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Very Hot Topic (More than 15 Replies) How to restore from Sync Log? (Read 17833 times)
Jerry Krinock
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #15 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 6:46pm
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I'm not sure what you did, but this can occur if you make a lot of changes in Safari bookmarks, then try to export additional changes from BookMacster to Safari.  To avoid conflicts, BookMacster will not attempt the additional export until iCloud has "swallowed" the first batch of changes.  Usually this takes a few seconds for a few changes, or a few minutes for a major dump of, say, 2500 new bookmarks.  But sometimes iCloud is slower than usual.

Here's how it works.  BookMacster looks for the running of a process named SafariDAVClient.  If that process is running, BookMacster concludes that iCloud is currently syncing your bookmarks, and if it continues running for, I forgot if we allow 20 seconds or whatever, BookMacster gives up and displays that warning.  To verify this, launch Utilities > Activity Monitor and enter SafariDAV into the search field.  If SafariDAVClient is still running and seems to never quit, or if it continuously quits momentarily and then starts up again after a few seconds, something is wrong.  Do you see that happening?
« Last Edit: Oct 28th, 2016 at 11:08pm by Jerry Krinock »  

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RsUAS
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #14 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 6:02pm
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Still having problems even waiting to export to Safari only...

  
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #13 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 4:01pm
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RsUAS wrote on Oct 28th, 2016 at 3:08pm:
My complete setup is as follows…


If you have BookMacster on that MacBook Pro, even though syncing is off, I think it may have been possible to create a Sync Loop which would confuse iCloud by doing a manual Import or Export, if you got ahead of iCloud, which is possible when iCloud is having a "slow day".  I think you should move that .bkmslf file out of Dropbox.  And if you do not have BookMacster on that MacBook Pro, you should still move it out of Dropbox, because in that case there is no need for it to be in Dropbox, and this will remove one possible "moving part".

I would recommend using iCloud to sync your Safaris, Firefox Sync to sync your Firefoxes, and BookMacster on your iMac only to "bridge" between Firefox and Safari.  Your system will look like this:



In years past, we recommended using Dropbox to sync between devices, because then you had more than one BookMacster "bridge" among your browsers.  But once you throw iOS devices into the mix, you need iCloud anyhow, to sync to iOS.  So, Dropbox is not recommended for most users.  We've recently revised the setup instructions in our Help Book to indicate that.

Firefox Sync is activated in Firefox > Preferences > Sync.  I think it would be a good idea to clean out all of the bookmarks in Firefox too.

After you've moved your .bkmslf file out of Dropbox, cleaned out Safari/iCloud, and cleaned out Firefox Sync, you can switch on Syncing in BookMacster, export as prompted, and I think you'll be back in business.
  

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RsUAS
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #12 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 3:08pm
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Jerry Krinock wrote on Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:31pm:
A common cause of bookmarks syncing trouble is a Sync Loop among multiple devices (Macs, iPhone, etc.).  Let's make sure you don't have a Sync Loop.

I understand that you have BookMacster syncing Safari and Firefox on this one Mac, with iCloud-Safari switched on.

Please tell me what other devices you have, and are they running BookMacster, Safari or Firefox?

Is your .bkmslf file in a Dropbox or similar synced folder, for syncing to other Macs?


My complete setup is as follows:

iMac (main computer, BookMacster installed with its file on Dropbox in a dedicated folder, Safari main browser, Firefox second, iCloud sync on)

Macbook Pro 13 Retina (Safari as main, Firefox second, iCloud on, BookMacster sync NOT active)

iPhone 6 (iCloud on)

iPad Mini (iCloud on).
  
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Jerry Krinock
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #11 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:33pm
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RsUAS wrote on Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:23pm:
Actually I didn't set the correct bookmarks in BookMacster, but I can do it now if I have to. Please let me know, thanks.


Yes, please do that.  I'm not sure what you mean, but do "set" the correct bookmarks into BookMacster.  Then clean out your Safari bookmarks in all iCloud-connected devices, as I explained two posts ago.
« Last Edit: Oct 28th, 2016 at 4:02pm by Jerry Krinock »  

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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #10 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:32pm
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RsUAS wrote on Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:23pm:
Actually I didn't set the correct bookmarks in BookMacster, but I can do it now if I have to. Please let me know, thanks.


Yes, please do that.  I'm not sure what you mean, but do "set" the correct bookmarks into BookMacster.  Then clean out your iCloud from all devices, as I explained two posts ago.
  

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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #9 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:31pm
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A common cause of bookmarks syncing trouble is a Sync Loop among multiple devices (Macs, iPhone, etc.).  Let's make sure you don't have a Sync Loop.

