Omnifocus with 550 zip Files [Archive]

hermann

2010-08-01, 02:05 AM

Hi

I'm syncing between Mac, iPhone and iPad. That's a great feature, it works fine.

My Omnifocus File has more then 550 Zip-Files inside. I can't say since when this occurs (so many zip), but for a while Omnifocus has removed or compressed it from time to time by it self.

Any tips to resolve this; maybe the starting up process on iPad would be a little be faster.

Greatings
Hermann

howiem

2010-08-01, 04:34 AM

You may have the same problem I had - because I tried using the iPhone version on my iPad, the iPad now counts as two separate clients. If any single client hasn't been synced recently, the number of Zip files explodes.

If you go to your Mac version, go to Preferences > Sync > Show Clients, you should be able to see if the iPhone version on your iPad is registered. If so, remove it, sync all your devices, and all should be fine again.

atreinke

2010-08-01, 04:40 AM

I have 834 zip files on mine. I went on my Mac last night, removed the old iPhone client, made sure my Mac, iPad, and existing iPhone clients were all active correctly and recently sync'ed on the Mac and then did a sync of my Mac client. I then waited the required hour (+10m to be sure) and did a re-sync of the Mac to compact the database. Then did a sync of the other two and the zip file count did not go down. I repeated the process twice but still the same outcome. Decided to try it again today......

Ok - here are my pre sync stats on my iPad: 68 projects, 454 actions, 825 zip files.

Now I will start the process.

hermann

2010-08-01, 05:10 AM

--> howiem
Thanks for your explanation. When I arrive at home, I will try this way.

Greetings, Hermann

howiem

2010-08-01, 05:17 AM

... 454 actions, 825 zip files.

...

I always find it a bit freaky that you can have waaaaay more zip files than you have actions, but then I suppose it's all kinda transaction-based.

I don't know how practical it would be from Omni's side, but when I'm done reviewing on the Mac, it'd be great to be able to say "Right, this version of my database here is now the up to date one", so OF could just upload that to the server and discard everything else.

Don't know how well it would cope if you failed to sync one of your devices before making loads of changes, though.

It'd be nice to be able to reduce your whole database to 1 zip file though :)

hermann

2010-08-01, 05:28 AM

I always find it a bit freaky that you can have waaaaay more zip files than you have actions, but then I suppose it's all kinda transaction-based.

I don't know how practical it would be from Omni's side, but when I'm done reviewing on the Mac, it'd be great to be able to say "Right, this version of my database here is now the up to date one", so OF could just upload that to the server and discard everything else.

Don't know how well it would cope if you failed to sync one of your devices before making loads of changes, though.

It'd be nice to be able to reduce your whole database to 1 zip file though :)
--> howiem

Your way was exactly the solution. Thanks a lot.

atreinke

2010-08-01, 06:08 AM

curt.clifton

2010-08-01, 08:11 AM

Ok, 64 minutes has gone by, I did a re-sync of the desktop OF on my Mac, then did a sync of my iPad and there was no change. I must be doing something wrong.

On the desktop, under sync preferences, show the client list. How many clients do you have? According to the list, how recently were they all synced?

whpalmer4

2010-08-01, 08:18 AM

I always find it a bit freaky that you can have waaaaay more zip files than you have actions, but then I suppose it's all kinda transaction-based.
1 change, 1 zip file, for the most part. If you change multiple things simultaneously (select a bunch of items, bring up the inspector, change a date, for example), then all the transactions from that change will go in the same zip file. Changes include things that you do, like marking something complete or editing the name, and also things that OmniFocus does, like transitioning an action from pending to available, or available to overdue.

atreinke

2010-08-01, 09:05 AM

On the desktop, under sync preferences, show the client list. How many clients do you have? According to the list, how recently were they all synced?

I checked this yesterday to make sure, but did it again before I tried this last time this morning. I have 3 clients - Mac, iPhone and iPad. I did a sync of all three with the Mac being the last once to sync. Then waited a little over an hour and did a sync with the Mac again, then the iPad. No change.

I went through the entire process again (after checking the sync clients again to be sure) at 10:15 - 10:20 this morning. Then I left all 3 devices alone in sleep mode until 12:50 pm. I then did a sync with the Mac, and then with the iPad - still no change, 824 zip files. Ok, to be honest the zip file count did go down by 1 from 825....

curt.clifton

2010-08-01, 09:55 AM

That's really strange. I'd suggest sending an email to the support ninjas. They'll be able to figure out what's going on.

atreinke

2010-08-01, 10:00 AM

That's really strange. I'd suggest sending an email to the support ninjas. They'll be able to figure out what's going on.

Thanks Curt, I will do that. I figure that it has to be something I'm doing wrong, at least it usually is. I'm running the latest sneaky peek but I don't think that would make a difference.

Ken Case

2010-08-01, 06:20 PM

Here's a simple way to get back down to one zip file transaction (with no waiting):

Sync all your devices.
On your Mac, open Sync Preferences, then remove every device (including the Mac itself) from the Clients list.
Sync all your devices again.

All your devices should now be in sync with just a single zip file. Hope that helps!

atreinke

2010-08-01, 06:44 PM

Thanks Ken, that worked perfect.

Lightstorm

2010-08-04, 05:36 AM

Thanks Ken, that worked perfect.

atreinke,
I did this very same thing; everything went down to 1.

Now today it's back up to 524. What about you?

I think we've all noticed the iPad version is a little...sluggish (I have a large db of near 5000 actions), but the iPhone version is very zippy--I'm sure code optimaization will help this.

What does having a large amount of zip files affect?

atreinke

2010-08-04, 05:46 AM

atreinke,
I did this very same thing; everything went down to 1.

Now today it's back up to 524. What about you?

I think we've all noticed the iPad version is a little...sluggish (I have a large db of near 5000 actions), but the iPhone version is very zippy--I'm sure code optimaization will help this.

What does having a large amount of zip files affect?

Mine went down to zero as soon as I did what Ken suggested. Now I am up to 30, which is not bad. I believe the more zip files, the longer it takes to sync, but I am not an expert on that, I could be wrong.

jjlucsy

2010-08-04, 05:58 AM

Sync all your devices.
On your Mac, open Sync Preferences, then remove every device (including the Mac itself) from the Clients list.
Sync all your devices again.

What do you do if you don't have a Mac?

Brian

2010-08-06, 02:29 PM

What do you do if you don't have a Mac?

Sync all of your devices. This is very important; if you don't do this, you may lose data!

On one of your devices, open OmniFocus' sync settings.
Set the sync type to "None".
Press the "Compact Database" button that will now be available.

Once the compaction completes, re-enable sync on the device. Sync it.

Sync your other devices. If they ask you which database you want to use, choose "Sync". You are replacing the data on the device with the compacted database you sent up to your server.

BwanaZulia

2010-08-12, 02:37 AM

Ok, just looked at my iPhone and I had 1,200+ zip files.

Did this and am now down to 45.

Is there a good explanation of this somewhere?

BZ