hi there, thanks for the help. Yeah no success at all with the global inbox issue, as mentioned I completely recreated the global inbox db so it is completely empty. I also checked the prefs and they are correct. so perhaps the only other option is as you suggested to uninstall and reinstall which ill try and report back.
A clean uninstall might be the best thing and just start over.
If you go to your home user library/app support you’ll see DEVONthink and the global inbox and your local inbox. You might check under the library first to see if there’s anything in that global inbox.
When you do a full re-install make sure that library/app support/devonthink stuff is gone. The re-install will put it all back in place. It won’t affect your databases in anyway other than you just need to reconfigure how you want them to open and stuff.
Kerry
I am soooooooo pissed off!!! I have tried so many times to reset and resync. I’ve followed the detailed instructions shared by a few members and all to no avail. I’ve uninstalled the app, deleted prefs, user settings, fresh installed, repair and rebuild database, and still when I try syncing from parent db, 7 hrs later I have a dialog saying ‘commiting remote resources’ and it just hangs there. A few times I’ve gone through this whole process and had things working smoothly in the past month, and then given my assistant her laptop back (she works remotely), only to find out a few weeks later that even though our dbs both say they’ve synced that we’re actually not working with the same copies, and lost thousands of dollars worth of data/docs as a result. and the worst of all is when each of us then does a verify and repair the stupid log doesn’t say anything good or bad of the verify, unlike say "disk utility’ on a mac when you ‘verify a disk’ you get a readout of whether its good or bad.
And so now we’re back to square one where I take her laptop back, spend all night trying to uninstall everything, reinstall, start fresh with the db copied to each machine’s respective local drive, then go to one machine and try syncing with dropbox and either it gets several hours in and then reports in the log there was some error with some random file, thus restarting the whole darn sync again, OR even if Ive weeded out any potential problem files, I restart the sync and then come home from work 8hrs later and its still trying to ‘commit remote resources’.
why is this so buggy and finicky for syncing??? is there no better option that ‘just works’ the way evernote, dropbox, icloud and almost any other decent software with syncing does?? I’m sooo tempted to give up on dtp (despite my $300 investment) and jump over to evernote. I love EVERYTHING else about dtp, but the syncing is destroying my business’ entire paperless office and risking huge liability with its dodgy attempt at syncing. Can anyone either rescue me with a real, fool-proof way to get syncing working flawlessly and consistently over time (and not entirely thrown off by a random stray file), OR suggest a better application all-together that has such a rigour???
your help please!
Hmmm. To say the least, this isn’t good when you’re losing critical data. The one thing that jumped out at me immediately is you’re using sync to work in a multi-user fashion. Possibly someone else can jump in with their thoughts here but I don’t really think sync was designed to make your system multi-user. The way Evernote does it is through what is referred to as shared notebooks an entirely different thing. So with Evernote, you use sync to keep “your” devices in sync. You use shared notebooks to collaborate.
In DEVONthink Pro Office sync is designed to keep your devices in sync. I’ve never done this though with DEVONthink as I use it solely but work in a collaborative environment. I’m sure it can be done but I’m not sure this would be the best approach. Sync is very delicate. If you sync and the person you’re collaborating with happens to sync at the same time there is going to be a conflict and I don’t know that the end result is always going to be pretty. I saw this in my own environment when I had both computers set to sync hourly. This did not work at all. They both sync’d at exactly the same time and the end result wasn’t good. So the answer was you have only one computer set to sync hourly. Secondly, I always was of the habit if I was going to change computers or not but just leave the one computer to sync in case I sat down at the other. If you don’t do this the end result isn’t pretty.
Let me think about the collaborative computing scenario you‘re doing or possibly you could search the info and I’ll think about this as I just don’t do that. However, I would use sync be it mobile (WIFI) or computer to computer for the sole purpose of keeping devices in sync. You’ll reduce any potential for damage as a result of sync dramatically as you will get damage.
