I love DEVONthink and have used it for years. My problem is probably a simple irritation but when I move an item from my desktop or a folder on my Mac to the sorter (great resource!) I am trying to transfer them into a major group to sort them later.
For an hypothetical example: suppose I have a PDF of a subscription that is coming up for renewal, so I drag it to the Sorter, which shows all the folders I have in my group Subscriptions 23, which contains three subfolders titled: Items Sorted, Subscriptions Coming For Renewal 23, Subscriptions Duplicates, Websites 23. I simply want to drop the PDF into the main group Subscriptions 23, and DO NOT want to Subscriptions 23 to open up and show all the other subgroups in Subscriptions 23. How can I stop that from happening.
It is very frustrating because I have to go back and close the Subscriptions 23 folder because it is both confusing and cluttering to have them open - I often have several Databases open at the same time and there is only limited room in the Sorter for viewing.
I know this is not major but sure would appreciate some way to stop the dropdown until and unless I need it.
Thank you for your help. Great program and always been well supported through the years. Keep up the excellent work!!
The Sorter should actually remember the last expanded groups and doesn’t expand groups on its own. Isn’t that the case?
Actually it always has repeated the behavior I described. I wish it di the latter. The sorter opens automatically, as it should, when I first start the program. If I click on the sorter I see all my main groups of each database nicely listed with the arrows next to them that will allow me to open for subgroups if I wish, which I rarely do. But when I drag a file to drop in a main group the arrow automatically turns down listing all my subgroups. Even though I continue to drag the file to just the main group title that group remains open and I have to click on the arrow to close it once again.
As I said, it is not a major irritation, but when I am moving a bunch of files it slows me down a great deal.
Thank you for your response! Any guidance will be welcome. I don’t know how or if I could paste a copy of a jpeg of the sorter to help illustrate.
When I was testing this I noticed that whilst you can drag a file to the parent group without the folder expanding the second time you drag a file to the sorter it is expanded. Is that the issue you are experiencing.
Thank you for your reply. No, mine opens immediately to show the subfolders. It acts the same on my older MacBook Pro. My main computer is an Apple iMac 2019. It doesn’t matter if I have just started the program or if it has been open and running for several days. Even restarting the computer and opening the program again does not make a difference.
Thanks for the information, are running macOS Ventura or an earlier version?
On my Macbook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013 I am running High Sierra. On my iMac 2019 27" I am running 10.15.7 Catalina. I expect to upgrade to Ventura but not at the present time. Hope this helps.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to reproduce the issue, however you could try the following which will clear the expanded item information:
- Quit DEVONthink
- Open the Terminal application
- Copy and past the line below and press Enter
defaults write com.devon-technologies.think3 UnifiedCaptureExpandedItems -array ‘DATABASES’
Restart DEVONthink
Shut it down, restarted my computer just to be sure all was clean,.
I tried it 3 times with the Terminal suggestion. First I shut off synch with my MBP just to be sure of no interference.
The first time I used Terminal it opened with both the databases that are active showing only the listing for each database in the sorter, so I opened them to show the main categories. Dragged a file over to place in one of the categories and everything worked perfectly - no opening to subfolders. So I dragged another item over and boom, it was back again opening all the subcategory listings. The same thing happened with the other 2 attempts.
Thank you for continuing to hang in here with me! Very much appreciated!
Thanks for trying that, I will continue to see if I determine why the the sub folders are expanding.
I have the sorter on the upper left edge of my screen where I can open it by clicking on the DEVONthink tab that sticks out.