Update Indexed Items sometimes doesn't do anything

DEVONthink
#1

I have in one database various folders on my machine which I index via DEVONthink.

One folder (an export from another program) is occasionally completely deleted and then recreated again via exporting from the other program.

When I afterwards click lUodare Indexed Items. nothing happens to the view of the folder in DEVONthink: It still shows the old ecport which was blown away a while ago.

Hhow can I really force reindexing my folder and how can I see this in DEVONthink’s UI?

#2

What’s the path of the folder? Did you select the group in the main view or the sidebar?

#3

The path of the folder is:

~/Dropbox/read/calibre-books

I tried both ways:

(A)

Selecting the folder in the main view:

Screen Shot 2020-04-01 at 10.07.25 pm
Screen Shot 2020-04-01 at 10.07.25 pm1033×217 21.6 KB

then choosing File --> Update Indexed Items.

(A)

Selecting the folder in the side bar:

Screen Shot 2020-04-01 at 10.12.15 pm

then as well choosing File --> Update Indexed Items.

In any case the content in devonthink does not seem to update.

#4

Is Calibre running at the same time? And should items actually be removed, added or updated?

#5

Calibre is running at the same time, but it doesn’t write its library to ~/Dropbox/folder/calibre-books. The library is somewhere else.

This is just a flat export I do once day. (I.e. I delete the folder and run the export command which repopulates the folder.)

Then I trigger in DEVONthink the Update Indexed Items (and Tags -> Convert Keywords).

#6

This is not the same path as what you posted above.

Screenshot of Safari (4-1-20, 8-59-58 AM)

#7

Sorry that was just a typo. I meant ~/Dropbox/read/calibre-books.

#8

The way I fixed it is *in DEVONthink I deleted the indexed folder calibre-books from the parent group Dropbox, and added the directory on disk again as Indexed Folder.

Now it looks right:

Screen Shot 2020-04-02 at 10.01.06 am
Screen Shot 2020-04-02 at 10.01.06 am1032×209 21.2 KB

(Note the much smaller item count - That corresponds with the directory on the filesystem.)

However I’m worrierd the next time the folder changes DEVONthink again doesn’t pick it up. Can I automate the “delete and re-add” procedure in DEVONthink?

#9

Why are you deleting and recreating the folder in the Finder?

#10

Are you running in a Fusion Drive or have Parallels installed or both?

#11

That’s what the export procedure does. Is it a problem to index a folder which is recreated now and then?

#12

Neither Fusion Drive and nor Parallels.

#13

I have same issue you have (plus other nasty issues with duplicates) in one machine from my 3 machines, and the only difference between the 2 that work fine and the one that fails is that: fusion drive AND Parallels.

#14

For the DEVONthink team: Is there any problen with an Indexed folder which now and then is complete rebuilt?

#15

How do you want to exactly rebuild it?

#16

Why aren’t you just dragging and dropping from Calibre to the Dropbox folder?

#17

I use a script which:

  1. deletes ~/Dropbox/read/calibre-books
  2. created an empty ~/Dropbox/read/calibre-books
  3. exports via calibredb export all formats of all books to a temp location
  4. moves from each book only one (preferred) format to ~/Dropbox/read/calibre-books
  5. deletes the temp location.

This script is triggered once a day at 5:15am on my iMac (which runs calibre and DEVONthink).

Afterwards I would like to trigger in DEVONthink (via Applescript?):

A. a reindex of ~/Dropbox/read/calibre-books
B. a Convert Keywords to Tags action on this folder.

#18

I still would need to delete the folder first to get rid of the old export and doing this manually is pretty cumbersome if you have a script which can do it for you. :smiley:

#19

Your script appears to be reproducing an inefficient method of dealing with the files. Why are you doing a full export of all the books daily?

#20

True, but calibre has no way to export automatically only the changed and new books, so I have to export all. :rofl:

Anyway, I don’t think that’s the problem here: The problem seems to be that a directory which is indexed doesn’t seem to update properly when it is recreated (i.e. briefly deleted and then created again).