Synchronization

A key feature of tomboy is its ability to synchronise notes between several different machines. So, you can have your notes on a Linux Desktop, a Windows laptop and your Android phone (using Tomdroid). Always there, always under your control. Tomboy-ng will again let you include your Macbook in that mix. Using file Sync, you can mix traditional tomboy with tomboy-ng.

Tomboy has two ways of doing Sync, File Sync and Network Sync. Tomboy-ng does not, at this stage, support Network Sync.

To do File Sync, you need a shared drive somewhere. It could be Google Drive, Dropbox or similar. It could be a USB Drive plugged into your home router or even, I guess, a USB drive moved between different machines.

Tomboy-ng does not automatically sync (like Tomboy does) and that because it's sync engine has been written from scratch without the benefit of any policy documents. As such, the potential for something to "go wrong" cannot be ignored and having someone there to see any error report is important. You will note the sync process is very "wordy", telling you whats happening. When we get a bit more confident, we will tidy that up.

Tomboy-ng may join an existing sync or create an new repository that others may themselves join. If a new repository is the plan, first create an empty directory in a suitable place and then click tomboy-ng's Settings menu option. Choose the Sync tab and then click "Set File Sync Repo" and point to the directory you want to use (be it an existing sync repo or the one you just made).

The system will do a "test sync" and show you the results, please have a look and make sure its what you would have expected. If its all good then click "Sync and Save", that will save the sync settings and do an initial sync. After that, you can sync at any time using either the System Tray Icon menu or a note's Tools menu "sync".

Note that the initial sync process may find problems with one or more of your notes, if you start tomboy-ng from the console you will see quite a lot of details !