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Dropbox syncing between Mac/Windows/iOS not working. Changes lost.

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markmn
markmn
Community Member
in 1Password 4 for Windows

  1. I set up 1Password on my Mac. There, I created all my logins. The vault is synced to Dropbox. It worked fine. I logged into the Dropbox website and verified that all the files were there, being synced properly.

  2. Next, I installed it on iOS, configuring it to sync to the same Dropbox folder. Opening the vault on my iPhone, all the passwords were there. So far so good.

  3. The next day, I set it up on a Windows computer at work. Again, I opened the vault from the synced Dropbox folder, and all my passwords were there. No problems so far.

  4. I modified several vault entries through the 1Password for Windows program. I noticed that the changes WERE synced to Dropbox, because I observed the Dropbox app syncing the files. It seemed to be working fine.

  5. That night, I opened my vault on the Mac. I don't recall if the modifications I'd made from the Windows PC were there on the Mac. Otherwise, I made zero edits to the vault that night on my Mac. So the most up-to-date state of the vault should have been as of Step 4 above, reflecting the modifications I'd made on the Windows PC earlier that day.

  6. The next day, I logged into the vault on the Windows PC. All the modifications from Step 4 above were lost. It's as if the vault reverted back to its state from Step 1.

Please help me figure out how/why my modifications were lost, and how to fix it in the future.

1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided
Sync Type: Not Provided

Comments

  • MikeT
    MikeT
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    Hi @markmn,

    The next day, I logged into the vault on the Windows PC. All the modifications from Step 4 above were lost. It's as if the vault reverted back to its state from Step 1.

    That does sound like as if the computers are not in the same time frame and Dropbox got confused, merged the previous state as the latest version. If Dropbox believed your Mac's data were more recent, it will overwrite the PC changes and push it to your PC.

    Can you check to make sure your Mac, PC and the iOS data are all syncing the same time server and has the same date as well?

    That night, I opened my vault on the Mac. I don't recall if the modifications I'd made from the Windows PC were there on the Mac. Otherwise, I made zero edits to the vault that night on my Mac. So the most up-to-date state of the vault should have been as of Step 4 above, reflecting the modifications I'd made on the Windows PC earlier that day.

    Please double check both your Mac and iOS devices, see if it shows any chances you made from PC.

    Even if you made no changes, that's not the case. On Mac and iOS, they have two data stores, the internal database that stores all of your vaults to enable concurrent multiple vault support that is not available on Windows at the moment and the sync data with Dropbox. When changes are coming in from the Dropbox folder, 1Password will see the changes and merge it into its internal database. When you make changes in either iOS or Mac, 1Password will push the changes from its internal database and update the sync file before Dropbox push it to their servers. However, it is possible for 1Password to detect the time differences, confirm its internal databases have more recent data and will push it back to Dropbox. Therefore, making no changes on OS X or iOS does not mean no changes occurred.

    If your Mac or iOS's time is offset and your data on the Mac is more recent, 1Password will push it back to Dropbox even if you made more recent changes on the PC.

    Dropbox's event logs should tell you if there were changes made at the time when you open 1Password on the Mac or iOS; try this:

    1. Log into Dropbox.com in your web browser
    2. Click on the Events on the left sidebar
    3. On top right, you can change the location from [All] to your 1Password folder if it is on the list.
    4. See if you can go back to the time and date when you open 1Password on your Mac and see if any of the 1Password files were modified.
  • markmn
    markmn
    Community Member
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    I think you're correct; Dropbox is somehow getting confused. I checked the Mac, and the modifications that I had made on Windows are all gone.

    I checked--my iMac, Windows PC, and phone all use the same time and timezone.

    Looking at the Dropbox revision history, it appears that Steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 all occurred just like I stated in the previous post. But then I see a whole bunch of file modifications happening when I turned on the Mac last night. I think every entry I modified earlier in the day on Windows was re-modified on the Mac once I signed into it. I see a bunch of modifications corresponding to the moment I signed in. Concurrently, there are a bunch of files in the Dropbox Trash folder. I think these are conflicted copies, which Dropbox discarded when the Mac asserted it had "newer" versions.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
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    @markmn: Ack! That sounds like a mess. :(

    Now, I don't work for Dropbox, so ultimately it may be best to see what they recommend. But I will tell you what's worked for me in similar situations:

    1. Backup your data!
    2. Disable Dropbox (the app, and in 1Password) on each device
    3. Delete the 1Password vault from the sacrificial Dropbox folders
    4. Set up Dropbox sync with 1Password on the device with the known-good vault
    5. Set up Dropbox sync on the other devices

    You may want to double-check the date and time on each device to make sure they all match before doing this, as time drift can cause a lot of these headaches. Automatic cannot always be relied upon, unfortunately. I hope this helps. Please let us know how it turns out! :)

This discussion has been closed.