Is Dropbox causing Reunion delays?

[thedges]

While entering data, Reunion has spinning ball every few seconds, especially when when copy & pasting text data into Reunion. My iMac is Late 2014, Big,Sur OS version 11.6.6, 32 GB ram, 3.5 GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5.

[KirkS]

Unlikely. The file you're editing is on your local hard drive and should sync to Dropbox in the background.

If you want to test your theory, click on Dropbox and PAUSE the sync -- or EXIT Dropbox which will stop the sync. Then edit your data in Reunion. Do all the things that seem to be causing delays. If the delays are still there, it's your machine or some other issue. If the delays are gone, Dropbox is your culprit.

Once your experiments are over, re-launch Dropbox and your local files with sync to Dropbox. You won't lose any updates or changes.

[Mark]

A few things worth trying here:

1 - Reset sharing by opening the file and going to:

File -> Sharing Status...

And clicking Reset Sharing. Note that after doing this you will need to open the file in ReunionTouch so that it updates.

2 - Try turning off the Check for duplicates when adding new people option in Reunion -> Preferences... , General. In very large family files, this can cause some slowness when entering new people (though not when editing existing people).

3 - Try turning off Identify relationships "on the fly" via the Change button at top-right of the Relatives sidebar. As with #2, this feature can cause some slowness, in very large family files, when entering new people.

HTH

[Blaise A. Darveaux]

Another thing that I have found that causes spinning-wheel-hesitation (at least on my machine) is when I have the secondary window open while I work.

I have 63K people and am always on the look-out for couples that I have already entered. I made a secondary window I call my "spouse finder" that has the columns needed to determine if a couple has already been entered. Sometimes I forget to close it when I am done using it and it goes behind the main widow, but I am quickly reminded of it when I go back to work in the main window and I have to sit and wait for the machine when I tab from field to field. Closing the secondary window eliminates the spinning-wheel-hesitation.

Edit:

Also, one more thing that causes spinning-wheel-hesitation is when I do a "Find Relatives" (usually for myself as source) and the right hand list displays all the relatives. When I click to display the regular list of all people, it no longer hesitates while working in the main window.

[thedges]

Thanks Kirk S, It is Drop Box syncing that is causing the delay. I paused the syncing as suggested and it solved the issue! I l have used Reunion for many years and love it, but since we've had to use Drop box, it is very frustrating. I've been considering buying a new M1 MacBook, but they are limited in ram options of 8gb or 16gb, I'm concerned whether it will handle a large Reunion family file. I have 50K+ names!

[Bob White]

You'll need to toss out what you know about memory usage. It's totally different with the new M series chips. That 8 GB will run Reunion without even breathing hard.

By the way, my paternal great grandmother is a Hedges.