Reunion Touch with iCloud Drive

[James Milne]

The instructions for sharing via iCloud Drive states in item 5 “move your family file to an iCloud Drive folder”, but item 6 then states “Wait while your family file is copied to iCloud Drive”. So is the file being moved or copied, which are two differing actions, to iCloud Drive? I would feel a lot safer if my family file was on my local drive as opposed to only being in iCloud. Also, do I move/copy my family file to an existing iCloud drive folder, or should I create a new folder (if this can be done) called perhaps Reunion Files? After spending many many years building my family tree, the last thing I want is to see, is it disappearing into the ether.

[Gregg]

...but item 6 then states “Wait while your family file is copied to iCloud Drive”

Yes, this wording is misleading. It should say something like "allow time for your family file to be uploaded to the iCloud Drive servers."

We will update the wording in the ReunionTouch manual to better explain this.

Instructions can also be found here...

https://www.leisterpro.com/reuniontouch/icdusing.php

I would feel a lot safer if my family file was on my local drive as opposed to only being in iCloud

Just like with Dropbox, your family file will remain local on your hard drive. However, it will also be copied to the iCloud Drive server in the cloud and also copied to any other Macs or mobile devices that share the same iCloud Drive account.

...do I move/copy my family file to an existing iCloud drive folder, or should I create a new folder...

This is up to you. If you already have a lot of files and folders in your iCloud Drive folder, then you might want to create a "Reunion Files" folder for your Reunion related files.

...the last thing I want is to see, is it disappearing into the ether.

I agree, everyone will always want to have a local copy of their family file their Mac. This is how iCloud Drive works; there is a local copy of your file on your Mac's hard drive and a duplicate copy of that file stored on the iCloud Drive server. Whenever you modify the file locally on your Mac the revised version of that file is uploaded to the iCloud Drive servers in the ether and then out to the other Macs and mobile devices.

I hope that answers some of your concerns.

[James Milne]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my queries Gregg. I gave up using Dropbox some time ago due to several problems, mainly to do with syncing. I’ll try iCloud Drive and see if it’s any better.

[Kathy C]

I think this is great news to be able to sync with iCloud Drive! I followed the directions but it hasn't worked for me. I uploaded my file to iCloud. The Mac Finder shows it is in iCloud and uploaded. The File apps on both the iPhone and iPad show the file is there. But when I launch ReunionTouch, there is no way to access my file via iCloud as the directions say. What am I doing wrong?

[Gregg]

To sync Reunion and ReunionTouch via iCloud Drive make sure that...
- you are running the most recent build of Reunion 13 [230824]
- you are running the most recent build of ReunionTouch [1.0.19]

Both of these builds were just released late last week.

[suem]

Hi Do I need dropbox in iCloud as a location on my iPad to work with Reunion Touch it on my old one but not the new one

[Gregg]

If you're sharing your family file with ReunionTouch via iCloud Drive, Reunion and ReunionTouch do not require Dropbox.

Note that you can not have two family files with the same name downloaded to ReunionTouch even if they are stored in different folders on your Mac.

If you're moving your family file from Dropbox to iCloud Drive, please see this page...

https://www.leisterpro.com/reuniontouch/questions/dbicdmove.php

Also, we've updated our ReunionTouch FAQ page to cover iCloud Drive...

https://www.leisterpro.com/reuniontouch/questions/questions.php

[Peter Sherman]

Hello, all:

I've recently moved my Reunion database to my iCloud Drive, and I'm pretty sure I've followed the instructions correctly so that this database will sync with ReunionTouch on my iPhone. But shouldn't this syncing occur automatically? It isn't for me.

I can confirm that edits I make to the Reunion database on my Mac do get synced to my iCloud Drive (according to the date & time info in Files on my iPhone). So that part of the process seems to be working fine.

But when I then open the same database in ReunionTouch, it is missing these edits. The workaround I've had to use is to quit (not just close) ReunionTouch, re-open it and delete the database from my iPhone, then re-download the edited database from iCloud Drive. (Just downloading the edited database is not enough - I have to delete the existing database first.)

My Mac and iPhone are on the same network (and, as I mentioned, iCloud Drive is definitely syncing). And I'm using the most recent builds of Reunion and ReunionTouch that Gregg mentioned on 28 Aug.

