and that’s where this hidden command comes in.

Clicking the Execute link in DEVONthink To Go should, actually, do it. It should show a notification that it’ll start preparing the reindexing. If this bezel does not show, we might need to have a look if it is not visible in dark mode :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks for the explanation.

However, no bezel was shown when I click the Execute link and I don’t think I have switched on (automatic) dark mode on the iPhone.

Well, the link seemed to work as after a relaunch the reindexing began. It takes a moment before it start processing so maybe it was a matter of simply waiting a bit?

I have this issue ALL THE TIME! If any files show up, they are totally useless. I have to do a lot of digging to find the file I am looking for. It happens both in DTPO and DTTG.

Maybe…I do think the UI could be clearer though…