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Why do I have zip files on my phone? Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Hi,
I'm a realatively new user to Omnifocus and iphone. My Omni settings on my iphone show:

44 projects
366 actions
stored in 533 zip files.

Why do I have zip files. To my knowledge, I do not have any attached files within my Omni software. Obviously there is some other purpose.

It takes me a couple of minutes to sync, and I was searching to find out why it takes so long.

My phone version is 1.5.2
My mac version is 1.6.1

Thanks,
Leila
 
The database saves transactions (additions or changes to your actions) as zip files to save space. When the database compacts, it turns a number of zip files into a single zip file. Having a large number of zip files (>100) is usually an indication of either a large number of recent changes, or a failure of the database to compact recently, which is why it is displayed. If you sync both your desktop and your iPhone, wait an hour, and sync both again, the zip file count should go down considerably. If it doesn't, go to the Preferences on the desktop application, click the Sync tab, and look at the Show Clients display. Make sure you don't have any duplicate clients listed. The compaction only takes place when all the clients have synced to a recent point in time, so if there's a "stale" entry that isn't getting updated (because you somehow got your iPhone listed twice, for example) the compaction won't take place and the zip file count will grow, and sync will get slower.
 
By the way, I would recommend updating both applications to the latest versions, which are distinct improvements over the prior versions, especially regarding sync performance!
 
I would say it is imperative that you update both your desktop and iPhone apps. The speed of synching relative to prior versions is dramatically faster.
 
You'll definitely want to update your devices. You can grab the most recent version of OmniFocus for iPhone from the Updates screen of the "App Store" app on the device.

You can grab the most recent version of the Mac app on our website.
 
You were right. I synced twice and the number of zips decreased by about 90%. Thanks so much for the explanation. I'm also going to take the advice on updating versions. I appreciate your help very much!

Leila
 
I have three Macs (OF 1.75) and an iphone and now an iPad running OF (latest version from app store for both).

All five (!) clients have synced today, and there are no stale sync targets that are no used (that is, my sync list really does have only five entries).

After several syncs today, with one or two inbox items added only, I still have 138 zip files and syncing is slow. The zip file count is slowing rising, even though all clients are recently synced and I waited more than the indicated hour to do a second sync.

All seemed to be well before I added the iPad. Does the system not deal well with two iPhone-based clients? Or is that a red herring?

Suggestions?
 
It's a red herring, I think. I'm seeing fine sync performance with 3 desktop clients, an iPod, and an iPad. Sometimes you won't get a compaction when you think you should because one of the devices silently adds a transaction or two and so they seem like they should all be synced, but may not be synced to exactly the same node in the graph. That means when you come along and sync again an hour+ later, they don't have a common node that they were synced to at least an hour ago, and you don't get any compaction, or less than you expected if they had a common one earlier. Sometimes you just need to wait a few minutes and do another sync on one of them.
 
Multiple iPhone OS devices shouldn't present a problem; the Mac and iPhone apps share vast majority of the sync code with each other.

I suspect what's behind the rise in zip files is that the five devices each have mostly-but-not-completely overlapping sets of change files. If each of the devices is locking down a slightly different set of change files, it could add up.

Also, keep in mind that the change file count includes things that OmniFocus does internally, like having actions go from remaining to available, or from due to overdue.

OmniFocus only compacts out of existence the change files that are more than an hour old and which we're sure all of your clients know about; when in doubt, we keep the change file around. (That prevents the "these databases are incompatible; pick which one to use" situation.)

Just checked my sync database from my iPad as I started this post - I had 178 change files. At this point, though, I've just ticked over the 6pm mark. Presumably my 4 devices had all synced, though, because I'm now down to 27.

So, what you're describing doesn't sound terribly abnormal - there will probably be the occasional slow sync now and again, especially if there's a lot of bouncing around between devices.

If you're consistently seeing slow syncs, though, or if the change file count never ever goes down, contact the support ninjas: we're always happy to gather/examine sync logs and investigate what's going on!
 
 


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