Start over--clear the program

DEVONthink
1

I started with DevonThink ProOffice several years ago, and made the mistake of building fast without much consideration for the level of organization I would eventually want. I now have files that are both resident on Devonthink, and many that are indexed. I would like to start over with a more thought through organization, and wondered if there is some way to download all the resident files to my hard drive or the cloud and completely clear Devonthink of its current file system. I am not so concerned about indexed files as they are in separate folders on my system, and can be re-indexed.

2

for imported files, just select all the top-level groups for the contents of the database and drag them to a convenient location in Finder. They will be exported to Finder organized exactly as they are in DEVONthink. Indexed files, as you note, are just references, so there’s nothing to worry about there.

Once you are sure your imported files have all been exported to Finder, you can start fresh with one or more new databases, and eventually trash the database you’ve just migrated out of.

3

or the cloud

I’m not sure what you have in mind here, but local assets should be used

  • If you’re importing into a database, the upload to the cloud essentially would be wasted time.
  • If you’re intending on indexing, you should not index items that exist only in the cloud.
4

Question: If I drag an indexed file from DevonThink to my desktop, won’t it copy the file?

5

Yes it will copy the file.

6

Dear Scott–Very simple and exactly what I wanted to know. Many thanks. Sometimes you just want to start over once you understand a system a little better.
Best,
George

1 Like