[Brian]

You know, I thought I had done that! Thanks - fixed.

I regularly sync my mac and archive old action items in the database and I get the following statistics for my database:

- 29 projects
- 281 actions
- stored in 3,695 zip files

Is 3,695 zip files normal or really high? My guess is really high.

If the number of zip files is abnormal, then what do I do on the mac or iphone end to resolve this and speed up my load times?

[whpalmer4]

3,695 zip files is very high! I rarely go over 100 zip files unless one of my machines is off the net for a few days or I do some massive reorganization. Take a look at the Show Clients display in OmniFocus' Sync preferences pane. Are there any entries that show clients that haven't been synced in the last day or two?

Assuming you don't have any spurious client entries (which should generate the occasional warning message from OmniFocus on the desktop after they haven't synced for a week), the database should compact automatically in normal use. It might not, however, if you tend not to leave OmniFocus running when you aren't actively using it. If you start up OmniFocus on the desktop, click the Sync button, then do the same on your iPhone, wait 61 minutes and do it again (syncing both machines) you should see a compaction. The sync process won't consider compacting anything less than an hour old, and will only compact changes that have been incorporated by all of the clients. This compaction seems to happen more readily when the desktop client can do its hourly syncs.

[Mojombo]

So what does someone do if they *don't* have OmniFocus on their Mac? Is there any way to optimize start up times just using the phone and MobileMe sync?

[curt.clifton]

Mojombo,

Do you have a zip file count in OF settings? Tap the (i) icon for settings.

How many projects and actions do you have?

[Mojombo]

Wow, that's another thing: after I tap the "i", it takes almost as long for the Settings to show up as it takes to open the app! Slooooow.

It says here "26 projects and 198 actions stored in 2685 zip files."

[CatOne]

Originally Posted by Mojombo

Wow, that's another thing: after I tap the "i", it takes almost as long for the Settings to show up as it takes to open the app! Slooooow.

It says here "26 projects and 198 actions stored in 2685 zip files."

That's WAY too many zip files. See all the posts about how to reduce the number by synching all your clients frequently. Do you have an old device you're not using that hasn't been synched in a week or two?

[whpalmer4]

Well, that sync file count is why it is so slow! I don't understand why you should have such an enormous count if the only thing you have in the mix is an iPhone. I wonder if there is a bug where it isn't running the compaction?

[Mojombo]

First, there is no "all my clients." There is the iPhone syncing with MobileMe and iTunes. That's it. I have no other devices and no other software.

Second, I don't keep track of the Syncing closely, but I use OmniFocus every day, and it sure seems like at least once a day that spinny sync icon stops spinning while I'm working, which I assume means a sync has completed. Certainly every week.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Mojombo

So what does someone do if they *don't* have OmniFocus on their Mac? Is their any way to optimize start up times just using the phone and MobileMe sync?

You do have a Mac, right? You could download the OF trial, set it up to sync, sync both Mac and iPhone, wait 61 minutes, sync both Mac and iPhone, and that should compact the database for you.

By any chance did you already use the OF trial? If you had it syncing with your iPhone and then stopped without unregistering it from the sync database, that would cause this sort of behavior, and I'm not sure if the iPhone issues warnings about clients that haven't synced lately like the desktop does.