Undo move by smart rule

Hi,

I have a smart rule to move the files from the inbox to a folder “temp”, which I will later move the files to different folders across databases.

I modified the rule to perform the action “after synchronization” accidentally and it has moved over 5000 files to folder “temp”.

Is there a way I can undo the move? I checked the log and it did not show me the records of the move.

I used to do weekly backup at home but didn’t do it for almost 2 months as I have been away from home.

Jake

Unfortunately no, the actions of a smart rule can’t be undone.

I would like to suggest that DT find a way to undo a recent Smart Rule move. Recently I was setting up a smart rule to move bookmarks from one folder to another, but accidentally selected all Databases. Very quickly the smart rule was triggered and all my bookmarks across 7 databases were moved! I searched for any way to undo and there was, of course, none. The only options for me to fix this were then to try to refile all those bookmarks or undertake an extremely lengthy attempt to restore all my databases from backups, including resyncing them all to my Dropbox sync store and mobile devices. Since there were only about 150 bookmarks I decided it would be easier to try to refile them, and in about 1.5 hours I was able to do that more or less, though some I could not figure out where they went. It really scared me about using Smart Rules, because if I had moved all my PDFs in that rule I would have been apoplectic!

So, some suggestions and ideas that may help:

  • When a rule is first created maybe have a warning dialogue about what it is about to do before it does it, just as a check for the user that all is OK. After the first run it could do it automatically thereafter.
  • Keep a log of recent smart rule actions and provide the user a way to Undo them.
  • With rules that involve adjusting lots of files at once, provide a warning of some sort. Perhaps such warnings could be toggled off in Preferences for power users.
  • Upon creation of a smart rule, have it check what it would do and if it involves manipulating lots of files have it throw up a warning.

Just some ideas, I hope this helps. I am going to now be VERY cautious around those Smart Rules.

Smart Rules are already created with an On Demand event trigger to avoid potential issues.

Caution and careful thought should certainly be applied when implementing smart rules.

I believe that’s not feasible given that a smart rule can run external scripts. Which in turn could run other commands. All of that not under the control of DT

3 Likes

Agreed, but sometimes we make mistakes and it would be nice to have a few backstops available.

Restore the latest backup? (Just an idea, don’t shoot the messenger. :grin: )

Stephen

2 Likes

You could be talking about hundreds and thousands of files. Info about their history would have to be cached, requiring disk space for additional metadata. This would not be a trivial matter.

I described in my po

To do so would have meant restoring and resyncing over 15 GB over data slow internet connections. That’s why I didn’t do it. If the mistake had been more disastrous I would have.

I understand. Some of my other suggestions are about providing some preemptive solutions which would not include undoing anything.