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sorry. i've shunned the cloud for privacy reasons and am playing catchup trying to figure out how to use dropbox with editorial. i didn't find much documentation on specifics so i finally decided to try linking editorial with dropbox and play around to see and hope for the best. i think i mostly understand the way it works now. it's different from what i expected but actually more how i think i want it to.

can somebody confirm my statements here please (probably simple Y / N replies to most all)

1) the editorial / dropbox relationship is NOT automatic sync of the ENTIRE local tree to dropbox

2) intead you have to INDIVIDUALLY PUSH up to dropbox the files you want in dropbox and the only way to do that is ONE FILE AT A TIME (clicking the title of the file itself in the editor so that you see the dropbox icon, tapping and then tapping on "copy...")

2b) thus there is no way to multi-select many files and copy (backup) multiple files to dropbox.. a copy can only be done when you're editing the file as described in #2

3) once a file is copied to dropbox, initially you have two copies of the same document, the one under dropbox control and the one in only your local files BUT THEY HAVE TWO SEPARATE LIVES FROM THAT POINT ON.

by that i mean that regardless of which one you work, the edits are only reflected in each document and not sync'd between them

4a) if i create a new or edit an existing document in the editorial app's DROPBOX folder, am i actually creating and editing it on the LOCAL editorial filesystem and then everything in the local filesystem is periodically synced UP to dropbox.. and if so what is the sync interval

OR

4b) is my local editorial dropbox folder simply a "graphical representation window" to the REMOTE dropbox folder (sort of like NFS on linux) meaning i'm actually editing and writing IN REAL TIME to the REMOTE dropbox filesystem.. and visually those changes happening remotely simply get pulled back to my screen (directory listings) etc.

4c) if the answer is 4a, then hypothetically speaking, if dropbox melted down and disappeared / was cut off from the inet.. would the files in my local editorial app dropbox folder still be there? ie if the files are parented locally and syncs PUSH copies UP to drobox i should never have to worry about losing the files locally and there should always be a pristine local copy (synch is working as a local to remote backup). if it's 4b then i think my local copies are PULLED in which case i'd be screwed right?

5) i really would prefer to use dropbox as a periodic manual sync of only the files i chose to be backed up to cloud so that there is a backup of my editorial files somewhere else other than my device. as described above, i think the app gives me exactly what i want yes? which is that..

anything i leave in my local files is never sync'd but i can manually copy them to dropbox when i want.

once they're in dropbox, i can edit the sync'd dropbox files (in the editiorial app's dropbox folder) with automatic sync or continue to just edit locally and push local files to dropbox purely as BACKUP (ie NO AUTO SYNC) if and when i want?

sorry for the long verbage there and the shouting but just trying to be clear for those reading. i think i've got it right, the only fuzzy question being how the sync #4 is handled and what happens if the files get blown away for some reason on the dropbox end?

ok so i'm playing around. i disabled wifi on my device which would prevent any sync from occuring between editorial and dropbox.

i was allowed to create a new md doc in editorial offline in my editorial dropbox folder so the answer to my question must be 4a which is that dropbox sync works as PUSH from the client.

that document doesn't wind up back in dropbox though after enabling wifi UNTIL i actually open that document to edit it in my local editorial dropbox folder. perhaps the edit triggers the sync? how often does dropbox sync occur though once you're actively editing a document?

the above behavior presents a perplexing question though. if dropbox is push from the client (based on the results i just experienced and described above), how is it that two instances of editorial ON DIFFERENT DEVICES can work on the SAME DROPBOX FILE with the SAME NAME at the same time without conflicts or overwrites?

if the client is pushing up to dropbox and not the other way around, neither client would ever know about the other one making changes and it would be a mess.

that leads me to believe i must be wrong about the above?

thx

I will try to answer what I can. I am guessing the general questions is how you can back up your files without the fear of loosing them.

I will suggest a list of must have workflows

You can archive all files in Editorial to dropbox as a .zip file. You can also restore those files from dropbox.

I also created two workflows that I use often. workflow sends the current local file to dropbox and the other pulls a file in dropbox to the local system.

tutorial doctor. thx. i have got plenty to look at there..

just a quick followup about copy options inside the actual program itself.

a) i see i can copy a local file TO dropbox but only while editing the file which means only one at a time. however, we have the ability to select MULTIPLE local files and MOVE them to dropbox in one operation so why not an option for select MULTIPLE local files and copy them too? only move and no copy?

b) once the file is in dropbox, there is no way to copy OR move it back to LOCAL files period????? the only thing you can do is move it and in that case only to another location in dropbox???

i'm just trying to get an insight into the logic of the application choices made by the developper and or if getting the files back once in dropbox is a limited by dropbox itself??

thx for the scripts otherwise

@robopu Now that you are on Pythonista, check out Pythonista-Tools to find community-generated tools for this environment. Dropbox File Picker and DropboxSync might be of special interest.

thx for those ccc... they were in the utilities module.. and will be very useful in due time.

fyi, my last post that you replied to was actually asking about how to perform moves and copies from the interface in editorial without scripting in both directions.. just wondering why something really useful like copy wasn't included and it's only one way to db and not the other way around :)

thx

oops.. i almost forgot..regarding those dropbox scripts...

they're written for pythonista. i'm actually wanting to get files back and forth from editorial and not pythonista to dropbox.

those scripts are for pythonista which is a separate app with a seperate sandbox from editorial. can these scripts "reach back" to editorial to perform the same functionality for editorial docs? if so how do i set editorial's base path from pythonista in the code?

or must i run the script in editorial console or workflows and if so will i have to edit it to make it work there?

thx