# Tags Duplicating Erroneously
**URL:** https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685
**Category:** DEVONthink
**Created:** [October 4, 2020, 6:37am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685 "2020-10-04T06:37:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quejinok](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Quejinok)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2020, 6:37am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685/1 "2020-10-04T06:37:39Z")
Devonthink 3.5.2 on macOS 10.15.6
I use the Add to Devonthink 3 service in Apple Mail. This allows e-mails to be pointed to a Database Group and tagged during the transfer from Apple Mail to DT3. All seemed to be going well today; however, as is my practice I check the Tags list and sort new tags (if any) into tags groups who, what, when and where. On checking today I found that existing tags had been duplicated for new items added.
To fix this, as an example I had an existing “telecoms” tag plus a new one tagged to the new item/s. I renamed the new “telecoms” tag to “telecoms-x”. This updated on the new database item. I then added “telecoms” (the old tag) and removed the “telecoms-x” tag from the database document. I then ended up with an old “telecoms” tag, an empty “telecoms-x” tag and a new “telecoms” tag with the database document.
I have run a Verify and Repair with no issues reported.
Very frustrating and making my datbase very messy - any ideas on the cause of the issue?
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### Author:  [@Blanc](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Blanc)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2020, 11:43am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685/2 "2020-10-04T11:43:42Z")
May I ask _where_ you are seeing the duplicated tags? My understanding is that every database (including the Global Inbox) has its own tag base. So when I take a look in the Tags group, I will often see the same tag several times - because I tagged something whilst it was in the Global Inbox and then moved the document to a different database, or because the tag is present in multiple databases. What shouldn’t happen, AFAIK, is that a tag is duplicated _within_ a database. So if you select the Tags group, and a database from within that group, then each tag should be present only once.
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### Author:  [@Quejinok](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Quejinok)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685/3 "2020-10-04T20:02:09Z")
The tags are being duplicated within a database. This problem is occurring in multiple databases. I do not use the Global Inbox as I pass documents directly into a specific database, eg. A References database that contains articles of interest OR a Company database that contains company documents. The tag structures can be similar in each database, for example multiple Company databases.
In some respects the problem has been resolved. I ran a Verify and Repair on each affected database then a Rebuild. The Rebuild apparently combined the duplicated tags.
I am presently monitoring these databases to see if the issue re-occurs but will not know for the next 48 hours.
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### Author:  [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685/4 "2020-10-05T00:08:13Z")
What options are set in Mail’s **Preferences \> Import**?
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### Author:  [@Quejinok](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Quejinok)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2020, 1:13am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685/5 "2020-10-05T01:13:52Z")
I am Using Apple Mail - it does not have a Preferences \> Import. Also I am exporting then deleting the e-mails that have been exported to DT3
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### Author:  [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685/6 "2020-10-05T03:14:45Z")
Sorry. That was a mistype. I meant DEVONthink.
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### Author:  [@Quejinok](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Quejinok)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2020, 3:37am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685/7 "2020-10-05T03:37:37Z")
No problem I thought there was something wrong.
DT3 Import Preferences have Destination set to Select Group and Text Encoding Automatic - nothing else is checked.
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### Author:  [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2020, 8:57am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685/8 "2020-10-05T08:57:33Z")
A screenshot of the preview of one email plus its tags would be great, thank you.
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### Author:  [@Quejinok](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Quejinok)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2020, 9:33am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/tags-duplicating-erroneously/58685/9 "2020-10-05T09:33:36Z")
Sorry e-mails are confidential and issue has not re-occurred since the Verify & repair plus Rebuild. E-mails were not tagged until the Devonthink script window opens to select group and tag item/s