I want to sync codebook between an iOS device and three macOS desktop machines. Can I use wifi sync between the iOS device and one or other of the desktops, and use a Local Sync Folder (on a USB flash drive) to sync between the three desktops? Might switching the desktop sync mode back and forth between wifi and Local Sync Folder lead to data loss, conflicts or other problems? Thanks for any advice you can offer!
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Hi @hash,
Thanks so much for using Codebook and joining the forum!
That should be no problem at all, we test that regularly to make sure there aren’t any problems there, we’ve put a lot of work into making sure that the sync feature works as you might expect when you switch providers in this way.
Let us know if you have any other questions, and if you run into any issues (sometimes things can go funny when a Local Folder sync is done with a networked drive e.g. over SMB, but we resolved the last bugs we were aware of. I can’t remember the last time we saw an issue with a removable volume, but let us know if you run into a problem).
That’s great! Thank you for getting back to me so quickly, with the answer that I was hoping for!
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No problem, happy to help! Though, reviewing my answer again, I really should stick to calling them “services” and not “providers”, as that’s what we’ve been sticking with in the interface as a description in our current development work, they are “Sync Services” in our official nomenclature.
This may be of interest: we are currently working on Codebook 5, which will make available a new, automatic, background sync feature that uses a zero-knowledge, centralized service run by us. One of the things we’ve been paying attention to in our testing is how well everything holds up if someone decides to try it out, but wants to also switch over to one of the other services they already use from time to time to maintain that as a backup. So far so good 
In anticipation of a related question: we cannot make the automatic sync feature work with the existing services like Dropbox or Local Folder, we do not see a reasonable way to make that work well.
Thanks for the extra info. Background sync would certainly be a welcome feature, but I suspect it’ll take me a while to overcome my paranoia about storing my Codebook database anywhere online, so it’s good to hear the other sync services will still be available – please don’t lose the WiFi and Local Folder options!
PS. Great software, and great support – thank you!
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