The main new feature in Codebook 5 is the Codebook Cloud Automatic sync service. We’d like beta testers to focus around testing setting up and using Codebook Cloud.
Usefulness
Do you feel that Codebook Cloud is a valuable addition to Codebook?
Signing Up For Codebook Cloud
Was the sign up process easy and clear?
Is there any wording that was unclear?
Purchasing a Subscription
Was the purchase process easy and clear?
Is there any wording/interface elements that you feel could be improved?
Signing Into Additional Devices
Signing in manually using your Codebook Cloud username and password
Signing in by scanning a Sync Key QR Code from another device (now includes Codebook Cloud credential information when the other device is signed into Codebook Cloud)
Setting Up a New Device
Setup by scanning a Sync Key QR Code
– Ensure Codebook Cloud starts syncing and your data is present after setup
Setup by choosing “Setup Later” (not signing into Codebook Cloud during setup) and then sign into Codebook Cloud subsequently
Syncing Data
Add/Make changes to categories, entries, notes, and attachments each device and confirm they automatically sync to your other devices
Codebook Cloud Service Responsiveness
How long did your first sync with Codebook Cloud take?
Do your changes automatically sync in a reasonable amount of time?
Did you receive a disruption in service at all? If so, was it clear in the interface that changes weren’t syncing?
General Usage
Use Codebook as you normally do and ensure no crashes/errors occur
The release notes outlining all that’s changed are posted here:
Usefulness
Do you feel that Codebook Cloud is a valuable addition to Codebook?
YES : Sync speed (autosync) is quick
Signing Up For Codebook Cloud
Was the sign up process easy and clear?
YES: Although as part of the signup, a summary of the notes could be included (e.g. what to expect when we switch (notes below).
Purchasing a Subscription
Was the purchase process easy and clear? YES
Is there any wording/interface elements that you feel could be improved? YES: The new CodeBook cloud sign-in doesn’t allow ‘Paste’ so I have to look at another device with CodeBook and type in the random password.
Signing Into Additional Devices
Signing in manually using your Codebook Cloud username and password YES Although I ran into some issues on iOS that were resolved by rebooting… we may want to ask users that upgrade to reset their (at least iOS) device. YES Desktop version of the new Codebook will default to CloudSync which prevents “Desktop WiFi” syncing
Codebook Cloud Service Responsiveness
How long did your first sync with Codebook Cloud take? QUICK seconds
Do your changes automatically sync in a reasonable amount of time? YES
Did you receive a disruption in service at all? If so, was it clear in the interface that changes weren’t syncing? NO
General Usage
Use Codebook as you normally do and ensure no crashes/errors occur STABLE : new crashes yet
I just discovered that there (doesn’t seem to be) a way to ‘manually’ or ‘explicitly’ start a Cloud sync? With ‘Auto Sync’ (to “CodeBook Cloud” service) checked off, the bottom right hand side ‘sync’ icon doesn’t seem to do anything.
Hi, before I start testing 5.0.0 and cloud sync, I’d like to create an encrypted backpack of my database. The backup instructions only suggest using sync, and older forum topics point to local files that I can’t find in my Mac installation.
Is there a recommended way to make an encrypted database backup before I start testing Cloud sync?
That’s correct, there’s no “Start Sync” menu item or button for Codebook Cloud.
The status icon doesn’t do anything when it’s reporting a ready state - that indicates sync is working. When it switches to another state, like if there’s an error, then it will offer menu options that may be helpful.
Things that trigger a sync:
Logging in
Saving changes to your data
Background checking of the server high-water mark, random interval between 5-15 seconds
If you would like to be certain that a sync occurred after you’ve made some changes, go to the Sync menu and select Sync Information, and you will see the last sync timestamp for Codebook Cloud.
If, after you make some changes, and Codebook attempts to sync, and cannot – you will see the sync icon switch to a different state, and depending on the problem, you will also get an error alert.
If the Internet access of your Mac is lost, this is treated as a connection error, and you’ll see a crossed out cloud icon. As soon as the Internet connection comes back, sync will resume.
Now, if something goes wrong processing your change-sets, that results in what we call a “halting error” which will immediately alert you to the problem.
In there, you will see a file named default.strip (or, if you have already upgrade to Codebook 5 on your Mac and signed in once, it will be named default.codebook).
Make a copy of this file and store it some place safe, and you will have a backup of your local data.
If you are using Time Machine for backups, this file is likely already backed up.
Thanks for the feedback. Glad Codebook Cloud is working well for you! I have a few follow up questions related to some of your answers:
Are you referring to Pasting by long pressing on the password field and then selecting “Paste” from the context menu (using handoff from another device?) or are you referring to Password AutoFill?
