If I understand correctly, activating Desktop and Documents folder syncing in macOS Sierra would cause any databases in the Documents folder to be moved to iCloud. What is DEVONtechnologies’ advice regarding this Sierra feature – apart from the need to trust iCloud, what effect would this have on (a) indexing, (b) sync, © database integrity? Has DEVONtech tested this feature?
Due to my poor experiences with iCloud, my personal advice would be to move the databases to a different folder (e.g. ~/Databases).
Good idea. I sense problems down line and think I’ll avoid this Sierra feature for now.
I can see this being a problem for some users since DEVONthink defaults to putting databases in the “Documents” folder, and Sierra apparently defaults to turning this feature on. Unless someone is aware of this issue they may have no idea what they could be getting themselves into.
I’m not sure what the best mechanism would be, but it might be worth considering some notification to users about the potential problems they might have with this Sierra feature.
I’ve read nothing that indicates that Desktop and Document folding syncing is activated by “default” on Sierra. Please post the reference(s).
I agree that users need to understand the implications of updating the OS. Notification when users upgrade to Sierra? Can an application raise it’s hand while you’re installing Sierra to tell the user “Wait. Do you know what will happen to me if you do this?”
Hi Korm,
Good point, I could be mistaken. I have not tried Sierra myself yet. I thought I saw another message on this forum from a Sierra user that said the feature was activated by default, and thats what I was basing my comment on. I looked briefly for that other post but could not find it. Honestly I don’t know for sure.
So I looked into this a little more and found this:
laptopmag.com/articles/think … ra-setting
It looks like there is a dialog option presented after install, so the user has some heads up. Still could bite someone who is not aware of the potential issue.
@ethant, thanks for the link. Ugh. Seems like Apple is concerned with generating iCloud fees enough to force the service onto customers.
Over here it was activated by default.
When I upgraded to Sierra, it asked. It also (unwittingly perhaps) offered a second level of protection in that I didn’t have nearly enough iCloud Drive storage to complete the request, so it offered to fix that by taking some more of my money.
Like others have mentioned, I have had only bad experiences with iCloud Drive. It seems to work ok with the apps that offer to store files in it (although I don’t trust it) but it has failed me miserably trying to use it like I use Dropbox. Specifically, dumping files into it when I leave work that I plan to use later in the evening at home. My biggest complaint though is a process called “bird” that acted as a fan tester on my Macbook Pro. Some of these issues may have long been fixed, but I got a lot of free Dropbox as an early adopter and I see no reason to leave. The new Devonthink sync process has worked flawlessly for me using Dropbox as a conduit and it provides me with a comfortable level of control of my data.