I’m surprised that my case of this type (I’d more accurately call it “DTTG 3 is corrupting files and/or failing to sync”), which I first presented as a help request related to my beta test release on 19 December 2020. Jim Neumann very patiently saw me through numerous tangles in this and finally told me to submit my problem as a bug report.
Here is the thread.
Dear Jim,
You will see the thread of our support discussion from last month below. Using your instructions, although I was unable to get the left-swipe to work for some reason (I simply deleted the Locations), I was able to restore the databases on my Mac from the intact databases on my iPad Mini, as well as on my iPhone, which only has one database on it, and my iPad Pro, although I’m not sure how complete it was on the Pro.
However, some problems remain. I have left my iPad Mini as it was, with DEVONthink to Go 2.7.8, since I know it is the original most complete version of the databases as they were on December 19. I experimented with updating DEVONthink to Go to the latest versions on the iPad Pro, and this has been problematic. As DEVONthink to Go 3 was accessing the databases, I get the error message “Error: couldn’t move [filename (mostly pdfs)] into the database package, as DEVONthink to Go 3 downloads updates from iCloud. There are a great many of them, and this paralyzes the app. How do I correct this?
Also, my workflow always begins on the Mac, and at least 98% of my files are entered into DEVONthink Pro Office on the Mac. I have been unable to upload these files to the iCloud location. Therefore it’s been several week since the files on the other devices have been updated. How do I solve this?
Once these issues are corrected, everything will be as it should.
Many thanks for your ongoing help with this.
Best regards,
Michael
On Dec 19, 2020, at 08:54, DEVONtechnologies Support <support@devontechnologies.com> wrote:
Dear Michael,
- Delete DEVONthink To Go 3 on any iOS device.
- On an iOS device with the disturbed database in DEVONthink To Go 2.7.8, go into Settings > Sync: Locations, left-swipe the active iCloud sync location, and choose Clean . This will remove the sync data. Then left-swipe the database on the Home screen and delete the problematic database. You’ll be importing it anew.
- On the Mac, delete the problematic database as you’ll be importing it afresh.
- In DEVONthink To Go 2.7.8 with the, enable the iCloud sync location, then sync the database. This will put intact sync data for the database in iCloud.
- On the other iOS device, import the database from the iCloud sync location. It should only be listed as Remote.
- In DEVONthink on the Mac, import the database from the Remote section of the Databases list when you have the sync location selected.
After these things are done, you may install the DEVONthink To Go 3 beta to check for the five upgrade options and to ensure the database migration worked as expected.
Best regards,
Jim Neumann
Customer Relations Specialist
Dear Michael,
It is quite possible iCloud has stalled - a condition over which we have no control, nor can we even detect it. We can’t reproduce this issue, and some have said it “just started working!”
Here are a few things people have said “worked” , though we obviously can’t test it since we can’t reproduce it. I would try them individually, starting with the simplest…
- Reboot the problematic device(s).
- In DEVONthink’s Preferences > Sync , disable the iCloud location and quit the application. Relaunch DEVONthink and re-enable the sync location again.
- In iOS’ Settings > your Apple ID > iCloud, try disabling and re-enabling iCloud Drive and DEVONthink.
- In iOS’ Settings > your Apple ID, sign out of iCloud and sign back in.
- In macOS’ System Preferences > Apple ID > Overview, sign out and back in.
No worries!
If the databases are intact on the Mac, I’d do this, again assuming the Mac has the master database(s)…
- Delete DEVONthink To Go, reinstall it, but do not set up the sync location yet.
- On the Mac, go into System Preferences > iCloud and click the Manage button. Select DEVONthink To Go then click the Delete documents and data button.
This preference doesn’t give a realtime view of the deletion process, so close and return to the Manage section occasionally to check the process. Once iCloud has removed the data from Apple’s server, the DEVONthink To Go entry will disappear. - In DEVONthink’s Preferences > Sync, right-click the iCloud sync location and choose Clean Location. This will clear out any sync data. You can now add, modify, or remove an encryption key for the sync location, but it must be done before you sync a database. This key would have to be entered in the sync location on other devices syncing with this location.
If you want to add/modify/remove the encryption key, you can now right-click the sync location and choose Show Info. Make the modification to the encryption key fields, the click outside the Info popup. - Then hold the Option key, control-click the iCloud sync location and choose Verify Location Thoroughly. The results will be shown in Window > Log.
- After these things are done, check the checkboxes next to the databases, in the Databases pane on the right, to sync to the location again.
- After a successful sync on the Mac, set up the iCloud location in DEVONthink To Go, using the same encryption key, if you specified one.
- Then touch the sync location and import the database(s).
DTSync is done locally, then iCloud uploads to Apple’s servers, then to devices using your Apple ID. This means databases may not be immediately available to sync on the other devices. The initial sync requires patience, as we have no control over the speed and reliability of iCloud’s process.
Also bear in mind, DEVONthink To Go should be in the foreground and the mobile device awake for the initial sync. The Background App Refresh option is controlled entirely by iOS and only allows approximately a 30 second window, when it allows it to happen. This means we can’t control if, when, or how long it happens. Subsequent syncs are faster since there’s less data being transferred.
Dear Jim,
I followed your directions in updating DTTG on my iPad Pro. In this I decided to add four small databases I didn’t include before. The result is that these four have propagated fully to the iPad, but the initial group of ca. 19 large databases appear as empty databases. You sent an earlier email about difficulties in uploading to iCloud, but I’m unable to find it. I have no idea how it could have been erased. Or perhaps you know some other solution.
I apologize for the long thread, but I hope it helps. I had no problems syncing before mid-December. As of now I have an almost-complete set of my files on my Mac, with four very large databases and 13 smaller ones. The one database that is missing is on my iPad Mini, the portable workhorse for most of the files, still in DTTG 2.87. I am reluctant to touch this installation, because it is my most complete set of databases, and I can’t afford to do without it. However, I am unable to update from my Mac, because sync doesn’t work. In the past I used iCloud Legacy for my attempts to rebuild the sync locations. I have now cleaned that location and am attempting a new start with CloudKit. This is now in process, so I can’t report on its success or failure. For these attempts, I have been using my less critical first-generation iPad Pro 12.9, which once had a nearly complete set of databases, but in syncing, it was repopulated with O byte ghosts of the files. It has DTTG 3.0.3 installed, which seems to offer no improvement. My iPhone has 3.0.3 with a single database, which is intact as of several weeks ago, but it still refuses to update. But in these two devices, I’ll have to report back, when my new location is complete.