Where are DEVONthink to Go Documents stored?

Software
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Okay, with all this recent talk about DEVONThink I’ve decided to give it a try on my iPad. I admit though, I’m a bit confused about where the imported documents are stored. I can see that in my Files app I have a new location in the Sidebar and that the imported documents are there. But are they stored locally on the iPad or in a folder on iCloud? I get that DEVONthink is building a database of metadata that it syncs to other devices with the app, I’m just a bit confused about the actual document location.

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(Probably best to search for/ask about/discuss this on the DEVONthink forum.)

Depends on your sync method. If you’re using CloudKit, they’re stored on iCloud servers and on your iPad. WebDav, they’re stored on your Mac and your iPad. And so on.

In all DEVONtech apps, the in-app help is generally very, well, helpful. See Help (the ? icon on the bottom menu when you first open up DTTG) → Help → Sync.

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Thanks, I’ll check their forums. I’ve been through the built-in help you reference… I think I read through it 4 times now and I guess I’m over-analyzing it. Generally apps that store files in iCloud have a clearly marked folder with their name attached and files are found there as discrete files. I think I understand now that DEVONThink is storing it all in a monolithic database that is invisible except via the app itself or via the Location in the Files Sidebar.

I suppose what interests me about this app is the surfacing of documents via iOS Spotlight searching that goes beyond just a file name. That and the OCR. But what weirds me out is the storage of files in the database… similar to, I imagine, the way Apple Notes works with attachments.

Thanks!

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The distinction is CloudKit vs iCloud, I think.

This seems relevant to your curiosity:

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I think it’s the internal flash drive. I see DTTG, Dropbox, and google drive in Files. So it must be an API call that says this is a storage location. I sync only via bonjour sync and so the DTTG folder is a local folder on the ipad itself. That’s my best guess.

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The best way to think about iOS is: don’t think too hard where things are. Apps store their data in their own app containers which they can expose to the Files app as providers. In the case of DTTG, files are downloaded on demand and uploaded to your sync store as soon as possible; unless you mark something as being always available on device, it’s best to assume that the data is not necessarily available unless you have an Internet connection.
It’s there, it can be accessed through Files, but it’s not a file system per se, as with everything iOS.

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Thanks all! Yeah, it seems the files are a part the database and made available via the Files sidebar. My needs are more for indexing of at most a few hundred files. I’ve decided to try Readdle Documents instead. I think for my purposes that will suffice and it allows me to keep the files in the Readdle Docs iCloud folder for easy access outside of the app.

Thanks again for the assist!

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