[santra]

I mean SEAMLESS sync—like OmniFocus.

It takes forever. This should be happening in the background. Do you really think I have 5 minutes—each direction—to sync changes across.

I live in NYC. We say things to each other, at home and at work, like, "OK, I'll be ready in 23 seconds." And we are not joking.

At my job, users says to me thinks like "You have 5 seconds to solve this, or I'm calling the Director of your department.

Welcome to my world.

So...

Do you know how many FREAKIN' steps it takes to keep an Outline on the Mac and the iPad in sync? Something live FIVE STEPS (or more) EACH DIRECTION.

Please. I do not have time for this.

[lamp]

+1

This is the main reason I gave up OO iPad and use iThoughtHD (granted it is a mind mapping program) with seamless sync. The steps of creating outline on iPad local, and click Edit and click Export, and go to iDisk folders, and export. And then import back to Desktop is productivity killer.

[whpalmer4]

Here's a heretical notion: don't bother with shuffling your documents back and forth all the time. Work on the documents you need to be portable on your iPad, even at your desk. When you need to move the document, move it, and put it back on the iPad when done. Document sync isn't going to magically appear in OO3 next week, and OO4 isn't going to magically appear soon either. Wasn't portability the reason you got the iPad?

By all means, file those feature requests but make it easier on yourself while you wait.

[wolfneuralnet]

At least let us open files from Dropbox and save them back to it -- I cannot believe this is still an issue after this program has been out for so long.

Is there some summary somewhere of why Omni refuses to include Dropbox support for Outliner? At this point all I can remember is there is some problem with iCloud, there is some problem with Dropbox, and Omni may or may not create their own syncing solution.

I am finding OO iPad useless since I can't access my docs on it without 10 steps...

[Brian]

The first post in this thread - which I'll move these posts to next - has the requested information.

To reiterate: we're working on the kind of sync being requested here, using iCloud. Have been doing so for months, actually. In some cases, that work means filing bugs against iCloud. Once that happens, our ability to make further progress means waiting for Apple to resolve those bugs.

It remains important to note that Apple's own document-based apps don't yet take advantage of iCloud in the way folks are asking for. iCloud currently is great at moving your photos or media files to devices where they don't exist yet.

That's pretty great all by itself, but merging concurrent edits from multiple devices into a document file is another beast entirely.

When Apple introduces iCloud support into their iWork apps on the Mac side, it'll be an important signal that it's ready to do a different class of work that supports what folks are asking for here. They are progressing towards that goal, and once they work out the remaining blocking issues, we'll integrate it into our own apps.

[wolfneuralnet]

Originally Posted by Brian

The first post in this thread - which I'll move these posts to next - has the requested information.

To reiterate: we're working on the kind of sync being requested here, using iCloud. Have been doing so for months, actually. In some cases, that work means filing bugs against iCloud. Once that happens, our ability to make further progress means waiting for Apple to resolve those bugs.

I love your company, and the apps you make, but on this issue we are simply talking past each other. Ken's post from 10 months ago makes it clear that although many people want to be able to open documents from Dropbox, he thinks the customers are only interested in "true sync". You go on to explain in great detail why its Apple's fault that iCloud failed to live up to expectations, and until it does, we won't have syncing.

I get that syncing is hard, but just because SJ couldn't convince Dropbox to sell to him means that I can't open my Dropbox docs without many workarounds in your app. As a company, you can give me what I "need" now (a way to open these files and save to back to Dropbox), and what we all "want" later - true syncing.

You simply aren't hearing what I and others have been saying for ten months, which is we would greatly appreciate not having to pay DropDav $5 a month just to use our iPad OO with our Dropbox files while we wait for Apple to figure sync out. There are people in this discussion on your boards who have abandoned the app completely for these reasons.

A summary ;)

Us: Love the new iPad OO - can we get Dropbox availability?
Omni: No - cause you really want true syncing, and we don't like Dropbox!
Us: Umm - OK - I can wait a few more months to see about iCloud, but not sure how that solves my Dropbox problem.

iCloud Announced Months later

Omni: So - iCloud doesn't work the way we thought it would
Us: So can we have an Open/Save for Dropbox now?
Omni: No - we are working on our own sync solution now
Us: Stop changing the subject!

