I have one database that I use as a way to navigate a set of nested folders, stored outside of my DT database. So I brought in that folder by Indexing it (it shows up as blue).
My question is: what does it mean to drag a document in DevonThink from one folder to another? I mean, if I have in the Finder the hierarchy
Folder A
– Document 1
– Document 2
Folder B
– Document 3
– Document 4
I can drag Document 1 to Folder B in DevonThink. What I notice is that (a) the document doesn’t move in the Finder (fine, the folder is Indexed), but (b) when I Synchronize, Document 1 is still in B!
I find this very unintuitive, and I now think I don’t really understand what an indexed folder is! I mean, either an indexed folder mirrors the folder being indexed, or it is an independent thing.
I saw no discussion of this in the Getting Control book, and I haven’t found anything in these forums.
An indexed group does mirror the folder in the filesystem (Finder) that is being indexed, but (as you have discovered) you do have the flexibility to move indexed documents to other groups in the database. If you select Document 1 and bring up the Info window, you’ll see that the path still points to Folder A in the filesystem.
The only time that DT will actually move an indexed file in the filesystem is when the file is deleted in DT, the trash is emptied, and the user selects ‘Files’ or ‘Files and Folders’ in the warning prompt. If you delete an indexed file in DT, empty the trash, and select ‘Only in database’ in the warning prompt, the file will be added back to the original, indexed, group the next time the group is synced.
Well, I, for one, find this fundamentally confusing–moving either ought to move or ought to not move, synchronizing ought to either keep in synch or not keep in synch. I know that the DT team is probably up 'till 3AM writing iPad code, but I do think that this feature needs a “rethink.” At a minimum, add a setting for an indexed folder that says “Keep structure and contents synchronized”, so that a sync puts everything back where it “should be.”
I actually find the feature quite useful. As a couple of examples of how I use it, I have some podcasts that are relevant to topics in my databases. I can index the podcast folder(s), maintain their structure in the iTunes library in the process, and still file them in different groups in my DT database. Another example is that I have project notes indexed from a Dropbox folder where the notes are available anywhere I have access to Dropbox, yet the notes are also filed in groups with other project information in the database. I suppose must ask the question-if you want the contents of an indexed folder to remain structured as is in the Finder, why move the documents to different locations in the database to begin with?
I don’t want two-way synchronization. I don’t want DTPO changing the structure of indexed folders. If I want to move things around in groups, I import the files (or replicate, or duplicate). If I want the group structure reflected in Finder, then I export the groups. So, we have many complementary tools - importing, indexing, exporting - and so forth. Covers a good, broad range of data management scenarios and use cases. Nothing about indexing is broken, in my opinion.
Well, I certainly touched a nerve here. I still maintain that I am confused by this behavior. I’ll bow obsequiously to the two Sr. Members who replied to my post, and say thank you. But I suspect that someday I am going to do something (by accident) to my Indexed folders that will make me wish for a way to say “Put them all back, where they were–I want the groups to reflect the folder structure.”