DevonThink to go gobbled up iCloud space

Hi!

I had a lot of stuff in DevonThink and synced to iCloud.

Now:

  • not syncing to iCloud any more
  • removed DevonThink to Go from my iPad

But “DevonThink to Go” still occupies ~70 GB in iCloud and on local storage (local mirroring of iCloud data). I tried deleting it through system preferences/iCloud but just get the “Try later” message.

So: how do I get rid of that unused data?

In DEVONthink To Go there is a “Backup data to iCloud” setting, separate from the Locations settings. My first guess would be to try reinstalling the app to see if that preference is turned on and, if it is, turn it off and see if that makes a difference.

If you synced from DEVONthink on the desktop to DEVONthink to Go, then open DEVONthink > Preferences > Sync on the desktop, click “iCloud” in the left column, and choose “Remove Location”.

Whent through that. Removed, added, removed, added, uninstalled, installed, back and forth. 71GB still in iCloud…

Very simple: contact Devonthink Support!
They WILL fix this for you

Was about to write, but it seems I solved the issue.

  • I added iCloud sync in DevonThink (macOS) for the 5th time (nothing new)
  • Preferences->Sync, below the locations is a tiny cog wheel (location actions) “Empty location” (or whatever the translation from the German menu item is)
  • 70 GB still there, clicked on it many times…still there. Deleting in iCloud again didn’t work. But then…
  • synced an almost empty Database (which I tried many times before - didn’t work) to iCloud
  • 70GB GONE!

It seems the Database stored in iCloud was somehow “locked” and the “Empty location” action removed that “lock”, so I finally could overwrite it with a small database.

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Nice one! I’ve had startup issues with DT icloud sync, but support has solved them for me. Maybe you should also send them an email to let them know.

what hey don’t know, they can’t fix!

True – for general information, the best way to get data to DEVONtech Support is

  1. In DEVONthink to Go, on the main screen, press the question mark and choose “Contact Us”. That will load up an email with technical logs and data needed for problem resolution. Add info about the issue you have, and send the email.

  2. In DEVONthink desktop, open Help menu. Press the Option key and the menu item “Contact Us” becomes “Report Bug”. This also creates an email with technical logs and data, to which you add your issue and send the report. (It’s too bad this method is not at all obvious until the user is told about it.)

The least helpful way to get support (other than How-To help) is the DEVONthink forum. It’s not a help desk, and you’ll probably get routed back to #1 or #2 anyway.

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