NoteAway not syncing over iCloud between desktop and notebook

Thanks for getting in touch. So sorry you're experiencing problems with iCloud sync.

I can try my best to help you, but the iCloud sync part of things is somewhat out of NoteAway's hands. From my testing, I've experienced some inconsistent behaviors from time to time, but generally iCloud did just fine.

First off, how long have you waited? It's frustrating that there is no way to force iCloud Mobile Documents to sync, you just have to trust the system to take care of it when it needs to be updated.

So, first things first, give it a bit of time, and make sure each computer has good active internet. NoteAway will reload from time to time while its open, but you won't see live updating as characters are typed or anything. But, each time you close (wait a couple seconds) and then open NoteAway, that is a fresh load from the iCloud documents.

The other thing to do is to test some other iCloud enabled app. Like TextEdit would work. Make a document in TextEdit on one computer and then go to the other and see if it shows up. If that is not syncing either, then we at least know the scope of the issue. Either way, let me know how that test goes.

At one point early on in testing NoteAway, I did mess up my iCloud, it was quite a hassle. Somehow or another, I think through accidentally adding thousands of documents to iCloud, realizing that was stupid, and deleting the documents before the sync was complete. That process somehow crippled my iCloud and it would no longer sync.

It is possible to "reset" iCloud sync, which made my iCloud start working again. But its fairly tedious, and involves logging out of iCloud on every device (computers, iPhones, iPads, etc) and then logging back in one at a time after all have been logged out. I'll brush up on what that process entailed if it comes to that.

But first, lets do that test to see if it's just NoteAway that's not syncing, or if its any and all iCloud documents,

Also, I'm not sure how Apples servers are segregated between services, but it's worth mentioning that iOS 7 just came out.

The thousands (millions?) of people updating their iOS devices, and doing iCloud backups and all that may be taxing the hell out of their servers.

If that's the case, giving it a couple days at least before taking drastic actions to reset your iCloud may help the issue.

Hey Steven, just wanted to check back with you...

Is iCloud working for you now? It's all working on my end.

Things were definitely being a bit flakey on Apples end before when you got in touch.

Unfortunately not.

No syncing is taking place. Entries on the MBP do not appear on the iMac and vice versa.

iCloud syncing is turned on.

I've tried logging out and back from iCloud on both computers.

Just got a popup on iMac

"Note file no longer exists ..."

being edited or deleted by another user.

My MBP is sitting by itself on the other side of the room ...

That may be a sign that syncing is kicking on, catching up on old changes. Hopefully it didn't just glitch out a lose a note though.

Make sure both computers are on, give them a little while with both NoteAways closed and then open them back up and see if things are synced.

If we are going to attempt an iCloud reset... do you have any iOS devices logged into iCloud? iPhone, iPod, or iPad? Or is it just these two Macs?

I've got iPhone and iPad. How do you log-off with IOS 7? Seems to have changed

Did you ever test iCloud between your Macs with TextEdit to see if that works first?

That note disappearing alert is a good sign that iCloud may be starting to sync, but it may take a bit of time to get everything sorted out on each Mac.

But, if you do want to attempt the iCloud reset, here are the steps. Firstly, you should be sure you have backups of any iCloud Documents you have in ANY AND ALL (OS X and iOS) apps that you have using iCloud Document Storage.

On the iPhone and iPad you should only need to go into the iCloud settings and turn OFF "Documents & Data"

After turning off Documents & Data in iCloud for your iPhone and iPad, fully restart each device by holding down the power buttons and doing the full shut down. Do NOT turn Documents & Data back on for the iPhone and iPad until we get things sorted on the Macs.

Before doing anything on the Macs, go into the NoteAway Preferences in the Location pane. Change your Library Location from iCloud to the Local Container on both your Macs. This will keep your notes local and safe on each computer while the reset is happening.

Now, on the Macs, do the same as on the iOS devices. Turn off Documents & Data in the iCloud preferences panel and restart afterward on each computer.

After each computer has restarted, turn iCloud Documents & Data back on for one of them and restart again. And then move your NoteAway Library back to iCloud.

Then, repeat on the next Mac, turn on iCloud Documents & Data, restart, and then move NoteAway back to iCloud.

Then, wait a little bit and see if things start to sync.

If that doesn't work, move NoteAway Libraries back to the Local Container, turn Documents & Data back OFF on the Macs, restart, and get back in touch with me when iCloud is OFF and you've restarted and there are a couple more deeper things we can try to reset iCloud.

OK. I've done all that and still have the problem.

I'm also done the things in the last paragraph and am logged off iCloud.

I don't need to preserve existing NoteAway notes.

Note - before doing the test I confirmed that notes created in NotePad were syncing between the iMac and MBP.

That is notes created in TextEdit, not NotePad ...

Hmmm, well if things were syncing through iCloud via TextEdit, there should be no difference in syncing NoteAway files.

The last steps I was gonna suggest are the more drastic actions.

With iCloud Documents & Data still OFF on your Macs, on each Mac, open the User Library folder, which is hidden on 10.7+. To get into it, open the Go menu in the Finder and hold the Option key with the Go menu open. You'll see the Library menu item come up, select it.

Within the "Library" folder, open the "Application Support" folder and then locate the "Ubiquity" folder. Move the "Ubiquity" folder to the trash, and delete it.

Now, go back out to the main "Library" folder and locate a folder called "Mobile Documents.#########" the #'s will be random numbers. Trash that folder as well. That will force iCloud to re-download everything from iCloud, but this may cause any apps storing iCloud documents to be GONE FOREVER. So, if you're using iCloud Documents in other apps, have backups.

Maybe just to be safe, before trashing the Mobile Documents folder, archive it into a ZIP and put that zip on your desktop and then trash and delete the Mobile Documents folder.

Do that on both Macs, and then restart both Macs.

Then turn Documents & Data back ON on one Mac, open up NoteAway and put the NoteAway Library back into iCloud. Type a note and wait a bit.

Then, after a few minutes, turn Documents & Data back on on the other Mac, and wait a few more minutes to let things sync. Then open up NoteAway and move the library to iCloud in the Location preferences

Now, I really hope that the note you created on the other Mac is showing up. It better show up. It should show up!

That whole ridiculous process worked for me when I had to reset my iCloud. But, if it doesn't work, give things a bit of time to let things sync. And maybe make another TextEdit iCloud document and make sure that's getting synced between your Macs as well.

Hopefully, after iCloud is working as it should on your Macs, you can turn Documents & Data back on in your iPhone and iPad.

.... Still no go for NoteAway.

TextEdit notes are syncing.

Day One Journal entries are syncing on iCloud.

However, Squirrel will not sync and has never synced. The developers recommended I wait for Mavericks.

Thanks for your help. I think I will give up on this now and try again after upgrading to Mavericks in a couple of weeks time.

That's very odd. I'm really sorry that NoteAway isn't syncing over iCloud.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense since a NoteAway note is essentially the same thing, stored in the same away as a TextEdit document in iCloud.

You could try syncing over Dropbox if you've got that setup on both Macs. You would just need to use the Custom Location option in NoteAway and set both libraries to the same relative Dropbox folder.

Hi again, just wanted to check back in to see if updating to OS X 10.9 Mavericks solved your syncing issues.

Also, I just released NoteAway 1.1 which has loads of nice improvements. You can get the update for free on the Mac App Store: http://mas.noteaway.com

Please let me know if you're still having issues syncing with iCloud after you've updated to NoteAway 1.1 and Mavericks.

I found multiple problems syncing with iCloud between 2 MacBooks. It simply doesn't sync at all. Very frustrating... trying with Dropbox for now.