Sync Notebooks Between Devices

Sync your Documents Between Devices

If you use Notebooks on multiple devices you probably want to sync your books and documents between them. Notebooks provides several options.

Sync with iCloud Drive

When synchronizing between iOS and macOS, iCloud Drive is probably the most obvious option. With an active iCloud account and logged in on the current device, Notebooks (version 11 or later) asks whether you want to store your documents on iCloud. If you agree, Notebooks selects a predefined folder on iCloud Drive (iCloud Drive/Notebooks) to store your documents, and from there they automatically synchronize with all connected devices. Read more about iCloud sync in a dedicated section.

Sync with Dropbox

This is a very simple and comfortable option as well. Set up Dropbox sync in Notebooks on all devices, turn on Sync System Files and activate Automatic Sync if you want. All your versions of Notebooks now synchronize with the same Dropbox directory, which acts as the central hub that receives changes and additions from each device and passes them on to the others. All the details are available in a separate chapter.
An extra advantage of Dropbox it that it keeps a history of all changes for at least 30 days. Should something ever go wrong, it is easy to revert a change or retrieve a deleted book or document.

Sync with a WebDAV Service

The logic is the same as with Dropbox, with the exception that automatic sync is not available. So you need to manually trigger synchronization to ensure that all changes you make on one device are stored on the central WebDAV server. All the details and a list of servers are available in an extra section.

Sync Directly Between iOS Devices

This is a viable option if you want to sync two devices without using a cloud service. Notebooks has a built in WebDAV server which can be considered your private WebDAV server. Basically, you start WiFi sharing on one device and set it as target for WebDAV synchronization on the other.

Here is a step by step guide: (to better identify which device we are referring to, we assume you are syncing between an iPad and an iPhone; but this is just an example)

On the iPad

• Make sure that both devices are connected to the same wireless network.
• In Notebooks, enable “WiFi Sharing” in settings and set up a WiFi user.
• At the top level book, select “Share This Book” from the action menu.
• In the view that appears, turn on the switch “Show System Files” to make sure that all task data and details are visible.

On the iPhone

• In Notebooks, change the WebDAV settings to the details given on the iPad’s Sharing info. Clear the Directory field and enter the username and password you have defined for WiFi Sharing on your iPad (see step 2 above)
• Move to the book that you would like to synchronize and select Sync from the action menu.
• This will synchronize your books, notes, tasks and documents between iPhone to your iPad.

If you use this procedure regularly, it is best to always sync in the same direction.

Sync Directly Between Notebooks for Mac and Notebooks on iOS Devices

If you want to sync Notebooks between your iPad and Mac without going through an external service, the best option is to use the WebDAV server that integrated in Notebooks for Mac.

In Notebooks for Mac

• Open Preferences > Notebooks Server and start the server; a WebDAV server is now running on your Mac. When you are to allow incoming traffic for Notebooks you should agree.
  With the server running, Notebooks displays all the details necessary to connect from Notebooks on iOS.

In Notebooks on your iPad or iPhone

• Open Settings > Sync and activate WebDAV; then open the WebDAV settings and enter the details presented in Notebooks for Mac. You can leave the start directory empty, but you might consider activating Sync Moves and Deletes and Sync System Files.
• When you now open a book’s action menu, you find an option Sync <name of your server> which allows you to trigger a sync of the current book and its contents with Notebooks on your Mac – provided Notebooks/Mac is running and your devices are connected to the same wireless network.