Word of caution on deleting groups from the popup menu!

DEVONthink Tips
1

I nearly did something quite silly, but completely unintentional – and figured I would share to possibly remind others to be cautious! :+1:t2:

I have DT3 watching my folder where I drop in new references/attachments for Bookends, my reference manager.
When a new attachment is added to this folder, the Folder Action/Services kick in, and the DT3 menu pops up, asking where I want to place the new file.
Which is very useful.

Simultaneously though, depending on how things have been done, Bookends might call-up a new window to allow me to auto-complete the entry, AND a new reference window might also be called up – with some of the basic details of the new reference already entered, that can be edited – to save as the new citation details.

Today, the following happened.

1.) I pulled in the Safari webpage to BE, to create a new entry.
2.) The new BE citation window popped up.
3.) The article’s title was incorrect – I placed the cursor behind the title, and started [backspacing] to delete the incorrect information at the end of the title.
4.) DT3’s window then popped up, asking where I wanted to place the new file.
NOTE >> 3.) and 4.) happen automatically, and usually within less than a second of one another.
4a.) By default, the Group I had dropped my previous file into (inside DT3) was selected in the group-picker window at 4.)
5.) With my still [backspacing]/[deleting] the BE title, DT3’s new window became the active window – and – I deleted my “New-PDFs” group, along with its 523 files…

To be clear – it was simply moved to the Trash inside DT3.
And I noticed it immediately, since the Group I wanted to drop the new file into, was no longer available in the pop-up menu, since it had been trashed.

So I simply dropped the file into the Inbox, restored/dragged the accidentally deleted group out from Trash, and all was right again.
That being said >> I did not realise groups (and presumably, files??) could be deleted from within the pop-up menu.
Which is not to say that this is not useful, but something one must just be aware of.

I guess worst case scenario would involve my accidentally deleting group A, but not noticing it, since I now wanted the new file to go to group D – and then, still without having noticed the missing group A, clearing out the DT3 trash without checking things…
Probably not likely, but still possible.
So I thought I would share. Use it/don’t use it! :sunglasses:

1 Like
2

Thank you for the feedback! I’m not sure whether it’s a really useful or actually used feature, this could be easily disabled. Any additional feedback would be welcome.

3

Many thanks!

It could have been messy this side, so personally I’d prefer it disabled… But I might be the outlier in this regard?

That said - a very useful feature is being able to add groups through the pop-up – since I might want the new file to go into a new group.
I would therefore be supportive of the option to delete being disabled, assuming that can be done individually (and retaining the option to add groups).

4

The next release will probably change this.

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5

Christian @cgrunenberg, one thing I noticed is that if I open the contextual menu by clicking in some random place in the sidebar, and the choose empty trash, I don’t get the dialog asking whether I want to delete indexed files only in the database or both on database and on finder. It simply goes for the latter. It might be worth taking a look at this.

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6

Is it possible that you clicked on a certain database in the trash? In that case only the database’s trash is emptied. Maybe it didn’t contain any indexed items?

7

I just tested it again and the same thing happened. I created a md file in a dropbox indexed folder. Deleted it. Clicked on a random place in the sidebar, selected empty trash. The dialog did not appear and the file went straight into the Finder trash.

8

Could you please make a screenshot while the contextual menu is open? Thanks!

9

Now, apparently it does not matter where I click on the side-bar, it always deletes the file from finder. Strange thing is that I do not recall, at all, checking the box for the dialog to not be displayed again. I frequently must un-index folders, so this is important to me. And this has happened on both my computers.

Is there something I can do make the dialog be displayed again?

10

Warnings can be reset in Preferences > General.

11

No luck. It still won’t ask me if I want to delete it merely from DT3 or to actually delete it from finder.

12

And the items in the trash are definitely indexed ones? Does it work again after entering defaults delete com.devon-technologies.think3 in the Terminal.app while DEVONthink isn’t running? Warning: This will completely reset the preferences of DEVONthink 3.

13

I created a md file in a dropbox indexed folder. Deleted it. Clicked on a random place in the sidebar, selected empty trash. The dialog did not appear and the file went straight into the Finder trash.

This has been the behavior in DEVONthink 3 of deleting files in indexed groups for some time.

  • Moving a file or group in an indexed group in DEVONthink to the Trash leaves the file intact in the Finder.
    Emptying the Trash will remove the file from the Finder and produce only the typical warning about emptying the Trash…

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  • Moving an individually indexed file or indexed parent group, i.e., the top level folder you indexed from the Finder, in DEVONthink to the Trash leaves it intact in the Finder.
    Emptying the Trash produces the indexed files warning dialog…

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    image1434×578 109 KB

14

Indeed. When I tried to delete a parent folder, it triggered the warning. I had no idea this was the default behavior (is this in the documentation?). My suggestion would be changing the default behavior to triggering the warning every time an indexed item is deleted from the trash bin, as this would give the opportunity to decide whether you want to actually send it to the finder trash or just leave as it is, only not in DT3.

15

This isn’t possible anymore due to the bidirectional filesystem integration of version 3 - you can’t index a folder partially.

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16

Following up on Criss’s comments, this is a byproduct of the tighter integration people have wanted for years.

People wanted the Finder and the database to match more closely without worrying about deconsolidating to external folders, etc.

It’s also why people need to still be thoughtful about indexing files and whether it’s the best option.

1 Like