Sync between your devices

Sync in SILONotes is not a cloud service. Your desktop and your phone exchange encrypted .silo archives through a place both of them can reach, and every note stays on your own devices. Setup is three steps under Settings, Sync on both platforms: Choose where, Pair, Confirm. It needs no account and no backup password. Open the guide at the top of that screen opens this article.

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How it works

You choose one place on each device: the same place, as each device sees it. Each device writes its own encrypted archive there, named silosync-<device id>-<sequence>-<time>.silo, and applies the newest archive written by the other device. SILONotes writes straight into the folder you chose and never creates one of its own, so give it a folder of its own rather than pointing it at a folder full of other things. Whatever keeps that folder the same on both sides is the transport: a Syncthing share, a Drive or Dropbox folder that is mirrored to the computer, a USB drive you carry, or a WebDAV server you run yourself.

Every archive is encrypted with a key only your two devices hold. The first one, the pairing file, is locked with a six-word code that the first device shows and the second device types. Once it has been opened, both devices hold the key, every later exchange opens with no prompt, and nothing else can read what they exchange, including the folder service or the server carrying it. Sync only sends what changed since the other device last heard from this one, so pressing Sync now on a large library that has not changed costs about the same as on a small one.

Step 1 of 3: Choose where

Sync passes encrypted files through a place both devices can reach. Whoever runs that place sees file names and sizes, never your notes. There are two kinds:

• A folder. One both devices can reach: a folder a cloud app keeps in step, a Syncthing share, or a USB drive. Press Choose folder and pick it. On the phone, Android asks you to allow access to the folder; on the desktop, pick the folder as your computer sees it.
• Your own server. A WebDAV address on a NAS or a machine you run, with its username and password. Press Test connection to check it answers, then Use this server. Use HTTPS if the server offers it: over plain HTTP on your own network, the login crosses that network in the clear.

Step 2 of 3: Pair

The screen works out which half of the pairing this device is from what is in the place you chose, and shows only that half.

1. 1First device (nothing from the other device in the folder yet): press Create pairing file. The file goes into the place you chose, locked with six words, and the screen shows them under Your pairing code: "Type this on your other device. It works once." Show code again reads them back; Cancel pairing removes the file and forgets the words.
2. 2Second device (the other device's pairing file is already there): the screen says who left it. Type the six words into the Pairing code field, in any order of case, and press Enter pairing code. The first four letters of each word are enough.
3. 3Back on the first device, press Sync now. Both devices now hold the same key, and the Pair step is done.

Without a shared place, use Other ways to pair: Send pairing file and Open pairing file on the desktop, Send to other device and Open from other device on the phone. One archive, moved however you like, with the same six words.

Step 3 of 3: Confirm

Press Sync now. A line under the button says exactly what moved, for example "Synced with Laptop. 3 added, 1 updated." or "Already up to date with Laptop.", and it says the same every time you press. Details opens the history of runs and, after a failure, the full error. There is no alert to dismiss.

Everyday use

Edit on either device, then press Sync now on each of them. A sync sends this device's changes and applies the other device's newest archive, so a full exchange takes one press on each side. SILONotes never syncs on its own: nothing leaves your device until you ask it to.

Outside the Sync screen, the Sync row in Settings carries one line about it: "Last synced 2 hours ago", "3 changes waiting", "Sync failed: …" or "2 conflicts to review". A dot appears beside it, and on the Settings entry itself, when a run failed, when conflicts wait, or when changes have waited a week without a sync.

The status card

Once paired, the Sync screen shows a card with the other device's name, when you last synced, and where: Folder: followed by the place, or your server's address. Rename changes what this device is called on the other one. Change points sync at a new place: changing where you sync sends your library to the new place once, so your other device can find it there; point both devices at the same new place. Unpair forgets the key; both devices keep every note they have, and to sync again you pair once more.

When both devices changed the same note

Edits to different paragraphs of the same note merge on their own. Only a paragraph edited on both sides since the last sync is a conflict. The newer edit stands in the note, and the other version is kept whole as a copy in a SILO called Sync Conflicts, on both devices. Nothing is thrown away.

The Sync screen lists each conflict to review, and says which device made the older edit that went into the copy. It can be either one: if your own edit was the older, the copy holds your words and the note holds the other device's. Compare shows what differs: on the phone, the changed words of each paragraph, red for text only the copy has and green for text only the note has; on the desktop, the note and its copy side by side. Keep the note leaves the note as it is, Use the copy puts the copy's version of the clashing paragraphs back into the note, and Keep both keeps the copy as a note of its own; in each case the record is closed and the copy goes to Trash unless kept. Open note, Open copy and Open Sync Conflicts take you to the notes themselves.

Photos on a synced note

Pictures travel with the note and show on the other device. Media is carried once and left out of later archives that do not need it.

Deleting

• Move a note to Trash on one device, and the other device trashes it too.
• Permanently delete a note on one device, and the other device moves its copy to Trash rather than destroying it. A mistake is always recoverable.
• A note you deleted does not come back on the next sync, even if the other device had not heard about the deletion yet.
• Deletions are remembered for 180 days. A device that has not synced for longer than that can bring a deleted note back the next time it syncs; delete it again and it stays gone.
• Delete a SILO on one device, and the other device deletes it too. Any notes still in it there, or moved into it before the sync, land in General rather than disappearing.

What travels, and what stays

Things to look out for

• The code is refused. Read the six words again on the device showing them; the first four letters of each are enough, and case does not matter. If the code is more than a day old it has expired: press Cancel pairing on the first device, then Create pairing file for a fresh one.
• The folder is no longer there. A moved or deleted folder shows as "Cannot reach the place you chose right now." Press Change and pick it again, on both devices.
• The same place on both sides. "A pairing file is waiting in the place you chose" means the other device has not opened it yet, or is looking at a different folder.
• A file that is still copying. "…is still copying. Try again in a moment" means your folder client has not finished. SILONotes checks that a file has stopped growing before opening it.
• Press Sync now on the phone before you leave. Nothing goes into the folder until you do, and your folder client then needs a moment to carry the file across.
• Clocks. Which edit is newer is decided by each device's clock, so keep both set automatically. A clock that looks wrong is named in the sync line.
• One pair. Sync is designed for one phone and one desktop.
• A large first sync takes a few minutes on a phone and is safe to stop: press Pause and it stops after the batch it is on. Progress is saved as it goes, and the next Sync now finishes where it left off. If the run stops with an error, the line says why and Try again repeats it.
• Once a day, a full check. The first sync after a day compares the whole library against what the other device holds, so a change the quick path missed is caught. It writes nothing when everything matches.