I’ve been having problems with Bonjour. I have an iPhone that has my Macbook setup as a sync location, which only has Bonjour enabled. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. If DT is running all the time it’s usually fine, but I have been able to reproduce now how how to make DTTG think that the sync location (Macbook) is offline when it really isn’t.
Close DT on the Mac
Keep DTTG running on the iPhone for awhile (but not the active app)
Open DTTG as the active app
Open DT on the Mac
Notice that the sync cloud icon is greyed out. Under settings, that location is “offline”.
Double tap home button and swipe up on DTTG to quit
Open DTTG, sync magically works again
Steps #3 and #4 might be swapped I’m not sure. Anyway, do I have something setup wrong or is it just finicky?
If you open DTTG while DT is not running, it will be reported as offline. This is no different than any other server being offline when it’s not on. DT must be running for a Bonjour connection to be made.
Also, it should recheck the connection on its own after a bit.
This is the part that I think might be broken. I have been working in DT for the past 20 mins now with DTTG open on my phone next to me and it still shows that the sync location is offline. Occasionally I do see the cloud icon turn blue and then quickly back to grey again.
After awhile the cloud icon turns blue with a little blue dot on it. Occasionally the dot goes away and then comes back shortly after (I assume this is when it is trying to sync). It doesn’t actually sync anything, even though it is showing as online now in settings.
Per your advice, restarting DT didn’t fix – but what DOES work is closing/quitting DTTG with swiping up on the iPhone and then starting it again and pulling down to refresh once I’m in the app.
I figured the sync would be more “set it and forget it” but it seems there is some manual intervention required to make sure it syncs OK. I only discovered this after finding out nothing was sync’ing for 2 days while I was working on and off in DT at home.
P.S. I can also pull down to refresh (which I presume initiates a sync) and it does the same thing… doesn’t actually sync unless I restart the app.
P.P.S. Looks like I can also “fix” this by going into Settings -> Sync Locations -> my mac -> hit the refresh button. Before I do this pulling down to refresh has no effect, even though it shows it Online.
same issue here, and this has been a problem for months. the devs should fix this, as sync for now os not set it and forget it. it involves force quitting and restarting dttg almost every time. this males it somewhat annoying, and i‘m actively looking for better solutions by avoiding devonthink altohether
@mesroporsem: You are describing abnormal behavior. We have many Users who use Bonjour successfully every day. I actually have three Macs and three mobile devices that all connect and sync via Bonjour every day.
If you don’t have a support ticket open, please open one.
I’m glad someone else brought this up, because I’ve encountered the same behavior on two separate setups. At work I am syncing via bonjour between DT and DTTG on my iPad. At home, I have a completely independent setup that I sync between another computer and my iPhone. I’ve found that the only way to get DTTG to see DT and initiate a sync is to force-close DTTG on the iOS devices, otherwise, it will never find DT. It happens so consistently that I’ve gotten in the habit of force-closing DTTG as a matter of course before initiating a sync, sometimes multiple times a day. I’ve been doing this ever since DTTG 2 was released. So it does work eventually, just with a lot of cajoling which shouldn’t be necessary.
You are referring to three forums posts here out of many, many people who use Bonjour sync successfully. This is not a widespread issue, and that’s why we ask for support tickets to be opened via holding Option and choosing Help > Report Bug on the Mac and Help > Contact Us in DTTG. There just is not enough data on the issue. Thanks!
I experience the same behaviour.
It is a pity, almost every time I have to restart DTTG to get the cloud symbol active.
Is the reason for that behaviour understood?
Is there a solution other than the workaround of killing and restarting the iOS app?
No, and it’s not a common issue nor reproducible at will. Given the idiosyncracies of WiFi networks, it’s quite possible it’s a reachability issue but again, we can’t say for sure at this time.
The one thing we sometimes encounter is people enabling Bonjour on both devices and trying to have both act as a server for a given database. That is definitely not recommended and may cause a Bonjour port to stall.
I have been experiencing this issue, and have a support conversation in progress. Working through the suggestions, which I appreciate, but so far to no avail. The connection works for a while, then goes offline. Unlike in the posts above, I have not been able to restore it by any repeatable means, nor to establish a pattern of failure.
My sync has been working normally. Not certain how or why The problem resolved. Multiple resets of all components simultaneously, including the router. Cannot isolate the solution.