Sudden loss of ability to sync

I’ve cleaned the whole iCloud sync storage, but unfortunately the CK Errors are still here. Besides iCloud I have O365 subscription with quite large OneDrive. Are there any plans to include OneDrive as a supported Sync Storage location?

There are plans but not anytime soon.

I’ve kept on watching the situations for the last three days and I’m still getting the sync to work only intermittently. Sometimes I’m getting manifest missing errors, but most of the time I’m getting connection related errors. Sometimes everything goes through without errors.

What really perplexes me is I had 3 months run with almost no issues whatsoever, and then suddenly everything stops working. Is it possible there’s a problem with local databases which somehow causes the sync to fail? I sort of rule this out, because databases work correctly and sync via Bonjour without any problems… But I can try Rebuilding them, when I get a free moment, if it’s worth a try…

Another question I have - can this be caused by a system update? I’ve updated my Mac to Monterey 12.1 (build 21C52) shortly after it had become available. Perhaps there are some maintenance procedures (caches to delete etc.) on my local system, which may help syncing with iCloud?

I have multiple other apps syncing via iCloud without any problems, but none is as data-heavy as DevonThink (6.72GB altogether, 3.16GB in the largest database).

The reliability of cloud services varies unfortunately (depending on e.g. the used data center, the network connection or outages & changes on the server side etc.), especially the one of iCloud.

That’s indeed a possibility as the behaviour/reliability of the CloudKit frameworks of Monterey might be different (as it’s not unusual that macOS upgrades have initial glitches).

软件的同步功能非常鸡肋,最近一段时间先是iCloudkit同步失败,无法解决,后面选择了webdav进行同步,结果一天不到同步又显示失败,iCloud不能用,webdav又失败,请问贵公司的软件到底需要怎么样才能同步?我始终相信一个好的产品能够稳定的提供服务,像这样各种方式都同步不了,并一直报错的软件,用户如何放心使用

As has been pointed out the problem is with iCloud rather than with DEVONthink. Many people here have recommended Bonjour sync as fast and stable—which is fine if you can ensure that the devices you want to sync are on the same network.

Stephen

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ok,thank you very much

Wow, you’re reading mandarin?

No, sorry, in that context I’m a bit of a fraud. I’m ashamed to admit I’m merely using the really rather good DeepL translation service.

Stephen

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The limitation of Bonjour is that it allows to sync all the data, but doesn’t lend itself to partial download.

I am keeping a full copy of the database on my iPad, so it’s not a problem… but I prefer to save the free space on my iPhone, so I’ve been using DT in the download on demand mode. Now I can’t.

Try a third party sync service other than Apple’s iCloud or CloudKit.

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Bonjour supports shallow syncs but logically only on the same network.

Well yes, but the point of having it on the smartphone is to access it on the go, I feel.

I’d like to give somewhat positive update to the status of my troubleshooting. I had a free evening so I went after my hunch, backed everything up and then treated my system with thorough cleaning (cache deleting) with the help of the Onyx.app. I’m not proficient enough with OS X to that on my own, but seeing how OS X caches everything it does, I had suspicion that there may be a cache used for CloudKit sync and that it might have got corrupted in my system.

Turns out I must have been onto something- since the cleaning I had no single CKError message. I’m still getting the “manifest missing” errors from time to time, but no connection problems whatsoever.

Besides deleting caches, old logs and such, onyx purges system snapshots, unused hidden files and repairs the file system and access privileges. In other words, it might have been a problem with filesystem or access privileges of some files rather than a corrupted cache…

Either way, it may be worth taking a look into local resources used in the process of iCloudKit sync. Perhaps there are some precautions the developers can take, so that the corrupted system files do not prevent the sync from working?

See iCloud sync issues widespread - #4 by SlickSlack

Apple iCloud synching is under control of Apple. Could be what you discovered is hampering Apple’s service, but difficult to know. Perhaps you can report this to Apple to assist in their debugging (should they be doing anything).

That’s actually intentional. That way the worst thing that should happen is that the sync stops working if the data is incomplete, inconsistent or corrupted.

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Perhaps I should’ve phrase it differently. What I mean is, perhaps it is possible to put in some safechecks to verify the state of the relevant system resources when the sync goes wrong.

But I understand the argument it is on Apple to make the service they sell work.

The sync performs all kinds of checks & retries already. But if the cloud servers do not respond or lose/corrupt data on their own then that’s nothing we can control or prevent.

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I have a follow up question related to the issue.

I found threads stating there is no problem in having multiple sync locations set up… but is it possible to prioritize them? I’d like my iOS devices to use Bonjour sync when available, as it is much faster, but revert to iCloud sync in other situations. Right now it seems DTTG is prioritizing iCloud sync over Bonjour and I have to disable it manually to get the other going.

I do not know a way to prioritise. I either just let it rip if turned on when in the local network (usually) or just turn off third party sync on DEVONthink ToGo when not out and about.

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Internally faster sync locations have a higher priority (e.g. when downloading on demand) but the last date of the synchronization matters of course too.