The Omni Group
These forums are now read-only. Please visit our new forums to participate in discussion. A new account will be required to post in the new forums. For more info on the switch, see this post. Thank you!

Go Back   The Omni Group Forums > OmniOutliner > OmniOutliner for iPad
FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

 
Using Omni Sync Server for WebDAV "Sync" Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
So let's see if I'm going to break everything with this method I read about elsewhere on the forums. On my Mac, I use Transmit to create a mountable disk using Omni Sync Server as a WebDAV server. Basically I created a folder called "OmniOutliner" on the root of my Omni Sync Server account. Then I mount that WebDAV as a disk (Finder will do this as well, I just find Transmit easier) which points to https://sync.omnigroup.com/username/OmniOutliner.

On my Mac, I toss OO3 and OPML files in there. On my iPad I connect to the same volume (using the "OmniOutliner" path I created so as not to confuse things) and import the files to OO iPad. Then Export to WebDAV and do basically the same thing on my Mac again.

What's great is that Omni has built in a Rename or Replace function. As long as you never change the name, you can work right off the WebDAV disk on your Mac, hit save (it will take a bit more time than usual to save) and then simply replace the outline with the same name in OO for iPad.

This seems like it will work swimmingly, but I've got to ask, am I about to break my OmniFocus Sync? Is this an abuse of OSS in some way I don't realize? If so, there are other free WebDAV options, but I love keeping my Omni gear together. Let us know. And phenomenal work on OO iPad!!! Worth the wait!
 
That should work just fine and will not interfere with OmniFocus.
 
Great!

So, uh, maybe all the Dropbox advocates should try that...
 
If it were just a matter of getting the file to a server somewhere then dropbox would be a non issue. The fact of the matter is though that dozens of productivity apps do support dropbox so that is a mechanism for transporting files from one place to another. Couple that with the fact that dropbox is also supported by a fantastic iPad/Phone app.
 
I'll give you that .oo3 files should have an "Open in..." capability in the DropBox app, and I'm guessing that will come in time. Not sure if that's up to Omni or Dropbox to change.

But what are you missing? We don't need to get into a whole thing here, but the reason for wanting Dropbox is that other apps do support it? I don't know of a single app on par with OmniOutliner for iPad (the sentence could end right there) that has Dropbox sync. The only ones that I can think of that do are either text editors or task managers, something OO isn't (though of course you could use it for either of those things).

This WebDAV solution is a bit hacky, sure, but it offers more control and less buginess than what would come from Dropbox Sync. I use DropBox sync-ing text editors all the time and I've run into sync problems with all of them. I would love to see an Omni Sync Server service a la OmniFocus that is seamless, but in the meantime I'm able to solve my workflow problem of editing here and there with WebDAV import/export.

For a long time I've used CarbonFin's Outliner app, which allows for a sync method to their webapp. From a web browser, one can download as Text, OPML, and a few other formats. It offers "sync", but you can't actually work on the outline in other software without downloading a file. The OO system on Day 1 is much much easier, even though CarbonFin can say they have "sync".

I know OO iPad will only get better with time. Today it's at top of the outlining class.
 
The Dropbox app doesn't support sending off file wrappers to app which is what OmniOutliner files are. We would have to change our file format to make that work and that is beyond the OmniOutline 3 / OO iPad compatibility scope right now.
 
Well, if you are taking notes that will eventually get turned into an outline and then a paper or article then the seamlessness of bringing an outline into a text editor is precisely what the doctor ordered.

That those text editors support dropbox, well, there is reason enough eh?

Just discovered dropdav so this whole db discussion has been mootenised for me. It works so far and I can now hopefully say goodbye to box.net.

Agreed that OO is top of the outlining class but that is kind of what we OO for mac users have already known and hoped for. I'm in the process of moving all my carbonfin outlines to iOO now.

Too bad about that cover flow though, it's already getting crowded and annoying. It's a case of 'cool' getting in the way of usability.

Last edited by HappyCatMachine; 2011-05-12 at 02:04 PM..
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DerekM View Post
The Dropbox app doesn't support sending off file wrappers to app which is what OmniOutliner files are. We would have to change our file format to make that work and that is beyond the OmniOutline 3 / OO iPad compatibility scope right now.
Just because I curious, how is sending a OO3 file from Dropbox to an app different than sending the same file from Mail.app to OmniOutilner iPad? That appears to work fine.
 
The Mail app understands what file wrappers are and zips/unzips in the background. The Dropbox app just treats it like a folder.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by poritsky View Post
Great!

So, uh, maybe all the Dropbox advocates should try that...
So I tried this approach and it works nicely so far. The thing is that with this approach I am not having a copy of the OO files on my local machine. Is there something really elegant I could do? My thought is having some kind of automatic script backup the file locally. If anyone has another thought, I'd love to hear it.

Daniel.
 
 


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Filenames w/chars like "ä" cause error exporting to O. Sync Server. [Bug; will fix.] devastat OmniOutliner for iPad 5 2011-05-12 11:03 AM
Omni Sync Server returned "forbidden" 403? [Resolved by resetting keychain] Philcollins1000 OmniFocus Syncing 4 2010-12-19 07:26 AM
"Untrusted Root Server" error on Bonjour sync santra Bonjour sync 18 2010-11-16 03:31 PM
Sync: server returned an error 403 "forbidden" fishwind OmniFocus for iPhone 6 2008-08-08 12:16 PM


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 08:36 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.