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Automatic document synchronization? Dropbox integration? Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Goodreader and iThoughtsHD both more or less do this. And they are not ideal in how it works... but it works.

I understand that inelegant solutions are not the Omni way, but I can't use your tool for what I want to use it for (which maybe doesn't matter to anyone but me) unless something like this is integrated.

In the meantime can I pretty-please get a "DropBox" export target in OO/iPad so that I can send my edited documents back to Dropbox? that would solve some problems pretty immediately.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
If you're doing this at work, you've probably got fast, reliable connectivity for your iPad, right?

Now, if you are frequently without internet connectivity on your iPad, this is more of a challenge, but sitting at your desk at work, bathed in speedy WiFi, this is more a case of convincing yourself there's a problem.
The network at work is locked down so I can't do anything on it, and I have no access for the iPad via Wifi so I'm stuck using my iPad over 3G.

I'm playing around with DropDav now to see if that improves things, but it did mess a couple of existing outlines up when I opened them and subsequently saved them back. I suspect it may be related to the naming convention as the applescripts add a weird character as a prefix to the project name when creating the OO file.

I do have access to Dropbox on my work PC, so I think keeping notes using text files rather than OmniOutlines is probably going to be the best approach. I can then miss the iPad out of the loop and work between text files on my Mac and Work PC whilst are kept in sync via dropbox. I will never be at home AND at work so editing in two places will never be an issue. Using dropbox still enables me to be able to grab them on the iPad should I ever need a copy of one of them.

Last edited by Cypher; 2011-05-16 at 02:04 PM..
 
I really hope you can fix syncing and file management quickly. I want to use this product, but for now I have to stick with Notebooks.
 
I've emailed the Ninjas, but I feel that the lack of automatic data syncing is a major omission as your only other options are to manually export each document every time you edit it, or to connect to a computer regularly for a full ipad backup.

Both are unwieldy and (for example) if you're travelling for a week, you could lose a lot of data because you forgot (or were too busy) to export the data.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by korm View Post
Syncing is fine and maybe essential for OmniFocus, because it's transactional ... Synching for OO is less important, IMO.
I couldn't disagree more on Syncing and OO, it's not important for me so I can work on it on another platform (I only have the ipad app). it's important for me so that all changes are backed up away from the device in case something happens.
 
Ditto Dropbox!!! Beyond any financial concerns, dropbox has become integrated into my workflow across all apps - for myself and my other key collaborators within my business - most of whom run windows and therefore would have not interest in the omni synch server.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ptcinsf View Post
Ditto Dropbox!!! Beyond any financial concerns, dropbox has become integrated into my workflow across all apps - for myself and my other key collaborators within my business - most of whom run windows and therefore would have not interest in the omni synch server.
Omni Sync Service works just fine with Windows and Linux — it's a standard WebDAV file server.
 
I agree and disagree with Ken's original post, and have an additional question.

Firstly, Ken is right. At the end of the day, most of us ultimately want true sync. That is, keeping the files current on multiple devices automatically. No import/export/delete/connect repeat.

That being said, I would have to assume that getting a good sync system up and running is going to take considerably more development time than simply adding the ability to import from and export to DropBox.

And like others in this thread, DropBox has become integrated with an overall workflow across many of our apps because:
1. It works reliably and quickly
2. It is supported by most iOS apps (so it is almost ubiquitous)
3. Unlike MobileMe, it is free
4. Unlike MobileMe, it works reliably and quickly
5. Oddly enough a considerable amount of iOS apps don't support MobileMe. I am sure that is because it is not really used on the PC side of things, and issues 3 and 4 above

So while MobileMe and OO support is fine in an OO bubble, when we are storing and organizing all of our related Project documents used by several apps in folders on DropBox, cutting OO iPad out of that loop really creates additional pain (on top of the already painful import/export manual sync situation) in our daily workflows that involve using several apps.

So assuming that developing a reliable sync framework is going to take considerably more time than adding support to access DropBox storage, couldn't we get a fast band aide to help us users that depend on DropBox in larger workflow schemes?


And now the additional question: I can see how OmniFocus syncs because it is a database system. All of it's data is stored in known locations, and involves a controlled number of specific files.

But I have OmniOutliner documents scattered all over my computer in various locations and folders - organized with their related project folders of course, but they are all over the place. Very often that folder hierarchy/structure changes as I reorganize things.

How on earth is syncing of OmniOutliner going to work?

Last edited by joelande; 2011-05-19 at 04:00 PM.. Reason: Spelling
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by joelande View Post
3. Unlike MobileMe, it is free
...if you only have a few GB of data. I don't think you would really want to hitch your workflow to Dropbox if no one was paying in some fashion!
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
...if you only have a few GB of data. I don't think you would really want to hitch your workflow to Dropbox if no one was paying in some fashion!
Good point, you are absolutely right, and I agree.

And I upgraded and paid for DropBox for that very reason.

[although I also think that many people can get by on the free DropBox account, of which there is no equivalent for in MobileMe]


Now, here is the really interesting (and telling) thing:

I totally forgot, until I read your post... I pay for DropBox!
...which is because the service is just so dang great on so many levels...
it doesn't even register as something I paid for!
(that's saying something for the total effectiveness of the service)

On the other hand, I think of what MobileMe (which I also pay for) costs constantly...

Just goes to show you the differences in the services.

[Really, I don't get why Apple, who is so successful at so many things, and has total control over the OS, can't make iDisk — a paid service (and not cheap!) — work as good as, if not better than DropBox...it seems they do far more complicated things far more elegantly... But I have tried and tried and tried, and it just fails miserably in comparison]
 
 


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