Omnipresence vs. omnisync confusion

I am hopelessly confused. I have been using Omnisync with OF for a long time. Now that I have upgraded to the most recent version of OO, apparently I have to use OmniPresence instead to sync outlines to my iPad? Except that doesn’t always seem to work, and it is still apparently possible to sync them through Omnisync. HELP!

The way I understand it is

  • OmniPresence is the application that you run on your Mac.
  • OmniSync is the serve that the OmniGroup runs that you can use with OmniPresence to sync documents (like OO or OmniPlan) or sync your OmniFocus database.

OmniPresence works a bit like dropbox. Install the application on your Mac, tell it the username/password that you use with OmniSync in OF and tell it a directory that you want to story your synced documents in.

And your iPad, you don’t need to install an extra OmniPresence App. Just put in your username/password for the OmniSync server into the App.

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That’s correct! OmniPresence is the app that works with the Omni Sync Server to sync non-OmniFocus documents. We designed OmniPresence specifically with our file-package format in mind. Many other syncing services don’t respect these formats, and can result in data loss. @historydoll if you need any help getting any of our apps set up, feel free to email us and we will get you up and running!

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New user here. I am using OF and OO on both iOS and Mac, and I too definitely find it confusing that they follow different conventions re: syncing. OF is a no-brainer in terms of syncing. OO requires some further set-up, and I find that my edits between devices often result in conflicts. Maybe I’m missing something.

@FarmagnuorsSon Sorry for the confusion! OmniFocus and OmniOutliner rely on two different sync mechanisms because they work with two different types of data. OmniFocus writes all of its data to one database file that is synced between multiple devices (this is an “all or nothing” sync setup). However, OmniOutliner users often work with multiple files, and we assume that users may not want to sync all of them. OmniOutliner’s sync solution, OmniPresence, allows you to select which files you’d like to sync and which files you’d like to just save locally to your Mac or iOS device.

In regards to conflict files, it may be helpful to review this section of the OmniPresence manual: https://support.omnigroup.com/documentation/omnipresence/mac/1.5/en/using-omnipresence-on-your-mac/#resolvingomnipresenceconflictfiles

If this doesn’t seem to explain the sync conflicts you’re encountering, our Support team would be happy to look into this behavior with you! They can be reached at omnioutliner@omnigroup.com.

Hope this helps!