[crackyakok]

I'm ultimately trying to get a solid cloud choice so that I can get a few folders from OS X synced to my Playbook.

I was using SugarSync (side-loaded Android app), somewhat successfully, if clumsily. Now that SS is no longer going to be free, I'm looking back to DropBox.

As PB has no native app, I sideloaded DB v2.3 and it works fine EXCEPT that I cannot access the local files on my PB if I am not connected to the internet; even if DropBox on my Playbook indicates that it is fully synced. I shut off wifi, try to open a file and it can't because it seems to be looking to download it.

Has anyone got a successful solution for syncing a cloud service - specifically DropBox, but happy to hear of others - to the PB (without paying $$)?

FYI, I have Files & Folders but I've discovered it doesn't sync with any of the cloud services that it supports.

[diegonei]

I'm rocking BOX more than ever now (same reason as you - SS going greedy on us).

And they already have an app.

[pacoman03]

I'm confused. Why are you trying to open local files with the Dropbox app? Dropbox is a cloud app, and without an internet connection, what's the point? No internet, no connection to the cloud, no point. But, I am running Dropbox 2.1, and it will sync your camera folder to the cloud, but the feature must be turned on in settings, you must open the app for it to sync, and you must be online.

[crackyakok]

I am equally confused by your reply!

I have a playbook that is wifi connectable. There are a bunch of files from my laptop that I want to take with me on the road. the road does not always have wifi but I always want those files available on my playbook. Therefore, I want the cloud service to download - that is, sync - whatever is in the cloud to my playbook. I do most editing of these files on my laptop, which I want uploaded to the cloud AND SYNCED to my playbook as they change. I also do some editing on my playbook - whether or not the playbook is currently online, so I want those updated files uploaded to the cloud when it is reconnected and subsequently synced to my laptop.

Seems incredibly straight forward to me. No rocket science here.

[crackyakok]

It would appear that the Box app for OS X 10.6 doesn't support my MBP 10.6. Something about needing 64bit. Maybe when/if I upgrade my MBP to Mavericks.

EDIT: Well, I just found a new way to access Box Sync for Mac and this time it installed. So, I'll give BOX a try now.

[crackyakok]

Well, BOX doesn't sync (i.e. download the entire file) the cloud data with the playbook. It syncs the names only but it only seems to download the file when I click on the file name to open it.

[crackyakok]

I might have thought that cloud apps would be pretty easy to figure out. Do people not think in terms of workflows?

If anyone is keeping track, it appears now that the Dropbox 2.3 app Android sideloaded to Playbook is working as designed viz offline access; if one wants access offline then one must, when online, select INDIVIDUAL FILES that one wishes to access offline.

I really do not understand the decisions that some designers/marketers make. If someone wishes an entire folder to be available offline, one cannot simply choose the folder, one must go into that folder and select each and every file that one might want offline.

"Sure, wait an hour while I select these 375 individual files that I'd like to access offline."

If SugarSync can do that, why can't Dropbox? Beyond me.

[Innovatology]

Sync is actually much, much harder than it might seem to a casual observer. Factors that come into play:

• devices are not always connected;
• two devices may make changes to the same file while disconnected;
• devices & server time/date may be different or incorrect;
• devices & server may have different timezones;
• devices may travel into a different timezone;
• most cloud services use revision numbers, not timestamps, to track changes. On devices, it's the other way around;
• most cloud services have no function to set or change the timestamp of a file. The upload date is the time stamp;
• an app cannot change the timestamps of a local file it doesn't own;
• ownership of a local file may change when edited (or even without editing) preventing reliable time stamp management;
• with some apps, editing/changing a local file updates the modification date, while with other apps it updates the creation date too. In fact, a new file with a new owner may be written and the old one discarded;
• files/folders/branches may be moved/deleted by the user or by other apps. Should it then also be moved/removed from the server & other devices? What if they're moved/removed in the cloud?
• sync needs to be automatic, unobtrusive, predictable and reliable, especially on a mobile device;
• conflict resolution is notoriously difficult, especially when distributed across multiple devices/users/servers;
• devices must be careful with bandwidth and resource consumption.
• I could go on and on...

So sync may seem obvious and straightforward, but look closer and you'll find quite the opposite.

[crackyakok]

Thanks for the reply but I still contend that it is not rocket science, and would further state that the numerous things to consider (as good software designers will do - spend time considering things) is hardly unique to this space. The length of your laundry list is typical of problems that are addressed with software rather than being somehow uniquely difficult.

For me, as a software designer, the notion that considerable effort would be put into a s/w product for mobile devices that does not allow for effective continued use when the mobile device is disconnected from the mother ship is, to understate things greatly, surprising. Software that forces the user to download files, individually, if they are to be able to access such files should they be disconnected by plan or by circumstance is simply to ignore reality.

On the other hand, you folks have brought to market some well-received software and I have not. It does make me wonder as to the workflows and circumstances of those other PB users out there.

Carry on!

[jpash549]

There is an app called Dropsync on Google Play and I assume this is the action you are looking for. Whether it could be side loaded and work on the PB 2.3.3 emulator?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

[pacoman03]

I doubt that Dropbox can't sync their app with the cloud, it's more likely that they don't want it to. The software they make for PCs do exactly that, so your desktop and laptop will sync with each other and the cloud. Mobile devices are a different story, and I'm guessing that most mobile users either don't want or need this feature. The whole point of cloud access on a mobile device is so you don't have to store the cloud files locally. The Dropbox app is NOT a Playbook app- it is an android app. As such, the majority of users are using the app on their android phones. Android phones don't need wifi to access the cloud, and, do you really want your 16 or 32 GB phone syncing with your 100 GB Dropbox account, especially if your cell plan limits you to 4 or 5 GB of data per month?

