Syncing issue CloudKit

Been using DT since the earliest days of v1. Has always been great.

Just groan when reliable, robust underpinnings seem to suffer. Don’t have another 12 hours to waste trying to rid myself of these errors by delete and re-registering/syncing.

Edit: apologies to forum - seem to be moaning/complaining a bit!!

1 Like
  • Are you running a VPN?
    • If so, which one?

Although you did not ask me, since I have the same problem, occasionally, I use on my iOS devices NordVPN.

Nope. No VPN running

Jim,

Should I go down the path of a rebuild of my 3 main databases, are all the internal URLs of documents (“Copy Item Link”) changed? Have an enormous link network between DT, task managers and calendars and would not like to lose these links. Have calmed down, have several hours free today and just want this sync fixed. (And KeepIt sure ain’t DEVONthink!)

Steve J

First step might be to go through “Sync Issues” section in DEVONthink Handbook (page 177 in version 3.6.3) and see if doing things suggested there helps.

I could be wrong, but I doubt a re-build will help syncing, unless the database(s) is(are) corrupted. First see page 181 of the DEVONthink Handbook on repairing a defective database. Then perhaps “Verify and Repair” taking care and report to note any messages in Log. Then perhaps “clean” the CloudKit location of the sync files followed by turning synch back on and let the sync complete. Take note and report any messages in Log. If any messages in Log, search this forum for those words and see if there is any ideas there.

Me, I’d get synching going by Bonjour method first as it’s simpler to setup, faster, and more reliable than using Apple’s CloudKit. Once working, you can rely on it (via Local Network) and get Apple’s CloudKit going as you find time. Bonjour setup covered in the DEVONthink Handbook, along with supplementary info at Bonjour Simplified

Finally, work on only one database at a time, initially to keep the bytes needed to be moved low. And don’t sync stuff that you really don’t need to be synched.

On a database rebuild, the item links and other metadata are preserved.
In this instance, I don’t think a rebuild would be warranted, unless a File > Verify & Repair showed serious issues. However, you could still do a rebuild if it would allevaite any worry about its general health.

We have had, then read, reports about NordVPN having issues with iCloud. This could certainly affect syncing.

1 Like

Thanks for the info - this is interesting. With iOS 15 there will be new privacy tools, I believe, so one may not require a VPN for that purpose. For work, I also use a VPN but then to have a tunnel into the Uni. NordVPN was something suggested, somewhere, but I am happy to cancel the subscription. Would be good to hear what others say about the use of VPN and possible effects on cloud sync.

You’re welcome.

We had someone specifically report the issue regarding NordVPN and also pointed us to reports of such issues. They also were having missing manifest errors quite often and also soon after a clean and resync. When we looked into the info they sent about the VPN and there surely are documents related to iCloud issues, including support suggestions from NordVPN themselves.

1 Like

I’m recently having the same problem (i’m using 2 macs and DTTG).

All of a sudden, the changes that I made on a pdf in DTTG doesn’t sync to my mac, showing “xxxxx.manifest” missing of database YYYY" errors on mac.

This was frustrating because recently I rebuilt my databases and synced them from the scratch.

Now I cleared my sync location again and am trying to sync my databases to the iCloud sync store, but it is not going through well at the moment.
(On the part of my mac, the databases are okay, verified without a problem but syncing to iCloud is not smooth at this moment. It had happened before, but it was okay for some time, and now it has become unsmooth again)

So, I’ve been frustrated by the sync so many times these days…

1 Like

There is some good advice on page 172 of the DEVONthink Handbook (ver 3.7.2), and if you search the text of your error message here on this forum will be some good advice.

Edit: Also, Apple IOS 15 released yesterday with some changes to iCloud announced. Does this have any impact on your sync with Apple iCloud?

  • Are you running a VPN?
    • If so, which one?

No, I’m not running on a VPN. But I’m living on campus, so I’m using school’s public wifi (with no p/w).

I’m having the same issue. Syncing with iCloud CloudKit gives me loads of ‘missing manifest’ errors.
Screenshot 2021-09-22 at 11.02.05

These errors occur on my Mac which syncs with iCloud. I have disabled iCloud sync on the other iOS and MacBook devices.

  • I have verified and repaired the databases
  • I have rebuild the databases
  • I have cleaned and re-synced the databases but the errors keep returning.
  • No VPN running.
  • Using Webdav or Bonjour works without issues

I disabled iCloud syncing for now.

Question: I have Verify uploaded items enabled which probably causes the warnings to be displayed. The manual tells me that it is nog a sync issue, so can I safely ignore these warnings? (or disable Verify as it is by default)?
Screenshot 2021-09-22 at 11.13.33

Which section of the manual do you exactly mean? However, this option doesn’t cause the warnings but the next release will improve the overall CloudKit reliability.

1 Like

Thank you for your response.

It is described in the Sync Issues part in the Help. I misread, it states it is not an issue with the database. Because it is an issue with the validation I assumed it was cause by the Verify option :).

While it’s not an issue of the local databases, it might be an issue of the sync store. Verifying the sync store and cleaning it if necessary is therefore recommended.

1 Like

I stopped using a VPN and still get the missing manifest error. Under iOS15 the problem persists as well.

I assume, or hope, that the missing manifest thing does not have consequences to the content of files. I have not noticed something gone missing.

Just thought I’d share my experience with this, in case useful to anyone (even though I sync via Dropbox, not CloudKit).

Yesterday, I ran into these issues with one of the databases that’s in a particular encrypted Dropbox sync store. DTTG showed multiple .manifest missing errors for that database, and had not synced it and would not sync it (triangle alert symbol on cloud sync icon). This was my first indication of something wrong. Then I looked on Mac, and while all the data in the database appeared to be intact, the DT3 log showed something like “missing or broken sync data structure”, for that database.

After initial panic, I found this thread, which helped me a lot – particularly the suggestions from @rmschne about using the procedures in the Troubleshooting section of the DT manual, and from @cgrunenberg about cleaning the database. Following those steps eliminated the problems on both MacOS and iOS, and so far (one day), so good. So thanks to them and thanks to all on this thread, and thanks to the DT team for providing these forums!

Not suggesting that those steps will always help – AFAICT from this thread, those steps do not appear to have helped in other situations – and I suppose it could be entirely different for Dropbox vs. CloudKit syncing. Just sharing one data point where they helped without having to rebuild databases or reinstall software, in case that helps anyone else. I’m on iOS 14.8 and MacOS 11.6, FWIW.

1 Like