Confused about iCloud sync

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tharpold
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Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 1:54 pm

Confused about iCloud sync

Post by tharpold »

The new iCloud sync feature of Bookends 12.7 is intriguing. I've never had trouble using Dropbox to sync my home and office BE databases, but I trust that Jon has gone this route for good reasons.

But I'm confused about how iCloud sync will operate in my current workflow. I maintain a folder of ongoing research projects on both my home and office Macs, using Dropbox, something like:

/Users/tharpold/Dropbox/projects/

Until now, I've kept my BE database in a subfolder within that folder:

/Users/tharpold/Dropbox/rabbit/bookshelf/bibliographies/th library.bdb

The copies of BE running on both computers points to that file. This setup, as I've noted, has worked very well up until now, and makes sense in my workflow – viz., it keeps all of my research materials, including my BE database, organized and up to date on both computers.

If I now set BE to sync via iCloud, but the app on both machines points to, effectively, the same local file, which is also synced via Dropbox (along with all my other research notes, etc.), can this result in some kind of conflict between the iCloud and Dropbox versions? If I have to move the BE database out of my Dropbox folder to support correct iCloud syncing, I could do that, but that seems like a logical step backward in my workflow, especially given that BE can't sync BE attachments via iCloud. I still have to maintain a separate sync setup to keep those up to date.
Jon
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Re: Confused about iCloud sync

Post by Jon »

DO NOT USE DROPBOX AND CLOUD SYNC FOR YOUR BOOKENDS LIBRARY AT THE SAME TIME. You can continue to use Dropbox sync of your library if you're happy with it. There are good reasons to use cloud sync, but if you don't want to mess with a solution that works for you, don't change it.

Jon
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tharpold
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Re: Confused about iCloud sync

Post by tharpold »

I wonder if perhaps this advice – don't use both Dropbox and iCloud – could be more clearly stated in the user guide? Many of us have been using DropBox for awhile to sync libraries. It's good that we can, apparently, continue to use that method. But the current BE documentation suggests – at least to me it did – that we have to move to iCloud. I don't think that the workflow I described above can be unusual.

TH
tharpold
Posts: 69
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Re: Confused about iCloud sync

Post by tharpold »

Just to repair a small glitch my original post.The example file paths I listed should have been:

/Users/tharpold/Dropbox/projects/

/Users/tharpold/Dropbox/projects/bookshelf/bibliographies/th library.bdb
Jon
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Re: Confused about iCloud sync

Post by Jon »

Well, there is no end to listing of things you should not do. But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to put that in the user guide.

Jon
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nicka
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Re: Confused about iCloud sync

Post by nicka »

If using both is going to do harm, wouldn't it be a good idea to pop up a warning if the path to the database includes 'Dropbox' and they try to turn on iCloud sync?
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Re: Confused about iCloud sync

Post by Jon »

It is unlikely to do any harm, it is just not going to do any good. File-based sync is inferior to cloud sync. My point to the OP was that if he felt uncomfortable changing his tried-and-true Dropbox sync he didn't have to. It wouldn't stop working for him. Just don't mix it with the new cloud sync (or, for that matter, the old Bookends sync mechanism, which I've said in may posts on this forum).

Jon
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hposen
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Re: Confused about iCloud sync

Post by hposen »

Is Bookends-on-Tap be updated to us iCloud sync as well?
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Re: Confused about iCloud sync

Post by Jon »

That's under development.

Jon
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