attachement link lost / attachement not found

[dr.cox]

Dear Forum,

I have repeatedly found that some attachements are considered lost even though they still live in the attachement folder and have not changed. I.e. the paperclip icon is displayed but bookends claims it can't find the attachement that clearly is still where it always was. It is a royal pain. when re-attaching manually, then bookends displays two paper-clips and chooses the "empty" one as the one it chooses to display in the library window.

1) why does this happen?
2) how can I automatically re-attache the refs without having the duplicate paper-clip issues?

cheers for the input, this drives me batty and after putting up with it for a while, I think it needs to stop. so either I need to be educated or summit needs fixing.Please help me to figure out which and how.

stay safe,

j.

[Jon]

If they are in the default attachment folder AND the name is identical to that in the library, Bookends will always find them. Posting on the forum won't help you.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2038

You should contact tech support with screen snaps showing the default folder settings, the PDF in the Finder (with full path) and the messing Bookends displays showing the full file name.

Jon
Sonny Software

[ctg7w6]

It must have been with the latest version 13.5 because this happened to me as well.

I have found, however, that is is only happening on files that have a strange character in the name.

Examples:

George Lukács
Rolf Dieter-Müller

This has never happened before. These attachments were attached and worked just fine. I updated to 13.5 and almost any file name with a special character like that makes it happen. Note, it is not special characters like "&", those all still work fine.

But umlauts for sure are broken -- I would known, a GREAT many files of mine have umlauts.

The other issue is that when I did reattach them, THEY DO NOT STAY REATTACHED WHEN I CLOSE OUT AND RE-OPEN BOOKENDS.

I was initially annoyed that I would have to go and reattach each one, so I did a few, came back later and found that they had de-tached again.

And, once again, the filenames are exactly correct, Bookends is not seeing it and it is NOT A FAULT OF PREFERENCES. Literally changed nothing from the previous version to 13.5 and it just broke them. I know for sure, I use the program everyday.

EDIT
------
In case I didn't say it above, it is only when the characters are in the FILE NAME, not the reference itself. The only time it breaks it is when the file name has the "strange" character (like an umlaut).

[Jon]

I'll see if I can reproduce it.

No. I attach a PDF with an accented character on the Desktop and it is shown and sticks between app launches. Please try that.

Jon
Sonny Software

[ctg7w6]

You are right.... If you do it this way, it will stay attached (though now there are two attachments for that reference, both with the same "file name" for the attachment, only one works though). My files are located in iCloud, so for this to work I have to temporarily copy the file from iCloud to my desktop then drag and drop to the reference.

For the "other" filename (which is, of course, exactly the same--same file and same file name), it still says it can't find the attachment.

It still does not work to "re-attach" from within Bookends, that goes away quickly.

So, this is a kind of work around. I am hoping there is some way for Bookends to simply see the files. I have a lot of files with umlauts, so even this workaround will take a long time.

Also, I don't know how to remove the "second" file, so these references will always have an "attachment" that doesn't work.

If it helps any, this only happened to references that have an umlaut (or other special character) in the filename itself.

And I can find all the ones that it happened to through a search for orphaned attachments.

[Jon]

You can delete the unwanted attachment in several ways, the easiest is perhaps the attachment inspector (select the PDF and press Delete).

Are you using the iCloud iOS attachment folder? Or a folder you created yourself? And have you set the default attachment folder to it in preferences?

You should also contact tech support with screen snaps showing all of these things.

Jon
Sonny Software

[ctg7w6]

Yeah I'm just using the regular iCloud folder for syncing, all my attachments are in that folder. Its the default, all the settings have worked.

I only use the software for storage basically. Everything was fine on the previous version, then I upgraded to 13.5 and it un-attached my files with umlauts and other characters in their names.

It is not part of the settings that is the problem unless these were changed in 13.5. I use the software every single day. I've done this for about two years straight. I haven't touched the settings in like two years.

This is a problem 13.5 introduced. Is the previous version located somewhere and I can just install it and overwrite this one? See if taking it back will work?

[Jon]

I've put a PDF with an accented character in iCloud Drive (the iOS sync folder) and still can't reproduce a problem. The PDF is displayed as usual.

Yes, downgrade to 13.4.8 and see if this issue goes away.

https://www.sonnysoftware.com/updates/u ... story.html

Jon
Sonny Software

[ctg7w6]

Ok, I downgraded to 13.4.8 (or whatever is the one right before 13.5).

Everything works again, all attachments work! So it is definitely something that happened with 13.5

[Jon]

Are these references in your default attachment folder? And if so, where is that folder (the HD? iCloud? Dropbox?)

Jon
Sonny Software

[ctg7w6]

These attachments are in my default iCloud folder. I didn't change anything from standard functioning, I just set it up to iCloud sync. So it is in the Bookends iCloud attachment folder. It is located on iCloud Drive when I go to my finder: iCloud Drive > Bookends and there are all my PDFs.

All standard settings, didn't change anything.

I upgraded to 13.5, it broke filenames with special characters. Downgraded to 13.8.4 and everything worked perfectly again. Didn't change anything in between.

[Jon]

Since I can't reproduce this, I'm trying to get an idea of common themes. Is this the iOS iCloud folder? Or one you created yourself. And if you were to set the default folder to something on your HD, would the PDF be found there?

Jon
Sonny Software

[ctg7w6]

This iCloud folder was created by Bookends on my Mac (like 2 years ago). After that, I downloaded the iOS app and connect to it with my iPad.

I did not create any folders myself, just used the default that I was supposed to so that I could set up iCloud syncing (because my intention was always to use my Mac and my iPad together).

I can access the iCloud folder directly from my Mac. So when 13.5 tells me the attachment does not exist, I can go to iCloud Drive > Bookends and then find it -- because it really IS there.

The interesting thing is, when I attached the file again as you said before (by dragging from the desktop), it stayed attached as a "second" file attached to that ref. But the "first" still said the file could not be found. That is in spite of the fact that the "new" file was named the same as the old one.

Please let me know if I'm answering your questions correctly and I am happy to answer everything to the best of my knowledge/ability.... I certainly want this to work for me haha

[Jon]

Thanks. I'm getting the idea that this is somehow releated to iCloud Drive. FWIW, nothing I know of changed in our code between 13.4.8 that would affect finding PDFs, no changes in handling Unicode I'm aware of. This is very puzzling, and frustrating since I can't reproduce it here.


Jon
Sonny Software

[ctg7w6]

This isn't the most helpful thing, but I just reinstalled 13.5 --- and it broke the attachments again. I reinstalled 13.4.8 and everything works properly.

Naturally, I did not change any settings or do anything -- just installed different versions.

Interesting thing.... The files that I had re-attached from dragging from my desktop into 13.5 before I ever reinstalled 13.4.8 the first time.... those worked now in 13.5 --- it did not break them. BUT THE ORIGINAL ONES broke. Go back to 13.4.8 and both files work just fine (and again, I reiterate, the files are the same. They are literally the same file and have the same exact name in the iCloud directory).

So it seems to me that if you attach the reference for the very first time in 13.5 it will work properly from then on out. If you had attached it in 13.4.8 or below, it breaks it.

I hope this helps.