Why has my Dropbox sync just stopped working?

rosborn
rosborn
Community Member

I have been using 1Password for years, sharing a vault on Dropbox with my family on a 5-user license. We sync to the same 1Password.agilekeychain folder from multiple Apple devices. I just updated 1Password, and it suddenly stopped syncing. I went to the Preferences Sync tab, where it said there was no prior sync. I selected 1Password.agilekeychain, and clicked "Merge existing", which was accepted as a valid entry, but nothing has happened, and the Preferences Sync tab still shows "Never synced". Unlike on iOS, there doesn't seem to be a "Sync Now" button. How do I fix this?


1Password Version: 6.8.3
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: OS X 10.12.6
Sync Type: Dropbox

Comments

  • rosborn
    rosborn
    Community Member

    I just discovered that my Dropbox application was not running in background, although my Dropbox folders are all locally synced. I restarted it, but it doesn't seem to have changed anything - I still get the same "Never synced" message, even after reselecting the Dropbox vault. I don't know why I should have to reconnect to the vault in the first place. It has worked without problem for years.

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni
    edited October 2017

    Hey @rosborn - sorry to hear Dropbox is giving you trouble just now. There are a few reasons why something might go wrong with Dropbox sync, and I'd urge you to check them all out, as well as the tips for moving forward.

  • rosborn
    rosborn
    Community Member

    I have checked that I have enough space on Dropbox, that my version is current, and that updating a password on my iPhone updates a file on the Dropbox, which has shown up as a recently synced file on my Mac. I'm a little reluctant to start creating a completely new vault, with all the disruption to my family. What bothers me is that, although I can successfully choose the vault, it then says there has never been a sync, and won't start syncing. Is there a specific preference file containing the sync history that could have got corrupted? I can probably restore an old version if there is.

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    Sorry to hear none of that worked for you, @rosborn. Problems like the one you're describing are a large part - maybe the biggest part - of why we created 1password.com memberships: because we wanted a reliable, robust, easy-to-setup method of syncing 1Password data across platforms and devices.

    The good news is that if you've been working with Dropbox shares to share 1Password data among family members, 1Password Families was created especially with you in mind. Best of all, there's a 30-day free trial; you can head over to the main 1Password Families sign-up page and create an account today, invite your family members to join you and kick the tires for a full month. If you decide to stay, the entire family -- up to five people -- is only $59.88 annually ($4.99/mo).

  • rosborn
    rosborn
    Community Member

    I appreciate the suggestion, although it could lead the more cynical among us to think that you would rather we subscribe to the new service than help us fix what is probably a fairly minor glitch. At the moment, the correct 1Password.agilekeychain has been selected in the Sync Preferences tab, but it sits there stating "Never synced". Can you explain to me how to trigger a sync?

  • rosborn
    rosborn
    Community Member

    I have just reinstalled v6.8.2 from a Time Machine backup and I now have access to my vault again - it synced within seconds without me doing anything. So that suggests there is a bug in v6.8.3 that caused the issue.

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @rosborn - A sync is triggered each time you make a change to the 1Password database on the device in question. I would change an existing secure note (just type a few characters) or add a new one on the affected device, which should be enough to start a sync. If it's not happening, there could be any number of reasons why, and that's where we get into the passage from that Dropbox sync troubleshooting support document:

    We’re unable to troubleshoot issues with Dropbox beyond the scope of this article.

    That's why I'd say you don't need to be cynical to think we'd rather people subscribe: we DO encourage most people to switch to a better and more reliable method of using 1Password, and we make no bones about it.

    If you look back through the history of this just this forum (and that's not even counting our email support system), you'll see that the vast majority of support requests (where something's actually going wrong, rather than feature requests, etc) come from sync being misconfigured or experiencing specific issues. Many of these issues we can address, if given enough time and information. But some we can't, because we don't have full visibility into closed processes from other apps/services like NAS attached storage or 3rd party sync solutions.

    Though we see some problems frequently, virtually all sync issues are specific to a given user's setup and can often require a deep dive into the inner workings of potentially multiple processes on multiple devices. With 1password.com accounts, those problems - and numerous others - just do not exist, and they haven't merely been replaced by a different set of account-based problems. Simply put, 1password.com accounts are easier, more reliable and more secure for the vast majority of users -- as you're experiencing now. They allow users to get on with actually using 1Password, instead of spending their time troubleshooting 3rd party sync setups. And they allow US to focus on actually improving 1Password instead of trying to help solve the same issues over and over again.

    These third-party sync methods continue to exist within 1Password because we do want to offer expert users who prefer them and are comfortable setting up and troubleshooting their own sync setup, the option to continue using them. We could continue to address the multitude of individual sync issues experienced by users, but doing so comes at an opportunity cost of being able to do other things with those development and support cycles. So instead, we gathered together our best wisdom from years of dealing with sync issues on Dropbox, iCloud and WLAN sync, and we posted it clearly and explicitly on our support pages for anyone to use. What we've discovered is that the vast majority of people are not experts, and even many of the ones who are, mostly want their software - especially mission-critical security software - to just work, which is exactly what a 1Password membership provides.

This discussion has been closed.