I understand that you have BookMacster syncing Safari and Firefox on this one Mac, with iCloud-Safari switched on.

Please tell me what other devices you have, and are they running BookMacster, Safari or Firefox?

Is your .bkmslf file in a Dropbox or similar synced folder, for syncing to other Macs?
  

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RsUAS
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #8 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:23pm
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Jerry Krinock wrote on Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:22pm:
Your iCloud is probably, as I say, on the fritz.

I understand that you the bookmarks set that you want in BookMacster.

To get iCloud straightened out,

• Run Safari on your Mac.
• Click in the menu: Bookmarks > Edit Bookmarks.
• Delete all bookmarks.
• Repeat this process on any other devices which on which iCloud is syncing Safari.  Leave Safari running on all of your devices.
• Check after a few minutes o see if any bookmarks have reappeared on any devices.  If so, delete them and wait again.

After you get a clean 30 minutes with no bookmarks reappearing – congratulations – iCloud has been reset.

Will continue in next post.


Actually I didn't set the correct bookmarks in BookMacster, but I can do it now if I have to. Please let me know, thanks.
  
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #7 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:22pm
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Your iCloud is probably, as I say, on the fritz.

I understand that you the bookmarks set that you want in BookMacster.

To get iCloud straightened out,

• Run Safari on your Mac.
• Click in the menu: Bookmarks > Edit Bookmarks.
• Delete all bookmarks.
• Repeat this process on any other devices which on which iCloud is syncing Safari.  Leave Safari running on all of your devices.
• Check after a few minutes o see if any bookmarks have reappeared on any devices.  If so, delete them and wait again.

After you get a clean 30 minutes with no bookmarks reappearing – congratulations – iCloud has been reset.

Will continue in next post.
  

Jerry Krinock
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RsUAS
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #6 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:05pm
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Jerry Krinock wrote on Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:02pm:
I'm a little confused, RsUAS.  When you say you "did it", did you restore from iCloud?  This is important because if you did not, we still need to rebuild your iCloud.

What do you mean by "manual backup"?  Was this a BookMacster .bkmslf file?  A .html file from Safari?

The bookmarks set that you want – they are now in BookMacster but not Safari.  Is that correct?


Yes I restored from iCloud but the file was too old. So I started to rebuild the folder structure and the missing bookmarks by hand, but iCloud messed up again, erasing that situation and restoring the old one without any action. Maybe I must do it offline?
  
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Jerry Krinock
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #5 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:02pm
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I'm a little confused, RsUAS.  When you say you "did it", did you restore from iCloud?  This is important because if you did not, we still need to rebuild your iCloud.

What do you mean by "manual backup"?  Was this a BookMacster .bkmslf file?  A .html file from Safari?

The bookmarks set that you want – they are now in BookMacster but not Safari.  Is that correct?
  

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RsUAS
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #4 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 1:33pm
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Did it but the last save was yesterday before the error occurred.

The most important thing is to avoid that it happens again because I0ve found a manual backup with all but 1 bookmark. So please help me to set up BookMacster properly.

I'm going to resort the bookmarks now, with BookMacster sync in pause.
  
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Jerry Krinock
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #3 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 1:17pm
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After switching off syncing, the next thing we want to do is to restore your bookmarks.  We have a web page that explains various methods to do this.  In your case, I would use the so-called Second Method, restoring from iCloud.  As you will see when you do it, iCloud only shows you dates and times but does not allow you to preview what you are restoring.  But since you know the exact date and time when the trouble occurred, you should be able to pick the correct one and get what you want back into Safari after one or two guesses.  This method should also rebuild your Safari bookmarks in iCloud, which I would recommend (since this is likely an iCloud issue), but is otherwise somewhat tedious.

After this, your bookmarks in Safari should be looking good.  Let us know how that goes and we'll move on to the next step.  If you'd rather move this to private discussion, we'll watch for your email to us.
  

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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #2 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 12:34pm
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Done.

Waiting for your next instructions. Thanks.
  
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Jerry Krinock
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Re: How to restore from Sync Log?
Reply #1 - Oct 28th, 2016 at 12:25pm
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Hello, RsUAS.

The Sync Log tab may  be useful in determining why and when the mess occurred, but the backups are actually elsewhere.  Please do this to get started, if you have not already done so.

• In BookMacster, if Syncing is still on (green dot), switch it to pause (red exclamation point) be clicking it.

• In that Sync Log, note the date and time that the first undesired change occurred.

I'll send more instructions within an hour, but it's important to stop syncing as soon as possible.
  

Jerry Krinock
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