Changes to attachment files on Mac not syncing with BOT

[tsharvey]

My experience with BOT, so far, has been really positive. I have been looking forward to this release of this for some time and am happy to see a solid release (not that expected anything less!).

The biggest problem I've run into so far is that BE on the Mac does not appear to be aware of changes to attachment files and thus does not re-upload attachments to BOT that have been altered (e.g. highlighted in Preview) on the Mac.

Further explanation:
Syncing of selected groups from my database went perfect. I am able to open attachments in BOT and send them to an annotation app, mark it up in iAnnotate (my preferred app for this), send it back to BOT (replacing the previous attachment), and then sync with my Mac resulting in an updated attachment in BE that contains my highlights from the iPad.

If I then open this PDF in Preview on my Mac, add more annotations, save the file, and then re-sync BE with BOT, BE does not re-upload the file to BOT and I am thus unable to keep my attachments in sync.

Am I doing something wrong here, or is this expected behavior?

Thanks!

[Jon]

This is expected. Bookends does not check the modification date of attachments to compare them to what is on your device, it just checks to see if attachments have been added or removed from the database. Checking each modification date, especially for those with 1000s of attachments (and yes, that's not uncommon) means iterating through all the files and querying the Finder, which takes a lot of time. We're aware of the issue, however, and are thinking of ways to deal with it.

For now, the workaround is to change the attachment name with the Rename option (which is a pain, I know, I just mention that it is a possibility).

Jon
Sonny Software

[tsharvey]

Thanks, Jon (and thanks for the quick reply). I'm glad to know that there is a work-around. Obviously not ideal, but it's helpful to know how to deal with this while you are working on a solution.

If I may, I'd like to follow up with another sync-oriented issue:
I find the syncing to be more painful than (I imagine is) necessary. I typically initiate a sync on the iPad as I am walking out the door. If my Mac is in another room/on another floor from where I am with my iPad, I have to track down the Mac to confirm the sync with BOT. It would greatly simplify the process for the user if the sync options in the dialog could be part of the application preferences so that BOT could both initiate and complete the sync with BE.

[Jon]

They can't be in Bookends preferences because (1) groups are library-specific, not global, and (2) you may want different settings for different libraries. It's possible we could have library-specific settings. Another possibility is that BOT could show a similar dialog and the sync could be initiated with either BOT or Bookends. We'll think about this.

Jon
Sonny Software

[tsharvey]

Ah. Good point about the preferences. I think library-specific settings would be desirable, allowing for the level of control already offered, while providing a quicker sync process.

Thanks for listening!

[dialectician]

Is there any news on how to handle the attachment syncing? There must be a better solution than renaming the attachment.

[Jon]

You mean pdfs marked up on the Mac? Bookends doesn't know they've been altered (e.g. in Preview). I can imagine having some flag the user can set telling Bookends so sync any particular pdf (marking it for sync). But that will require that the user notify Bookends that an edit has been performed.

Jon
Sonny Software

[dialectician]

Yes, some kind of a flag system might work, although the ideal scenario would be for BOT to go through the attachment folder to compare the date when a pdf was last modified.

The annotations from the iPad are easy to sync for users whose BE attachment folder is synced through Dropbox. Whenever I'm done annotating a pdf on the iPad, I export it to the BE Attachment folder on Dropbox, which means that next time I open it on the Mac, I have the annotated version.

The problem is syncing the annotated pdfs from the Mac to the iPad, because BOT doesn't go through the attachment folder to look for changes.

[Jon]

Yes, Bookends could poll each attachment for last mod date. I'm concerned that this could be a lengthy process for people with thousands of attachments (and we have many users like this). But I have an idea that might make the speed acceptable. I can experiment and see.

Jon
Sonny Software

[dialectician]

That would be wonderful.

Two thoughts:

1. Is there any way that Bookends could do the polling in the background, so that when BOT syncs, the list of changed files is already there?

2. If that's not possible, could the feature be implemented as an opt in / opt out feature? Something that users could select in the settings of BOT?

Thanks.

[Jon]

The answer is that both might be possible. But I might have a better approach...

Jon
Sonny Software

[dialectician]

Hi Jon,
Any update on this feature request?
Thanks.

[Jon]

No, nothing yet. But we haven't forgotten.

Jon
Sonny Software