Strange behavior? database w 485 records is syncing 15,000 items (and counting)

[MichiganUser]

Hey all,

[note - I’ve included lots of detail about my setup in case its useful. But the key issue is bolded below]

I’m setting up a new Devonthink database. It contains solely PDFs that are indexed from a pre-existing nested Finder folder structure. (Worth noting that it’s 1.8GB, but also that I have two other ~2GB databases that are working fine.)

I successfully created and fully indexed the new database on my office computer. I then successfully added it to my existing DT sync store. The problem is emerging with trying to set up a sync’d second instance of the database on my home computer. (Worth noting that all my other DT databases currently sync fine among 3 devices.)

Here’s the question. I sucessfully copied the database to my home computer, creating a second instance of it. I successfully re-indexed the second instance to the files (which exist in parallel on all my devices). Then the problem: I connected the second instance to my sync store, and hit “sync.” That was yesterday. It’s still syncing almost a full day later.

More than the time it’s taking, what’s making me wonder if something is wrong is the sync update bar. Per screenshot #1 below, the database has 485 files. Per screenshot #2 below, the sync update bar is currently reporting 15,000 items in the sync queue–and that number keeps rising, with the actually-synced items perpetually trailing the listed quantity by 500-700 items.

Is this normal behavior when a very big database gets synced? I’m inclined to just let it run, but I also need to start working with this thing so if this is a sign something’s gone haywire I’d love to know that. Just super weird for there to be so many “items” to sync, since the total number of actual PDFs is <500.

Any thoughts most appreciated!

[MichiganUser]

Just got a “Dropbox 503” error from DevonThink. Googling led me to the suggestion this might be an overuse limitation, which I suppose is plausible at 10s of 10,000s of files. (Though, again, that presents the question of how we get from 450 files to 15,000…)

When I tried to log into Dropbox, I got an error message, with this explanation.

So, who knows. Just gonna leave this alone for a day and try syncing again tomorrow once I confirm that I can log back into Dropbox.

[BLUEFROG]

We’ve covered this question many times on the forums, including a few days ago.

Sync numbers are confusing

This has been discussed several times over the years on the forums. DEVONthink is not syncing your files, e.g., a particular PDF. It is raw, chunked, and optionally encrypted data. As data is chunked, it generates more pieces of data to transmit. Also, there is transactional data for the sync passing between the syncing devices.

However, hold the Option key and choose Help > Report bug to start a support ticket so we can get a better view of what your situation really is. Thanks!

[MichiganUser]

Man, I think of myself as being reasonably good at searching, but I looked for the “too many items” issue and couldn’t find anything!

I will send in the ticket after I try one more thing. I want to see if there’s something on the Dropbox side that’s explaining it — the error in the DT log led me down a trail that suggests there might be something odd w/DT. So I’m going to check that out tomorrow and then if it’s still doing the endless syncing thing, I will check in with the ticket.

Thanks Jim!

-Julian

[BLUEFROG]

You’re welcome!