There is a lot of good information on these forums on how to use DEVONthink. Hopefully, I shared some of my knowledge over the years that others have found useful. However, when it comes to sync issues that you are experiencing, I’d suggest that you go directly to the source. If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to open a support ticket. Might as well get your advice from the people that get paid to support sync on DEVONthink.
Good advice. Sync is not meant to provide multi-user or collaborative functionality. Since i don’t use DEVONthink Pro Office this way I’ve never thought about collaborative computing. I’ve got lots of experience though with sync and it is delicate so if you use it the wrong way you will end up with problems; conflicts, data loss etc.
I took a quick scan and collaborative or multi-user computing didn’t jump out at all. So…
If you’re having issues, please open a support ticket.
Yes, it is. Not in the sense of something like Etherpad that allows realtime collaboration, but yes, it is intended to allow users to share their databases with other users.
Oh OK. How does it deal with conflicts. I don’t understand that one.
I only use DEVONthink for sync and never for collaboration. I use an entirely different system for that.
It’s good you finally jumped in as you wrote the code.
I’ve had a bit more time to think about this. Yes, definitely let DEVON support figure the sync problem out for you. However, I just want to address using DEVONthink Pro Office as a collaborative system. I wouldn’t use it that way putting aside the sync issue which is problematic enough. You can’t say collaborate on a folder as an example. If I wanted a folder to collaborate on that would be fine. However, I don’t want someone to have access to my entire DB. I suppose you could create a DB solely for this purpose but I see issues around this approach too.
As an example, I have a collaborative calendar but only one calendar that my assistant has access to. That’s the way I want it. If I use Evernote, I can collaborate and do in one folder but not my entire DB. That I would not want. Also, if we are both working on the folder at the same time, we cannot do damage to each other as the system prevents us from making changes together that would overwrite each other’s work. This is exactly what you want.
I have never used DEVONthink for this purpose as I don’t see any kind of functionality to support this and if it’s there it’s not apparent to me. As another example, I cannot secure a folder in DEVONthink via at 128 AES encryption and preferably 256. Thus, if someone has access to my DB they have access to my DB - the entire thing - and I don’t like this. I actually like to be able to encrypt at the record level also.
So back to sync, let DEVONthink sort out what is going on here. If they say you can use this as a multi-user system, go for it. But I’d bear in mind what I’ve said. Try something. Set two computers to sync hourly in sync preferences. Leave them for a few hours but make changes during those hours to the DB. I’m curious to find out what happens to you. My experience has not been nice to put it nicely. The DB’s have ended up out of sync and records in one don’t match any longer records in the other. This function is built into the system at the system preference level and this is my result. I know how to recover from this but I will loose some data if I’ve made many changes. As part of this test, let’s say for arguments sake your DB also goes out of sync. How do you recover from this. Just curious.
Again, once DEVON has told you what to do and how to handle all this then I guess you’ll be good to go. If you don’t mind someone have access to your entire DB that’s fine. I certainly do so my assistant only has access to a folder in the DB I use for collaboration and only that one folder. He can’t see anything else.
Good luck and I’m looking forward to hear your results. But don’t feel obliged to do any of this. I’m just kind of curious.
Historically, I’ve avoided the forums because they’re inefficient. It’s better for someone like Jim to alert me to certain issues, refer people to support, etc.
I’m transitioning into spending more time “out here” as the nature of my work changes.
Sure. And I’m taking steps to solve this problem in Sync 2 (filtered synchronization); Sync 1, unfortunately, can’t hack it here.
If this causes any problems with direct connections, it’s a bug and should be reported. I don’t recommend telling two devices to sync with one another every hour on the hour because it doesn’t really make any sense – the synchronization is bidirectional.
As for other sync stores (WebDAV, Dropbox, etc), this has been extremely unlikely (it can’t be impossible due to the Two Generals’ Problem) for the past year and a half or so, since Sync 1 was in alpha. Setting two machines to sync hourly on the hour to the same location is going to fail frequently*, but it should never cause any data loss or any other unpredictable behavior. Sync 2 has more exacting requirements for servers, so it can guarantee safety (to the extent that Dropbox and WebDAV can guarantee it, anyway, since it uses their mechanisms).
