Automatic deletion of attachments

[floli]

Hello,

in https://triliumnext.github.io/Docs/Wiki/attachments.html it is stated, that image attachments, that are not linked from the note are automatically deleted after some time.

I wonder what the rationale behind that design decision is? For me, that behavior is very surprising.

• I add an image, see it is part of the attachments. I delete the image, the attachment is still there. Ok. But after some time it is deleted.

IMHO, some functionality to scan and possible delete unlinked imaged would be better and more explicit.

Can this behavior disabled or can the "some time" be set?

Thanks and beset regards!

[eliandoran]

in https://triliumnext.github.io/Docs/Wiki/attachments.html it is stated, that image attachments, that are not linked from the note are automatically deleted after some time.
I wonder what the rationale behind that design decision is? For me, that behavior is very surprising.
I add an image, see it is part of the attachments. I delete the image, the attachment is still there. Ok. But after some time it is deleted.

I wasn't there when this decision was made, but I would say that the most likely reason is to offer a way to undo accidentally deleted attachments. For example, if you just press backspace on an image the attachment is almost immediately marked as to be deleted, so you could go back to the attachments list and paste it back into the document.

IMHO, some functionality to scan and possible delete unlinked imaged would be better and more explicit.
Can this behavior disabled or can the "some time" be set?

There is already this functionality in Options -> Other, called "Attachment Erasure Timeout".
You can probably just put a 1-second erasure timeout if you need the attachments gone immediately.

[floli]

Good Morning @eliandoran and everyone!

Thanks for your reply! I understand that use-case (safe-guard against accidental deletion).

My intention goes into the other direction, i.e., never delete unlinked attachments (of course, unless the note itself is deleted) and have a functionality to scan for unlinked (image) attachment and delete them explicitely. Can, as a first step the, the Erasure Timeout be disabled?

Best Wishes!

[eliandoran]

My intention goes into the other direction, i.e., never delete unlinked attachments (of course, unless the note itself is deleted)

Is there a particular use case for this?

have a functionality to scan for unlinked (image) attachment and delete them explicitely

Attachments can be viewed and deleted individually by going on the note context menu -> Note attachments. Unlinked ones are already detected and shown as greyed out.

Globally, there's the "Erase unused attachment notes now" button.

Can, as a first step the, the Erasure Timeout be disabled?

I guess for now you could just set a very high timeout, like 365250 days (1000 years). We could add this functionality but I'm not sure how frequently used it would be.

[floli]

Is there a particular use case for this?

Just to meet my expectations to never delete attachment implicitly. Setting this to a very high value does the trick.

Globally, there's the "Erase unused attachment notes now" button.

For that, a message box listing the attachment to be deleted what safeguard against accidentally losing data.

Thanks for you replies and working on that software!

[floli]

There seems to be minor problem when setting 365250 days. The attachment page displays:

while the setting is:

Should I create an issue for that?