No one else seems to have reported this problem (here, at least), so I suspect I'm missing something - can Gregg or anyone else tell me what it is?

Thanks,
Peter Sherman

[Gregg]

In Reunion on your Mac - what do you see listed when you open the File > Sharing Status window?

[Peter Sherman]

Gregg, thanks - as I'm sure you knew, that's where the problem was. I've reset the sharing settings and everything is now syncing smoothly. Thanks again - much obliged!

[AndreTheGeek]

I'm afraid I must be doing something terribly wrong with iCloud. Everything was working well with DropBox, but I was very happy to try it with iCloud.

I moved my family tree file there, then downloaded it from iCloud to my phone and iPad. Everything seemed OK, but when I added a new picture to a record on the iPad, I just realized it hadn't shown up on my phone or Mac.

I did the reset sharing thing, and re-downloaded on the iPad and phone again. The iPad is working now, but slowly. Slow to load. Adding a picture takes a good minute. It finally showed up on the Mac, but then my phone wouldn't show any pictures beside people. I deleted from the phone again, then downloaded again, and it seems to be working now, but adding a photo on there is unbearably slow now too. After I select the photo and click "Choose" it appears to do nothing, but after about a full minute it succeeds.

As a test, I closed it on my phone and iPad. Made a text change in a note on a person, then opened it on the iPad again. The change wasn't there. Closed it and opened it again a few minutes later, and the change was now there. There seems to be a serious delay now.

It wasn't like this on Dropbox at all, so I may go back.

Am I doing something wrong or is iCloud just too slow?

[SGilbert]

I'm afraid I must be doing something terribly wrong with iCloud. Everything was working well with DropBox, but I was very happy to try it with iCloud.

I moved my family tree file there, then downloaded it from iCloud to my phone and iPad. Everything seemed OK, but when I added a new picture to a record on the iPad, I just realized it hadn't shown up on my phone or Mac.

I did the reset sharing thing, and re-downloaded on the iPad and phone again. The iPad is working now, but slowly. Slow to load. Adding a picture takes a good minute. It finally showed up on the Mac, but then my phone wouldn't show any pictures beside people. I deleted from the phone again, then downloaded again, and it seems to be working now, but adding a photo on there is unbearably slow now too. After I select the photo and click "Choose" it appears to do nothing, but after about a full minute it succeeds.

As a test, I closed it on my phone and iPad. Made a text change in a note on a person, then opened it on the iPad again. The change wasn't there. Closed it and opened it again a few minutes later, and the change was now there. There seems to be a serious delay now.

It wasn't like this on Dropbox at all, so I may go back.

Am I doing something wrong or is iCloud just too slow?

FWIW, I made the change fairly easily, but sharing iCloud Drive proved to be a royal nightmare. Decided to revert to Dropbox which has always worked flawlesly.
That's where the nightmare turned into horrors whenI kept getting copies of the family file everywhere and not knowing which was original and which was a copy. I was terrified I'd lost 20+ years of work & research.
Finally have it all ironed out, but NEVER will I ever attempt to go that route again!

[Nickj]

I switched my 224K+ individuals file from Dropbox to iCloud about a month ago and have no issue whatsoever, switching back and forth from my Mac OS devices to the IOS ones (and this multiple times daily).

The great advantage with iCloud is being able to have my file available on more than 3 devices at no extra cost. Apart from the Touch app which doesn't show the correct total # of people (something that will surely get corrected soon), all works flawlessly.

[Nickj]

Update from my above 10th October 2023 post : all went well until... Mac OS Sonoma came out. I downloaded 14.1.1 and since then only my small family files synchronise, not my main 500+ Mb file... back to Dropbox for a while...

[Bob White]

Update from my above 10th October 2023 post : all went well until... Mac OS Sonoma came out. I downloaded 14.1.1 and since then only my small family files synchronise, not my main 500+ Mb file... back to Dropbox for a while...

You didn't say.... How much storage do you have at iCloud? Is there sufficient free space for your 500+ MB file? As far as I know, size isn't an issue (other than the time factor if one has a slow Internet connection).