Undoing silly mistake

DEVONthink
1

A mistake I often make (because I just forget) is that I drag files straight from DT into Bookends, with the result that they get moved to the Bookends attachments folder. This means that DT reports the file as missing. Is there a quick way to remedy the error? I can select the files one at a time in Bookends, “Reveal in Finder” and then copy them back into DT, deleting the original files, but that treats them as new files, so I lose tags, labels etc. I could open the DT database using Finder and drag them into where they should be, but assume it is dangerous to make any modifications to the database outside DT, and in any case drilling through the subfolders is time-consuming.

Am I missing an easy solution? Clicking on “Download” in DT doesn’t work, presumably because the file has also been removed from the sync store.

An alternative for forgetful users would be for DT to give a warning when files are dragged out along the lines of: “If you continue, DT will report that your files are missing. Do you want to continue?”

Or should I treat this as a Bookends issue, given that dragging into Finder works differently?

PS Yes, I realise my way of linking DT and Bookends is suboptimal, and in that there are methods that make it easier to go from one to the other, but I decided against reorganising everything mid-project. I also know that if I drag the files into Finder, and from there into Bookends, it creates a new copy and the problem does not arise, but I sometimes forget.

2

You drag from… where?

3

I am browsing the folder containing the files in DT, with Groups listed in the left window, and I drag the files from the window at top right into a group in Bookends. As I said, I only do this when I forget that I need to go via a Finder window.

4

Actually this seems to be a bug of Bookends, the files should only be linked or copied (e.g. like the Finder does).

5

Here is what I’m seeing in the 14.2.1 release of Bookends when dragging and dropping a PDF from DEVONthink into it…

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6

I see “Move to Attachments folder.” The default must be what you last used.

Note that my subject heading was “Undoing silly mistake.” I accept that I have no excuse for the mistake, though mistakes still happen.

I take it that the answer is that there is no simple solution to put right such a mistake. Following cgruenenberg’s suggestion I will drop an email to Sonny software suggesting that it would be helpful for an additional warning to come up if you try to Move a file out of a container such as a DT database. The reason it is easy to make a mistake is that the same box comes up when copying from a “regular” file, when typically I do want to delete the file from the original folder.

Thanks for your help.

7

No worries! And there was precedent for your use of the move versus the copy, so I wouldn’t say it’s silly.
And thanks for passing word along to Sonny Software. It’s likely a situation they hadn’t considered or run into.

Cheers!