We tried to cover a few of the benefits of Codebook Cloud within the carousel in the Upgrade Pitch that’s presented the first time you login after upgrading:
Was there some additional information that you feel is missing from that? We didn’t want to make it too dense on that page and just touch some of the higher level overview while allowing the Learn More button to direct users to a page which has some finer grained details, but we definitely want to make sure that it’s clear what the service provides + benefits. Let us know if you have any suggestions or feel that something is missing there.
This is most likely a bug related to TestFlight not serving the receipt alongside the installation. It shouldn’t typically occur in production because the receipt is always served alongside the download from the App Store.
When signing up for Codebook Cloud we automatically switch your sync service to Codebook Cloud (so it will automatically start syncing after sign-up/subscribing). Only one sync service can be in use at a time, but you can always switch back and forth between Codebook Cloud and Desktop WiFi.
Just installed CodeBook 5 (well, did an upgrade) to my home laptop and the install & syncing worked fantastic. I am back to operating on my 4 devices like before. The sync is immediate, this is pretty great since sometimes I forget to sync on one of the devices and this being automatic keeps everything in real time! Nice flow so far.
Hi, encountered a problem yesterday where Smart sync started after I edited an entry but it didn’t complete, instead the UI kept animating and I couldn’t do anything else in Codebook 5.0.1 including access “Quit Codebook” in the menus. Had to quit the app with the app switcher to relaunch and use it again, hopefully you got an automated crash report.
Attaching a screenshot though it’s not very illuminating in my opinion.
Thanks for beta testing Codebook 5 and posting with this feedback, although we’re sorry to hear about the issue. We’ve actually had one other report of this in the production version of Codebook (without Codebook Cloud automatic sync) that we’ve been trying to reproduce (without success yet). The bar that moves across the top of the screen there is to indicate that a database operation is occurring (typically only visible when a larger save is occurring like pasting an entry with images). We think it might be a bug which is unrelated to automatic sync, but we’d like to get it fixed up! A couple of questions if you happen to remember any further details:
Do you recall the actions you were performing prior to the bar moving across the top of the screen appeared?
It looks like you might have been searching for an Entry, did you edit a separate entry and then search for an Entry right afterwards? Or were you editing an Entry from the search results?
If you were editing an Entry, did you end editing by selecting another entry or clicking the edit button?
What was the sync indicator icon (icon in the lower right hand corner of the window) doing? Cloud with check mark? Rotating arrows?
I believe I had searched for an entry by typing “capital” in the search field, edited some fields of one entry and then ended editing with the keyboard shortcut Command-e. The search field still had the same value in it when the sync indicator rotating arrows began and I noticed the animated bar near the top of the app window.
Signed up for cloud - easy to do.
Was redirected to the Codebook app and it started syncing (quickly)
While it did that I noticed some items I wanted to delete. This was most likely still during the sync process but not 100% sure as I wasn’t watching the sync icon as I did it any longer.
I selected multiple entries after searching for a keyword in the search field and deleted them. This crashed Codebook.
I am have the Apple crash log that came up after (didn’t send to Apple). Not sure if we should put in the discussion or not, I tried to upload a txt file and wasn’t able to.
Thanks very much for beta testing Codebook and posting with this feedback identifying a crash. I see that you wrote in separately to support@zetetic.net with some other feedback – That’s the best spot to send any crash reports as well. Thanks!
I am noticing that if I delete passwords in Codebook on Windows 10 it does not sync over to Mac/iOS devices but if I delete in Mac for example the change does sync to Windows. The devices all show a sync happen after the change is made.
Is this expected behavior for any entries that were already in a pre-beta instance of Codebook?
That is definitely not expected behavior. Any change should be automatically synced (adds/deletes/edits/etc.). Can you test making a different change on Windows (like adding a test Field or test Entry) and see if that adjustment syncs over?
Changes won’t sync until you complete editing, did you hit the save button after deleting the field on Windows?
Were you syncing this device with your other devices prior to updating to the Codebook 5 beta? If so, which sync service were you using and can you confirm that changes from Windows were making it over to your other devices before?
One more follow up question. Can you see if you have any reported unsynced changes associated with Codebook Cloud by following these steps:
Login to Codebook
Help menu > About Codebook
Click the Codebook icon 4 times, a bug symbol should show up in the About window with “Debug” text next to it. Close the About window.
File menu > Database Info, at the bottom of that window there will be a listing of all the sync services you sync with, Codebook cloud will be listed there, does it say “up to date” or “x unseen changes”?
Hi,
I closed Codebook and tried again today on the Windows and Mac machine and the issue seems to have gone away and everything is syncing fine now. I am still happy to send the log(s) you requested from either instance (Mac/PC) if you like.
