Evernote's databases folder

[oded 42]

Evernote's databases folder on my local disk (c:/users/my username/evernote/databases) has one subfolder (attachments) and a few files including myusername.exb (nearly 5GB)
The attachments folder contains exactly 18 files while my Evenote account has more than 1000 attachments within my notes.
Where are all these attachments stored?
Why does the attachments folder contain only 18 files?
 

[DTLow 5,736]

3 hours ago, oded said:

Where are all these attachments stored?

Attachments are stored along with notes in the database; a .exb file in the Windows platform

The attachments folder you’re seeing may be a temporary work folder

[oded 42]

I see...
Thank you very much for answering my question, DTLow 
Much appreciated.

Oded.

[jefito 5,589]

4 hours ago, DTLow said:

The attachments folder you’re seeing may be a temporary work folder

It most definitely is. If a user opens an attachment in an external editor, the file is copied to this folder from the database, and the external application is invoked on that file. When the external app is done, things should get cleaned up automatically, but that doesn't always happen. 

[oded 42]

49 minutes ago, jefito said:

It most definitely is. If a user opens an attachment in an external editor, the file is copied to this folder from the database, and the external application is invoked on that file. When the external app is done, things should get cleaned up automatically, but that doesn't always happen. 

So is it safe for me to manually delete all files in the databases/attachments folder?

[jefito 5,589]

8 minutes ago, oded said:

So is it safe for me to manually delete all files in the databases/attachments folder?

In general, I'd say "yes", but it would be a good idea to see what the files are before you delete them, as it's possible that Evernote might use that folder for other purposes than the one described above.

[oded 42]

3 minutes ago, jefito said:

In general, I'd say "yes", but it would be a good idea to see what the files are before you delete them, as it's possible that Evernote might use that folder for other purposes than the one described above.

Great!
Thank you very much for your help 
Much appreciated.

Oded.

[EdH 1,670]

On 10/2/2017 at 7:16 AM, jefito said:

It most definitely is. If a user opens an attachment in an external editor, the file is copied to this folder from the database, and the external application is invoked on that file. When the external app is done, things should get cleaned up automatically, but that doesn't always happen. 

I don't know that I've ever seen it happen. I go into my Attachment folder routinely and delete whatever doesn't have today's date on it.

[dconnet 529]

On 10/2/2017 at 8:18 AM, jefito said:

In general, I'd say "yes", but it would be a good idea to see what the files are before you delete them, as it's possible that Evernote might use that folder for other purposes than the one described above.

It is safe. As long as the app editing is closed. (I'd also close EN). One thing to realize, if it is a Store app that is invoked to edit a file, EN _cannot_ tell when the editing is complete. Store apps are ... "special".

[jefito 5,589]

1 hour ago, dconnet said:

It is safe. As long as the app editing is closed. (I'd also close EN). One thing to realize, if it is a Store app that is invoked to edit a file, EN _cannot_ tell when the editing is complete. Store apps are ... "special".

Thanks for the clarification. Having had some experience with developing a similar bit of functionality, you can't always tell when non-store applications complete editing either (OK, I worked next to the guy who did the implementation, reviewed his code, and I heard plenty of his imprecations, and saw it fail myself when I used it, too). The whole business seemed a little "special"...