NickA
Member
Using latest version.
As far as files that are affected, I have spelled this out in detail in previous posts on this thread - all Excel 2003 / 2007 files, MYOB data files.
Experiencing same issues using different machines running, variously, XP, Windows 7 and Server2003.
Phil
Syncdocs
NickA: I tried repeating this (your instructions are good) a few times, but don't see what you do. How big are these Excel files?
NickA
Member
Very small (30kb) - in my tests they are new, empty Excel files.
I just attempted to repeat the issue again for Excel files. Couldn't repeat it in XP/Office 2003, but still happening as described in Win7/Office 2007. Also doesn't seem to matter whether opening one or two files, and also not getting error message regarding attempt to delete while the file is open.
More info regarding the file deletion - the Syncdocs dialogue box shows the message: "Syncing Google delete locally on Folder\Spreadsheet.xlsx" when the deletion takes place (it flashes up very briefly but I managed to get a screen capture of it). Don't know whether that gives any information as to what triggers the deletion.
NickA
Member
Phil - is there any progress whatsoever resolving this issue? I don't believe I'm the only one experiencing this problem.
I am nearly at the point where I am, reluctantly, going to have to cancel my Syncdocs account and move to an alternative if this issue can't be resolved.
NickA
Member
Phil - I have continued to try and identify the source of this issue, and now suspect it is something to do with the Syncdocs version control settings - specifically, the "Enable Google Version History" option and (possibly) the "Allow Duplicate Filenames on Google" option.
Is there any reason that either or both of these could give rise to the local deletion issue I have been experiencing?
I will do some more thorough testing when I have time and will let you know the outcome.
NickA
Member
Phil - another thing to throw in the mix...
I have SyncDocs running on multiple machines on the one account.
I have observed that, with "Enable Google Version History" switched off, when there is a local file change on one machine, Syncdocs deletes the existing file in Google Docs and uploads the new version.
Given the size of some of the files, the upload can take a minute or so - so if you look at Google Docs during that upload period, it simply appears that the file has been deleted in Google Docs.
What I think may be happening is that Syncdocs running on a second machine machine recognises the deletion on Google Docs and then deletes the file locally. Subject to the timing, the local deletion on the second machine then may be reflected on Google Docs which then echoes the deletion on the first machine.
I don't really want to keep a version history (I have an independent service for that and I have previously found the versions eat up way too much storage in Google Docs) - is there a way of stopping the Google Docs deletion happening where versioning is switched off?
Or is there some other way you can suggest of dealing with this?
Andrew
Syncdocs
Hi NickA,
I think you've found the cause of this problem. If you turn of the version history, then Syncdocs will delete and replace the file on Google. A second PC synced to this account will do exactly what you said an mirror the delete and replace.
However, even with odd timing, this should not be mirrored back to the first PC, so we'll run some tests to figure out why it is. If you look in the "Advanced" preferences tab, what is the value for your "same time tolerance" window?
Unfortunately, Google does not provide a way of updating a file without keeping version history. They do something called "Revision pruning" on docs of their own format. One of the features we are thinking of implementing is an ability to prune versions via Syncdocs, say older than a week or a month.
NickA
Member
Andrew -
It would of course be better to be able to stop Syncdocs doing an upload every 4 minutes or so when the MYOB data file is being accessed - is this possible? If this could be achieved, the versioning issue is much less important
Given the MYOB data files are 10 meg files (at the moment - the're getting bigger!), at a rate of once every four minutes it doesn't take long to eat up a lot of space just through the version history (not to mention the data traffic). We have people using MYOB data files continuously across an 8 hour day - that adds up to a lot of uploads for no real benefit.
If you do add the ability to prune versions, please make it an option to happen automatically and to prune versions as frequently as daily.
I have previously set the tolerance out to the maximum of 300 seconds but don't think that worked - will try again under more controlled conditions and let you know.
ido.ran
Member
Hi,
I have similar problem and I would like to try and fix it by changing the tolerance settings.
Is it possible to change the settings for all people working in our Google Domains?
After all you are doing a file sync app so I can imagine having a shared settings file sync to everyone.
Ido.
Jon Lindsay
Member
Syncdocs used to delete files that I modified after it backed up the modified file (i.e. it did not do this to newly created files). Using Andrew's recommendation above, in Preferences/Files/Version Control, I checked the box for Enable Google version history for all file types. Now Syncdocs no longer deletes modified files after it backs them up. However, I don't understand what this check box really does. And I don't know why I have to check it in order to prevent Syncdocs from deleting my modified files.
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