Accessing OmniOutliner document from Dropbox

OmniOutliner
#1

I need to be able to edit OmniOutliner documents on iOS that are stored in a Dropbox for Business account. However, I was unable to share the file from Dropbox; once in OmniOutliner it gave an error “Unable to open document. This does not seem to be a valid OmniOutliner document…” I shared the document to Documents by Readdle and then shared that copy to OO, with the same results. Uploading the file from Documents, I discovered that the file that Dropbox sent to OmniOutliner is not a .oo3 package, but a zip file with a .oo3 extension. Essentially, Dropbox is messing with the file in transit, which is a HUGE no-no. But that’s what Dropbox has decided is acceptable.

I definitely appreciate the work OmniGroup has done to create OmniPresence, and I love using it for my own files. But businesses are not necessarily okay with storing sensitive documents on a 3rd party sync service that they haven’t approved. iOS has functionality built in to allow apps to open documents from document providers. Unfortunately, Omni’s apps have chosen not to support this feature. And in fact, neither does Dropbox, so that wouldn’t work either.

I have a partial workaround:

  1. Use Readdle Documents to download the file from Dropbox and bypass Dropbox’s increasingly poor app
  2. Open the document in OO
  3. Save back to RD
  4. Upload back to Dropbox

However, this is still not ideal. If OO supported document extensions, steps 2-3 could be combined because OO could edit Documents’ copy directly, eliminating that particular round trip. But the round trip to Dropbox still remains.

I know there are services like DropDAV but that’s a security risk and not acceptable.

Does anyone else have a better solution? Or is this just what we deal with for now?

#2

Have you tried Sync from BitTorrent? It’s freemium, encrypted and uses no cloud. You put data in a folder on your desktop, and assign it for sync. Then you install the app on iOS and sync to the same folder. It works pretty seamlessly. I haven’t tried it on an .OO3 file yet, but it’s worked fine on everything else.

#3

That would still require a round-trip to OO unless Omni added document provider support, and we’re required to use Dropbox for Business, not BT Sync. So it still falls short on two levels.

#4

OmniOutliner iOS does use document provider support but it needs to be turned on because there are some edge cases that are beyond our control and most 3rd party providers don’t support file wrappers. To turn it on:

  • Tap the Gear menu from document browser
  • Tap Settings
  • Tap Use Cloud Storage Providers (at the bottom of the list)
  • Turn on the switch for Use Cloud Storage Providers

You can read more about it in the manual.

2 Likes
#5

The answer is simple: I was mistaken! The store quoted me $49.99, not $39.99. D’oh.

#6

Hi all,

I don’t see the option in the current iOS version, was this removed?

Best regards,
Christian

1 Like
#7

I also don’t see this option. I want to sync OmniOutliner with iCloud as I don’t like running an extra app just to sync my OmniOutliner files on macOS.

Can this option be added back please?

#8

This thread is about OmniOutliner 2. Are you using v2 or v3? In v3, you can open iCloud or Dropbox files directly from the Files app or use the Open… button from the Locations screen. You do not need to turn any setting on.