* As of 2.6.2, hourly syncs can occur at different times.
All of this sounds very good a right on the money.
I’m very much looking forward to sync 2.
Also, being able to adjust sync so that they’re not sync’g at the same time will be a huge convenience factor for me as I use macros to get around this problem (e.g when the computer i.e. MacBook Air comes out of sleep sync). This is beneficial as it ensures that before I go to use it I’ve sync’d and thus avoids conflicts provided that I have sync’d the computer I’ve left.
What would be nice in sync 2 is sync that can be set more frequently to avoid this kind of mistake. It’s unlikely if I have the computer set at 5 minutes to sync there will be a sync conflict. As an example, in Evernote I sync every 5 minutes. I did have it set for 15 initially but that wasn’t enough. 5 works well. I have a very high speed network with unlimited bandwidth so this isn’t a problem.
The other thing that would be nice in sync 2 would be more transparency along the lines and this is just an example Evernote. Although if i look I can see sync run it runs fast and I really have to look for the sync dialogue.
However, everything you’ve said is welcome changes. Thanks as I will think this will benefit everyone.
Oh and on the hourly sync I did report that a long time ago and the results. I’m not sure how it got treated but I think I’ve been waiting for sync 2 it sounds like. Variable sync timing though should prevent this kind of conflict but it would be better enabled in the code to ensure that a conflict is not going to take place.
Anyway, all good stuff.
This shouldn’t be an issue at all; Sync 2 will sync continuously and simultaneously with all peers.
Sync status in Sync 2 should be indicated in the document list, info inspector, or something like that – basically, it’s either up-to-date or there’s an error, and you’ll be notified (in a way better than Sync 1) about what’s going on.
Absolutely wonderful! I can hardly wait for sync 2. I think this more than meets what I was hoping for.
While this is good stuff (all the hugging and high-fiving and all), lets make use of the new thread for further conversation on this: Sync 2 Discussion.
Thanks.
Well it’s about time you joined the party. You never are there when you should be and you always seem to step in when you shouldn’t. I don’t appreciate references to high five and huggins over a serious issue a person is having and I’m certainly well aware of what that person is/was going through. I think Nathan and I are more than capable of speaking for ourselves.
A reference, presented professionally, would always be appreciated. Little boy left out comments are not to me.
I agree with Jim. Multipage threads get clumsy for others to follow, and navigation gets messy.
Yes agreed. However, that’s missing the point and not what I’m taking issue with at all. I said a professional redirect to another thread is fine. “Kissy” this and “buggy” that is entirely what I’m taking issue with.
I wonder why the sudden appearance of DEVON folk to this thread in one day when this fellow has been basically crying for help for a while now. Take a look at who was there to try to help him. Then today, of all days, DEVON folk arrive on the scene. Interesting.
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This Forums are a place for relaxed conversation and friendly assistance. With the exception of foul language and personal attacks on others (and you are on the borderline with your comments about me, sir - veiled or not), the tone and content of posts are up to the individual.
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Lengthy posts are not an indicator of expertise on an issue. If someone can glean some information that’s fine, but your presentation about the state and quality of Sync is not supported by the experience of the vast majority of our Users (or we would be flooded with Tickets on the issue, and I assure you we are not. In fact, the response has been overwhelmingly positive). Your experiences are not the paradigm for the rest of our Users, they are your own - humbly present them as such.
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I am not sitting in a coffee shop drinking a caramel mocha latte with my finger on the refresh button for the forums, idly waiting for someone to say something. Our duties - Nate’s, Bill’s, Eric’s, etc - involve far more than interaction on the forums. There are many times when we only have time for a quick answer and others when we can respond at length, but there is no minimum word quota we are trying to hit. We are fortunate that some issues can be handled with the assistance of our faithful Users here (you know who you are
), for those times when a Support ticket isn’t required and our other duties take priority.
)This is my only response on this matter. I will not engage in a verbal tussle over what you deem “professional” or not. I do not go onto your blog and post comments about the professionalism of you and your work. I would expect the same courtesy from a “professional”.
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