[CrisB]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

If you are within 30 days of purchase, you can contact Omni support for a full refund.

Not sure I feel justified in that, given that my assumption was just that (an assumption). There's nothing misleading in the product description, and it seems on brief acquaintance to be a very nice, well-made piece of software. It's just a shame in 2012 that for practical purposes it's a standalone app.

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

I don't think you'll find many others who put their money where their mouth is...

Not sure what you mean here. Are you saying that people may complain about some things, but that Omni's products are so good that few are likely to return them? In which case, you might well be right -- OO's my first Omni purchase, and it suits the purpose I have in mind so well that, yes, I'll use it on my mac. I suspect the iPad version will go largely unused though until it has a practical means access to my OO files.

[whpalmer4]

Omni will agree you are justified, if you aren't satisfied with your purchase.

They may lag behind in some ways, but that policy (and the quality of their customer support, in general) is a way in which they are at the front of the pack.
They aren't just refunding your money, they are giving Apple its 30% cut of a purchase on top of that!

[Simon.]

Originally Posted by Simon.

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 every single time I get called into a meeting, or go to lunch.

I did some further research to at least deal with the issue of opening an OO3 file that's in my dropbox. I'm not going to pay $60 per year for dropDAV, but found an alternative, and just paid $5 as a one off fee for cloudDAV
http://smestorage.com/?p=static&page=CloudDav

It works, I can access all my dropbox folders in OmniOutliner for iPad, download an OO3 file, work on it locally and reupload it (quite a clunky step of exporting it as an OO3 file, selecting the original location, and choosing 'replace').

Works fine for what I need, which is occasional and unexpected edits and access to my OO3 files, which I mostly work on between desktops.

Hope this helps, apologies if this has been mentioned previously. It does cost $5 but since I'd already spent $20 on an app I couldn't use... I'm sort of ahead of where I was a few days ago!

[CrisB]

Originally Posted by Simon.

I did some further research to at least deal with the issue of opening an OO3 file that's in my dropbox. I'm not going to pay $60 per year for dropDAV, but found an alternative, and just paid $5 as a one off fee for cloudDAV
http://smestorage.com/?p=static&page=CloudDav

Looks like a really useful pointer -- thanks.

[edit] I see also that you can get the same service for no extra cost if you buy their $4.99 iOS app (http://smestorage.com/?p=static&page=iphone). Haven't looked at it yet, but it's another option.

[CrisB]

Now I've tried it, I find that uploads of an already-existing .oo3 file aren't working. The temporary file that OO writes (named <filename>.oo3-write-in-progress-<random letters/numbers) stays behind, and doesn't replace the original (so I end up with both in the dropbox/webDAV folder). I've raised this with both SMEStorage and Omni Group's support (as I have no idea whether this would be a client or server problem).

Presumably though you're not seeing this?

[Simon.]

Hi CrisB, sorry for the delay, I have tried it and get exactly the same as you, it creates a folder named as you suggest, and because it doesn't end in .oo3 the finder sees it as a folder, not a package. It seems it doesn't/can't delete the previous file when choosing 'replace' in export to webdav. (as in, when you rename the folder, deleting the '-write-in-progress-<random letters/numbers' bit, the resulting file - for me - is exactly as it should be had it replaced the original).

Not sure if this is an issue with SMEStorage or OO - anyone else using a native webDAV and experiencing this? (A permissions problem perhaps?)

Originally Posted by CrisB

Now I've tried it, I find that uploads of an already-existing .oo3 file aren't working. The temporary file that OO writes (named <filename>.oo3-write-in-progress-<random letters/numbers) stays behind, and doesn't replace the original (so I end up with both in the dropbox/webDAV folder). I've raised this with both SMEStorage and Omni Group's support (as I have no idea whether this would be a client or server problem).

Presumably though you're not seeing this?

[CrisB]

@Simon: I've got hold of some iPad OO logs, and am following this up with both Omni and IMEStorage's support people. It looks to me like a server problem (but then again I don't know much about webDAV). I'll follow up here if I get a resolution.

[ravedog]

I wanted to buy OO for iPad... I really did, but after reading that not only was Dropbox support not present, but iCloud as well. I'm saving my money. This thread is almost a year old and Omni has decided to post the same answer from last year again in the last couple weeks. In other words... No changes.

The thing I find most disturbing is that the built-in support for iDisk will GO AWAY in the next month reducing the number of options by one more. OG has laid the blame at apple (iCloud needing to be fixed).

I realize they are not going to do anything until they get the holy grail feature of true syncing, but in the interim I would suggest just adding DropBox saving and reading support and let the customer deal with true sync issues, just as every other app out there that uses dropbox has.

A whole year has gone by and after the shutdown of MobileMe there will be NOTHING tying this to Apple.'s so-called cloud. Swallow your pride, add Dropbox as an interim step and then wow us with your true-syncing integration somewhere down the line when/if it becomes possible.

If anything working with Apple should have taught developers is that they should not put your eggs in Apple's basket, especially when it comes to cloud services.

[CrisB]

Originally Posted by ravedog

I wanted to buy OO for iPad... I really did, but after reading that not only was Dropbox support not present, but iCloud as well. I'm saving my money. .

Well, I did buy OO for iPad. It was Pro for OSX I primarily wanted, and I was evaluating it, but just went ahead and bought the iPad version because, in all honestly, the Omni Group's reputation is so stellar I just expected it would all be great.

And it so nearly was! But in the end I've found the clumsy and error-prone workflow for sharing data between desktop and iPad untenable. So no OO Pro or iPad for me (I've asked for a refund for the latter). Pity.

[JockM]

So why Omni sits on their hands and waits for iCloud to offer what they want, or for some mythical custom sync solution of their own devising (and thus yet another moving part in the world), Dropbox sits there as a perfectly good solution that their users are begging Omni to support.

We don't care if you can't offer true simultaneous editing. We just want our data backed up and instantly ready for use. Use file locks if you have to, provide import and export buttons, hack something together, but...

SUPPORT DROPBOX

You guys are letting Perfect be the enemy of good enough. If history has taught us anything, it is that is a failing strategy. How many more months is it going to be? I am personally doubtful that whatever it is you are cooking up is going to happen this year.

So I use second rate tools and get work done, because Carbon Fin is good enough, and supports the way I work. But the "perfect" tool (OmniOutliner) ends up being useless to me.

As such I am not giving money to the company I would prefer to.

Omni Group, please explain to me again why your strategy makes sense, because I just don't see it...