Data Management

Although many users will only ever need to store data in their InBox, many users find that they want to keep important clips for longer periods of time, and that it is convenient to categorize them. So we allow you to create other "collections" for various projects or topics, where you can keep clips as long as you'd like. Whether you only need to keep ten clips or ten thousand, you need to understand how collections work, and how they interact.

You have three collections which are created by default:

InBox - This typically holds your 200 most recent clips. As it grows past 200, old clips are trimmed off and sent to Overflow.

Overflow - Holds the most recent 800 clips that have been trimmed from InBox, or other collections that use length-based retention.

Safe - Move important clips here so that they won't be deleted by the aging process.

And there is another collection called the Trashcan. It's not really a collection, rather it is a database query of clips that have been marked for deletion. You see, each database has a rule that says how long clips can remain in the trashcan before they are permanently deleted. The default is 7 days, so you can go back and rescue clips from the trashcan, if you want to.

Note that the "overflow" mechanism is new to version 6. In prior versions, the "trimmed" clips were lost for good. And the trashcan was only good until you closed the program.

So let's consider the journey of a clip. Typically, it will be captured into the InBox. 200 clips later, it gets moved into Overflow. Another 800 clips, and it winds up in the Trashcan. Where it is finally deleted 7 days later. Of course, you could intervene at any time, and move it to another collection with different attributes (such as "safe" or another collection that you have set up.)

Note that you can cut short the time that clips spend in the trashcan by using the File | Empty Trash command. We designed the data handling so that you would never need to do this. However, some users will want to keep a clean trashcan, so we've provided a way to do that.

Also, consider that you can capture directly into any collection, as long as you have it set to "accept new clips". When a collection is active, and you copy new data, the new clip will either go into that collection, or if you have set the "garbage avoidance" feature on that collection, then it will "bounce" to the InBox. If you are working on a particular project, such as gathering research on a particular topic, you will probably want to capture directly into that collection. Or, you can just let it accumulate in the InBox, and selectively move the data over when you're ready.

Note that the Overflow and Empty Trash processes can be configured to run at startup, shutdown, or after an hour of inactivity. See: Database Properties Dialog for more information.

For more information see:
Database Properties Dialog
Collection Properties Dialog
Multi-User Databases
Database Maintenance