Attachements in subfolders and sync

[somelinguist]

Hello. I have a library on Mac that has attachments in various subfolders, and Bookends on Mac is able to locate them. However, when I tried to sync the library via WiFi to Bookends for iOS, the subfolder path was not preserved.

From playing around, I see that on iOS,

1) I can create a default subfolder for a specific library, such that attachments will be added/synced there. There is also an option to move all attachments for that library to the subfolder. However, this doesn't seem to account for libraries that have multiple subfolders beneath the default.

2) I can rename individual attachments such that they get moved to a subfolder on iOS, but I'm not sure of the consequences for my folder structure on Mac.

Would it be possible to add options on iOS to be able to:

1) Respect subfolder structure when synced from Mac.
2) Specify a subfolder where to save an individual attachment when importing/adding items in the main app or via the Share Sheet instead of having to rename them afterward?

As a use case: my main library has attachments that are stored in subfolders that roughly correspond to static groups. This helps to keep them organized on my file system, especially when opening attachments through Finder/Files app with another app.

Thanks!

[DrJJWMac]

For your apparent needs, an alternative option with less administrative overhead may be for you to use Finder tags rather than sub-folders in the Attachments folder. When you move a reference file into a static group "cleaning" for example, tag the attachment for the reference with the Finder tag "cleaning". Finder tags are recognizable by most macOS apps, especially when you open a file. They also are carried over with a file when you sync the file with iPadOS.

[somelinguist]

Thanks for the recommendation. At this point, however, I already have hundreds of attachments sorted into subfolders, and this works with Bookends on Mac. I was just surprised to see that the subfolder organization wasn't preserved when syncing, at least over WiFi. Does iCloud sync support/maintain a subfolder structure on iOS/iPad?

I was also surprised that it seems the way attachments are referenced by records appears to vary between the iOS/iPad and Mac versions.

From what I understand, the Mac version doesn't actually store the subfolder path, it just looks for the file name in all of the subfolders of the default attachments folder. Is that correct?

However, on the iOS/iPad version, the subfolder path seem to be actually part of the name (it appears as part of the name, and manually typing a subfolder path when renaming the attachment appears to move it to a subfolder). Unlike the Mac version, the iOS/iPad version seems to only look for attachments based on its name (which includes the subfolder path, if any).

The discrepancy between the two apps is quite confusing.

So, regarding my original post, I still think it would be helpful if:

1) The iOS/iPad version also allowed setting/modifying the attachment path when importing or adding/modifying attachments with a helpful UI, as is possible on the Mac app as described on page 142 of the current Mac Bookends User Guide.

2) Syncing between Mac and iOS/iPad maintained the subfolder directory structure for attachments (for both WiFi and iCloud...again I haven't used the iCloud sync yet, so I am unsure if it does already).

Thanks!

[DrJJWMac]

Yes, the macOS version of Bookends flattens the entire Attachments folder. It is entirely unaware of sub-folder locations to distinguish files. Hence, you cannot have a working Bookends library contain both of these files at the same time ...Attachments/subfolder1/Test.pdf and ...Attachments/subfolder2/Test.pdf. In its flattened view, Bookends believes the two files are the same (even though the Finder behaves differently), and Bookends will rename one or the other with a suffix number.

I believe that iCloud sync preserves the sub-folder structure that you define for the Attachments folder.

[Serge]

Wi-Fi sync uses simpler approach of single folder for storing all files, just individual files are transferred.
For Bookends Cloud Sync the folder structure is synced automatically by iCloud Drive. There is still a limitation on adding files to subfolders on iOS, as Bookends will always put to the library root folder. So, you should organize newly added files on macOS later.

[somelinguist]

Thanks for the helpful info. I’ll go ahead and try iCloud sync, as it sounds much more like what I want.

For organizing attachments later on my Mac, will the iOS/iPad app just pick up the changes via iCloud sync if I just move the attachments to another subfolder under the library’s subfolder? This seems to be the case on Mac. Or will I have to do an additional step on iOS/iPad after I move the attachments on Mac?

[somelinguist]

Is there an easy way to tag attachments in Bookmarks for iOS from within the app? Adding a tag to the reference doesn't also add one to the attachment.

I'm trying to devise a workflow for automating moving the attachments on my Mac after they've been added via Bookmarks for iOS. My first thought was to use Finder tags to tell the automation which subfolder to move the attachment to. But if there's not a quick way to tag the attachments when I'm importing/adding in the iOS app, I'll have to look for another approach. I imagine I would forget or be to lazy if I needed to go to the Files app to find the attachment afterward.

[somelinguist]

I figured out how to add tags to the attachment from within Bookends for iOS.

1. Open the attachment in the app.
2. Tap the Share button in the app to open a custom "Share" sheet.
3. Tap the Share button in the custom "Share" sheet to open the actual system Share Sheet.
4. Use the Add Tags action in the system Share Sheet.

It's still a bit of a round-about process, but at least I don't have to leave the app. Any suggestions for a simpler process?

[Serge]

Yes, I just checked that after organizing attachments on your Mac Bookends for iOS will be able to correctly find them.

As for the file tags, as far as I know, there is no API to deal with them on iOS, so we can’t read them in code. But you still can set them the way you showed here.

[somelinguist]

Thanks for confirming. I think this should be sufficient for my purposes. As a feature request for some day in the future, I still think it would be great if there were an option to choose a subfolder from the import UI, similar to Mac, but I understand the file system differences might make that somewhat complicated.