Thanks for listening -- I have never seen Omni so obstinate about something their customers have asked for. I presume there is a reason that we, your customers, just wouldn't understand.

[Simon.]

+1,000,000 what that guy just said.

I don't care about auto sync within iPad OO at all. I just want to open a current version OO document, that is synced via dropbox running on the multiple work computers i use, then edit it on the iPad. I don't know when I need to do that, so I don't want to upload to a WebDAV ever single time I get called into a meeting, or go to lunch. I would be happy to be able to use the dropbox app to download it to the ipad, and ecstatic to use GoodReader to sync it, hell I'd even be happy to have to then email that outline to myself in GR to open it on the ipad (I can't lose all the formatting (bold & italics) in all these cases - so opml is out). If I could do any of these, I wouldn't even much care if I did need to complete a magic dance workaround to get the modified file back into Dropbox, really!

I'm so tired of this being an issue that I'm about to give up on the app completely, as I'm not changing my entire workflow just for oo documents, however much I like them, as they aren't the core files I use for work. Sorry. Also ditto the love of your other apps, always been a fan.

Originally Posted by wolfneuralnet

I love your company, and the apps you make, but on this issue we are simply talking past each other. Ken's post from 10 months ago makes it clear that although many people want to be able to open documents from Dropbox, he thinks the customers are only interested in "true sync". You go on to explain in great detail why its Apple's fault that iCloud failed to live up to expectations, and until it does, we won't have syncing.

I get that syncing is hard, but just because SJ couldn't convince Dropbox to sell to him means that I can't open my Dropbox docs without many workarounds in your app. As a company, you can give me what I "need" now (a way to open these files and save to back to Dropbox), and what we all "want" later - true syncing.

You simply aren't hearing what I and others have been saying for ten months, which is we would greatly appreciate not having to pay DropDav $5 a month just to use our iPad OO with our Dropbox files while we wait for Apple to figure sync out. There are people in this discussion on your boards who have abandoned the app completely for these reasons.

A summary ;)

Us: Love the new iPad OO - can we get Dropbox availability?
Omni: No - cause you really want true syncing, and we don't like Dropbox!
Us: Umm - OK - I can wait a few more months to see about iCloud, but not sure how that solves my Dropbox problem.

iCloud Announced Months later

Omni: So - iCloud doesn't work the way we thought it would
Us: So can we have an Open/Save for Dropbox now?
Omni: No - we are working on our own sync solution now
Us: Stop changing the subject!

Thanks for listening -- I have never seen Omni so obstinate about something their customers have asked for. I presume there is a reason that we, your customers, just wouldn't understand.

[psidnell]

Well, *IF* you don't mind storing your desktop OO docs as OPML in DropBox, it may interest you to know that CarbonFin Outliner got an update today with DropBox support.

[CrisB]

From a new user's perspective, I'm quite shocked at how clumsy the workflow is between the mac and iPad versions. An indicator of how far behind the norm the Omni group is here, I hadn't even thought to check before buying whether there was an automatic, over-the-air means to use the same documents on both platforms, because every app I use regularly just has this (and has had for some time).

I'd love a robust 'real' sync option, but, failing that, the ability to round-trip between OO and dropbox seems just obvious. Sure, it would be a temporary expedient, but what's wrong with that, pending a perfect iCloud and/or OO sync server solution is feasible?

I regret buying the iPad version now, as it's practically useless to me without easily being able to get to docs created on my macbook (and, no, emailing to myself or remembering to copy to webdav, or, worse still, working directly in a mounted webdav folder are not serious options).

This appears to nail the general attitude:

Originally Posted by wolfneuralnet

Us: Love the new iPad OO - can we get Dropbox availability?
Omni: No - cause you really want true syncing, and we don't like Dropbox!.

Given the Omni group's reputation, I had expected better.

[whpalmer4]

If you are within 30 days of purchase, you can contact Omni support for a full refund. Yes, even for App Store purchases. I don't think you'll find many others who put their money where their mouth is...