Now SugarSync has this feature in their mobile app, and I'm guessing they do so in order to distinguish themselves from the other cloud services- hence the "sync" in their name. I'm also guessing that SugarSync's plan all along was to charge for their service at some point (after sucking people in with a free account, they figured that those who like and need the sync feature would be willing to pay for it when SugarSync discontinued their free accounts). Since the OP seems unwilling to pay for the feature, I'm not sure why DropBox should care what he thinks.

[jpash549]

I doubt that Dropbox can't sync their app with the cloud, it's more likely that they don't want it to. The software they make for PCs do exactly that, so your desktop and laptop will sync with each other and the cloud. Mobile devices are a different story, and I'm guessing that most mobile users either don't want or need this feature. The whole point of cloud access on a mobile device is so you don't have to store the cloud files locally. The Dropbox app is NOT a Playbook app- it is an android app. As such, the majority of users are using the app on their android phones. Android phones don't need wifi to access the cloud, and, do you really want your 16 or 32 GB phone syncing with your 100 GB Dropbox account, especially if your cell plan limits you to 4 or 5 GB of data per month?

Now SugarSync has this feature in their mobile app, and I'm guessing they do so in order to distinguish themselves from the other cloud services- hence the "sync" in their name. I'm also guessing that SugarSync's plan all along was to charge for their service at some point (after sucking people in with a free account, they figured that those who like and need the sync feature would be willing to pay for it when SugarSync discontinued their free accounts). Since the OP seems unwilling to pay for the feature, I'm not sure why DropBox should care what he thinks.

Have you looked at the app that I referenced in post 12? Would appreciate an expert opinion on it.

[pacoman03]

Have you looked at the app that I referenced in post 12? Would appreciate an expert opinion on it.

Yeah. I just found it and loaded it on my PB, and it seems to work as advertised. I haven't tested it extensively, since I don't really want my PB and my DropBox account synced. The official DropBox app features an automatic upload feature, which will upload any new files appearing in your Camera folder to the cloud. It doesn't sync your camera folder with the DropBox camera uploads folder though, which, as I see it, is as it should be. This allows you to delete or move pics out of your camera folder without them being deleted from the cloud. This feature is enough for me.

[jpash549]

Yeah. I just found it and loaded it on my PB, and it seems to work as advertised. I haven't tested it extensively, since I don't really want my PB and my DropBox account synced. The official DropBox app features an automatic upload feature, which will upload any new files appearing in your Camera folder to the cloud. It doesn't sync your camera folder with the DropBox camera uploads folder though, which, as I see it, is as it should be. This allows you to delete or move pics out of your camera folder without them being deleted from the cloud. This feature is enough for me.

As I looked at the pictures for the app it seemed that you select individual folders to be synced which is what the OP was looking for. Seemed that there was a lot of versatility there.

Another question. When I look at apps in ghost commander I find what is apparently an Android Browser.

apps://com.android.browser/Shortcuts

Under this I find a list of shortcuts and bookmarks which I don't find under the standard PB browser and also apparently a way to add additional shortcuts. What am I looking at and why is it even here?

[pacoman03]

Browser is just the stock android internet browser that is part of the android runtime. It's kinda useless as an internet browser, though, since it is sorely lacking in functionality (no address bar, for example- you seemingly can only do a google search to get to most websites). What the bookmarks that show in Ghost are, I'm not sure, since they don't appear to conform to the actual bookmarks that show in the browser. Here's a screenshot of the browser with the incorporated bookmarks showing (all google related).

[jpash549]

Browser is just the stock android internet browser that is part of the android runtime. It's kinda useless as an internet browser, though, since it is sorely lacking in functionality (no address bar, for example- you seemingly can only do a google search to get to most websites). What the bookmarks that show in Ghost are, I'm not sure, since they don't appear to conform to the actual bookmarks that show in the browser. Here's a screenshot of the browser with the incorporated bookmarks showing (all google related).

Thanks. I did sign in with my google ID from my Nexus 7 and could view the google services. The address bar showed the google services with dropdowns even to the point of web developer tools. Google maps seemed to be OK. Could search for images by category and got whole pages very quickly.. Used the web to sign in to Google+. Could get news etc. When I tried to download an app from the play store it redirected me to the Blackberry World store which in one case offered an app in BB World which would do the job.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

[crackyakok]

Thanks, jpash549, I'll have a look at Dropsync.

[crackyakok]

I doubt that Dropbox can't sync their app with the cloud, it's more likely that they don't want it to. The software they make for PCs do exactly that, so your desktop and laptop will sync with each other and the cloud. Mobile devices are a different story, and I'm guessing that most mobile users either don't want or need this feature. The whole point of cloud access on a mobile device is so you don't have to store the cloud files locally.

pacman03, you are likely correct that people who store their entire drive in the cloud do not want it synced to their phone. I'd be curious to know how many people use the cloud as their primary drive.

In my case, I have about 600GB of files on my laptop, which is my primary drive. I upload to the cloud only what I want to have access to from my other devices or remotely accessed from some other off-site computer; right now that is <1GB.

There are many workflows out there viz the cloud, mine is just one. there are software designs that facilitate a variety of workflows or do not.

I agree with your thoughts re SugarSync.

[rdm101]

Try using FILEMENT for playbook - it gives me access to dropbox in the absence of a dropbox for playbook. Works without problems and probably won't be available forever