[m00min]

I've been using OmniFocus for about five days. I'd put in all my lists, both home and work stuff. Imagine my surprise yesterday when I went to add something else to my list and the whole lot was gone. In its place was the default set of data from the initial installation. Looking through my other apps this isn't limited to OmniFocus, the Zenbe lists data was also gone, though at least there I could sync it back from the web.

The trust is now gone in this app for me, all I did between uses of OmniFocus was listen to some music, I didn't install anything, connect to the internet or anything else. I deleted the app and reinstalled it hoping to bring the data back but nothing, just the startup screen.

The whole point of this type of software is that you don't have to worry about trying to keep everything in your head, not possible with the inability to back up--sorry but having to pay for mobile me isn't good enough. I was in the process of setting up my own webdav, I wish I'd worked on it sooner.

I don't know what happened or what I did to cause my data loss. If I put everything back in (if I can remember it all) there's no guarantee it won't happen again. The App store really should have a demo function because paying £12 for the 'privilege' of trialing OmniFocus is a rip off.:mad:

[SohoNYC]

I brought this issue up last week, and also sent a support email to the Ninjas, and surprisingly did not get a reply, even after a few days. If it happens again, I will lose all faith in the application. It also appears some people lost their data when doing the 1.0.1 upgrade.

[Ken Case]

I'm not sure what could have caused this data loss; the only time OmniFocus removes its database is if you click on the Reset Database button at the bottom of the Settings screen, and that button prompts to confirm that you're certain you really want to do that.

But since you lost data from other applications at the same time, it sounds like there's some other system-wide issue to blame, and unfortunately there's nowhere OmniFocus can store data on the device itself which would be safe from that sort of problem.

The only way to prevent this sort of data loss, then, is to make sure it gets backed up to another system. The OmniFocus database does get backed up with everything else in iTunes, and you can restore it along with the rest of your system there, but that takes a long time and overwrites the rest of your system in the process.

Instead, my strong advice would be to set up synchronization with MobileMe or some other WebDAV web server, even if you're not synchronizing with the Mac version of OmniFocus. That way, even if you lose everything on the phone itself you'll be able to recover it again quickly, simply by re-synchronizing with the server.

Sorry for your data loss, and I hope this helps!

[jen71]

can someone walk me through what on earth this means? i have an iPhone. i have a mac. i don't have mobileme, and i don't want it. i don't have omnifocus on my mac, and i don't want to. what i do have is omnifocus on my iPhone, which i purchased because everything i read said it functioned as a standalone just fine.

however, i downloaded the omnifocus update onto my iphone (not thru itunes), and it wiped out EVERYTHING from the previous version. all the data - and there was a lot of it - POOF.

so i thought i could restore the data from iTunes, but no - i didn't stop the autosync in time, and the previous settings were overwritten.

so i thought i could restore an earlier backup of my iTunes data from time machine, but no - it turns out time machine doesn't back up the files in question.

at this point, i'm extremely frustrated. i paid $20 for an app that appears to back up its data into the ether, but i keep reading about an unexplained webDAV server thing that i can use to back it up.

PLEASE, would someone explain? i lost - no joke - several hundred omnifocus entries today.

[Lizard]

jen71: I replied to one of your other posts.

[Ken Case]

SohoNYC, sorry for the delay in responding: we've had many thousands more messages than usual in the last week, and our support ninjas have been working very hard to catch up. They're getting there, but they're not there yet!

Jen71, OmniFocus can synchronize its data with a web server using the WebDAV protocol, but we don't provide the web service. The easiest option is to sign up with Apple's Mobile Me service, but you can also sign up with other services such as BingoDisk or bluehost.

(Or, if you're technically inclined, you can set up your own WebDAV-enabled web server on your own computer. There are some other threads on this forum that go into more detail about how to do that, but it isn't an approach for the faint of heart. We're also looking at making it easier to sync directly with OmniFocus for Mac without an intermediate web server, but that's probably a month or two away.)

[m00min]

Originally Posted by Ken Case

We're also looking at making it easier to sync directly with OmniFocus for Mac without an intermediate web server, but that's probably a month or two away.)

Oh well that's fine then, so the true cost of OmniFocus for iPhone is AppStore app + Mac app - rip off!

[SohoNYC]

I was adding contexts and projects to my inbox items today and Omnifocus kept crashing. However, upon restart the data was still there. But, at some point I started Omnifocus and all the data I inputted was gone and only the original Omnifocus data, such as learning GTD, was available. The database is restarting, without me going anywhere near Settings-Reset Database.

I am at v1.0.0. I had read about not updating to v1.0.1 over the air, since it appears these users also lost data, so am waiting till I get home to do this.

How, do I restore the application from iTunes, before updating to 1.0.1 so hopefully I will recover all the data I had from last night's synch? I don't care how long it takes, but I do care that this is the second time my data was lost due to the application crashing; which questions the integrity of the database.

As for using mobileme, or the other alternative data synching solutions, I think a lot of users are only interested in using Omnifocus on the iPhone as a standalone application. The beauty of it is, I mostly will always have my iPhone and when something comes to mind, I can place it into my Inbox. I, and I imagine other, want to rely on iTunes to backup the data.

Ken, as for the 1000's of support emails, I sent my original issue in on July 15th. I resent it last night, along with a new email today for the same issue occurring again. I don't mind bugs, but I do mind unnecessarily losing my data, since as I mentioned below it questions the integrity of the database. I have no doubt your Ninjas are really good, but if they cannot get to an support inquiry a week later, then you have a customer service and perception issue.

As a long-time GTD'er, I want to see the iPhone version of your application succeed. But, if I lose confidence in your protecting my data, when only your application is crashing on my iPhone, then we will ultimately need to discuss how to refund my purchase, which is not what I want, but what I will have to do if we cannot resolve losing my data.

Phil

[jen71]

Originally Posted by Ken Case

Jen71, OmniFocus can synchronize its data with a web server using the WebDAV protocol, but we don't provide the web service. The easiest option is to sign up with Apple's Mobile Me service, but you can also sign up with other services such as BingoDisk or bluehost.

so what you're telling me is that in addition to the $20 i paid for the iPhone app, if i want any sort of data security, i need to shell out additional cash for either mobile me or another service?

pardon me while i get angry about this. why the f* do you advertise this as a standalone app when it obviously ISN'T?

I stumbled upon this thread because I too suddenly lost my iPhone's database. I have been joyfully using this app for the past week, and I had dozens of entries in my iPhone. All I was doing was entering a new action. When I was done I hit the home button and POOF....all my data gone. I haven't had this problem with any of my other apps.

I REALLY enjoyed using Omnifocus but I am unwilling to start building up a new database since it can be lost without warning. This program has lost my trust.....please fix! I'm feeling heavy buyer's remorse right now.