Using Two Macs with Dropbox

[EM O'Connell]

I'm hoping I haven't done something irretrievable and that someone can help please.

In Reunion 11 on my Mac I closed my Family File by clicking on the 'x' at the top left of the screen. Later away from home on my laptop I opened Reunion and was a little surprised that I got the box that said I had a file open on my Mac and did I want to close it and continue with what I had on my laptop. Thinking I had already closed my Mac file and so the latest version would therefore now be on my laptop as I opened that file via Dropbox, I clicked yes. Unfortunately then I realised my laptop file was not the updated version of what I had closed on my Mac earlier in the day, but an old one.

I think I now know why this happened - the Reunion file on my laptop may not have updated because internet access was patchy, so it only offered me what I had last worked with on the laptop, rather than reaching back to Dropbox to pick up the file I had closed on my Mac earlier in the day.

Now that I am back home, can I open the file on my Mac which I closed before leaving home, without it updating to the old one on my laptop - if I keep my laptop offline, will Dropbox only be able to offer me the Mac version?

I have not yet tried - do I close or leave open the laptop version, or won't it matter if the laptop has no internet access?

Many thanks
Elizabeth

[Nick]

In these cases I kill the wifi before booting the Mac, and back up the file. Then, if DB copies over the laptop file, you can just overwrite it with the backed-up one. Sounds a bit Heath-Robinson, but that's the only way I've found in these circumstances.

[Gregg]

It sounds like your assessment of the situation is correct.

You made changes to your family file on your Mac and then closed the family file, this was the correct thing to do. However, when you attempted to open the family file on your laptop Dropbox had not been given the opportunity to update the family file with changes from your Mac.

Here is how you should proceed...

• Make sure Reunion is not running on your laptop and keep your laptop offline.

• Open your family file in Reunion on your Mac and make sure everything looks to be the same as you left it.

• If everything looks correct on your Mac, close the family file on your Mac and then bring your laptop online and allow Dropbox to update the family file on the laptop.

• Your laptop and Mac should have the same family file.

For more reading on this subject search your Reunion manual for: "sharing with other macs"

[EM O'Connell]

Many thanks Nick & Greg - balance is restored

Next time before I leave home I will actually open the file on my Laptop to make sure it has synced with Dropbox.

Thanks again
Elizabeth