Sorter shows only open databases

In DT2, I used the Sorter all the time. I put Inboxes for every one of my databases into the Sorter, which made it possible to add a file to a database, regardless of whether it was open or not.

Now if a database is not open, it is greyed out (ditto anything from that database in Favorites), so my only option is to put something into the Global Inbox, then move it after opening the relevant database.

Do you know the acronym OHIO – Only Handle It Once? This is really not very convenient.

Maybe I’m missing something about how the Sorter works now; if there’s a solution, please inform.

Thanks, June

PS: And I do miss those nice Inbox icons in the DT2 Sorter; they were all I needed.

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You could use smart rules to move items from the global inbox to the desired database.

so my only option is to put something into the Global Inbox, then move it after opening the relevant database.

Actually, the other option - beside the one Criss suggested, so I guess this is option 3 - is to open the database in question.
:slight_smile:

C Grunenberg: Thank you for the suggestion. I do use some Smart Rules, but don’t understand how to write a rule that would accurately identify which file should go to which database. There is no specific identifier in any of the metadata of a file that would apply to any contingency, i.e., files intended for four different databases would have the same date, be several different filetypes, with filenames determined by source, etc.

Hi Bluefrog. I follow DTs suggestion to have different databases for different topics; I have 18 of them, 10 in fairly regular use.

However, if I just drop a file onto the name of an open database in the Sorter, it goes to the Global Inbox, not to the Inbox of that particular database. In order to put it into a destination folder, I have to hover the cursor over the database name in order to see the file hierarchy. If the whole point of the Sorter is to make it fast and easy to get a file into the relevant database; this is a Lot Slower.

Then in the Sidebar, If I drag a file from the Global Inbox onto the name of the relevant database, it does Not go into the Inbox for that database – it goes into the file hierarchy alphabetically. Same is true if I want to move a file from one database to another. I have to hover my cursor over the database name to drop down the list of folders inside. Also, a Lot Slower.

So far, my solution is to make a folder named *database Inbox. The asterisk locates it at the top of the hierarchy in each database. I drag that folder into Favorites. But this only works if all my databases are open.

In order to shorten the list in the Sidebar, I suppose I could make all the folders in a database children of the Inbox I’ve created, then if I drop down all the open databases, each will show only the Inbox, and I could hover the cursor in order to go deeper.

I’m sorry to have to say this, but really, all this seems to be a bad case of overcomplexification, and if that’s not a word, it should be. I’ve been using DT for decades, and I know it can be frustrating for any user to make a major change like this, but I’m struggling; too many things that were elegantly easy before now seem to require workarounds. I’m almost ready to ask if I can go back to DT2, even knowing it would no longer be improved.

if I just drop a file onto the name of an open database in the Sorter, it goes to the Global Inbox, not to the Inbox of that particular database.

You are describing abnormal behavior. I just dropped a file onto the Inbox of a database in both the Favorites and the Databases and the file ended up in the dropped locations.

Then in the Sidebar, If I drag a file from the Global Inbox onto the name of the relevant database, it does Not go into the Inbox for that database – it goes into the file hierarchy alphabetically.

If you drop into the Open Databases section, you are dropping files into the root of the database. If you want the file in the Inbox of the database, you shuld be dropping into the Inbox of the database in the Globals section.

Thank you for your interest and patience.

Yes, if I drag something from the MainGlobal Inbox to, say, “X Database” in the Globals section, it goes into that Inbox.

However, the Global X Database Inbox does not seem to exist anywhere in the file hierarchy of X Database, or at least I don’t see it. So next I have to drag the file from the Gobal X Database Inbox, into the database itself.

And yes, if I drop it on X Database Name in the Sidebar, it goes to root and gets filed alphabetically in the hierarchy. Which means I have to go find it (remember it’s name well enough to find it, or do a search to find it), and drag it somewhere else.

The only alternative is to drag a file from its Global X Database Inbox, and hover over the database name in the Sidebar to drop it down, and keep hovering deeper into the hierarchy until I get to the right folder.

Then, should I want to move another file from a Global Inbox into a different database in the Sidebar, either I have to manually close the first one (it does not close by itself after hovering on it), and open another, or as the alphabet dictates, scroll past endless folders, to get to the right one, hover there, etc. And if, as you suggest, I have ten databases open, this can go on, and on, and on.

As I said, as a moderately successful alternative, I created my own folder inside each database named *X Database Inbox, the asterisk makes it ride at the top of the file hierarchy, and I can drag something from the Global Inbox or the Global X Database Inbox to my own *Inbox folder. Of course, the database must be open, and I must drop it down even to see that top folder, and then I must manually close that file hierarchy in order to go somewhere else, or scroll past everything open, etc., etc., etc.

Similarly, if I drag an external file onto the name of a Database in the Sorter and don’t want it to go to root, I have to hover the cursor so the file hierarchy will drop down in order to put it somewhere specific, and if I do that, the file hierarchy in the Sorter stays open. So here again, the next time I want to put something into a different database in the Sorter, I have to open the Sorter, and either close the first database hierarchy, or scroll all the way down past the long file hierarchy of that one to get to the next one, the first and second to get to the third, etc., etc.

This is why I dragged my own *X Database Inbox" into the Sorter Favorites.

But, of course, unlike the Sorter in DT2, I can’t put a file anywhere in the DT3 Sorter unless a database is open; if it isn’t open, I have to put it in Global, which goes back to all the problems described above.

I really fail to understand the value of having yet another file hierarchy in the Sorter (one of three; one was perfectly satisfactory in DT2), and why there have to be Global Inboxes for each one as an intermediate step, and why the only ones that are available are those for open databases.

The Sorter in DT2 was perfect – you put an Inbox for any of your databases into the Sorter and there it was, whether the database was open or closed; no hovering, no closing, no scrolling, no extra steps. Clean and elegant and extremely useful. I must say the way it works in DT3 is really very annoying.

But perhaps I still don’t understanding this? Appreciate any insights or suggestions you might have; I’m frustrated.

I feel the same way. What initially drew me to DT2 was the economy of info capture. While I appreciate the upgrade on the database side, reduced capture capacity is a huge downside.