I have “Classification,” “Search,” and “Tagging” checked in the “Exclude from …” section of the database in the Trash. Yet, as always, trashed files show up when I run a search.
Am I doing something wrong?
No. Trashed files are currently not excluded from searching, only from smart groups, automatic Wiki linking or recognition of duplicates.
It seems like it would be cool in a later version to have the ability to choose to exclude items in trash from showing up in search results, my 2 cents.
May I add mine? 
I’d prefer if Trash was searched only if it’s been explicitly selected/included.
And I’d prefer if it was possible to include recognition of duplicates in searches.
I really wish I could exclude the Trash from searches. Or to be able to list Trashed files at the bottom of searches? That might be ideal for those of us who get nervous about throwing anything away.
If you’re “nervous”, take the items out of the Trash. Sorry (and I don’t mean to be rude) but I can’t understand how people use the Trash as another folder. If it’s Trash, empty it (just like you would in your kitchen). If it’s undecided, take it out and put it in a box somewhere (ie. a Group, etc.)
And remember, emptying the Trash in DEVONthink, moves the item to the OS Trash. It doesn’t delete it from your entire system.
No offence taken,
I’m still having this problem with DevonThinkProOffice 2.7.4.
My thinking when I treat my trash as a folder is that I’m pretty sure I’ll never need that item again, but I know I make mistakes and with near infinite memory, I can afford to keep Trashed items around until my book comes out and I know I didn’t accidentally throw something important away. What you say about Devon’s Trash going into the OSX main trash so it’s still retrievable there, does help with this.
As for reasons I put things in the trash and might want to keep them handy, exactly what I’m struggling with is that I want somewhere to easily put things (like the trash) that will remove them from Devon’s searches. (But keep them around if I made a mistake.)
I think I can now toggle a “don’t search for this item” for each item, but putting them in a Trash folder using a simple global delete seems quite natural.
There must be a computer-user category for the “packrat-trash” user. I suspect it’s fairly common. The Devon behaviour of including the Trash in global searches (without the option to turn it off) still isn’t working for me.
I think it’s useful that documents in a database trash remain searchable.
But I would argue against taking the “packrat” approach to database trash. Remember that items in trash will require as much memory when a database is opened as do items in the “regular” databases. Over the years I’ve deleted many thousands of items from my databases. Were I not to empty the databases trashes fairly often I would be wasting computer resources. Free RAM is precious, and storage space on Macs with an SSD is relatively expensive
Every now and then there’s a news report of an EMT team called to a residence and finding it almost completely filled with stacks of old newspapers, magazines and so on. That’s what compulsive packrat mentality can lead to. 
If you cannot bear to throw away files, I suggest you empty your database trash files to the System Trash, then copy the files to an external drive with plenty of free space and empty the System Trash afterward. These days, it’s easy to find an external drive that holds a terabyte or more, for less than $100. You will still have your treasure trove of gigabytes of files for which you have no practical use. 
Or forget the trash route, and just drag the documents to an external folder and zap them from the database. (Though, “zap” might be a harsh term for these unwanted-but-not-unloved files 
)