Sonny Software

I upgraded to 12.8.1 on one machine, and converted the library. Library synced to iCould.
I then upgraded BE on my second machine, and, as expected, I am asked to convert the library (since the cloud sync does not happen before the library is open).
What is the best strategy? Remove the library from the second machine and then upload de novo from the cloud? Convert the library on the second machine? Is there a more elegant approach?
Thanks.

Your local libraries have to be converted to the new schema. It doesn't matter how you do it, on the HD or creating a new library by downloading from the cloud. Since Bookends handles the first scenario for you without user intervention I don't see what you think a more elegant solution would look like.

Jon
Sonny Software

I might be missing something, but it seems that the current process requires "managing" the library twice, one on each machine. If the library is in the cloud, and was converted, it would be more "elegant" if BE on the second machine would take advantage of the fact that there already exists (in the cloud) a converted library, and read it directly. Perhaps, in cases like this—where a BE upgrade requires library conversion—BE would ask the user if they want to upload the converted library instead of opening the local copy.

There is no Bookends library in the cloud in the sense that you mean. The metadata are in the cloud, but the libraries (meaning SQL-compliant databases with a complex internal structure) are local, on the HD. It is local database that must be upgraded to the new database schema -- nothing changes in the cloud. In fact, "the cloud" doesn't even know what version of Bookends it is working with. It is simply a repository for the atomized data.

Jon
Sonny Software

Got it. Thanks for the explanation.