I wish OmniOutliner could support sync of OPML-format outline to Dropbox. This way I could edit outlines both on iPad and Android (via the Android Outliner app), in addition to OS X of course.
Are there any obstacles why it’s not a part of iOS OmniOutliner?
(of course I imply that all the formatting and attachments are not available/will be lost upon every sync–as it’s already the case when exporting to/importing from OPML).
We have added external document provider support to OmniOutliner which allows any service to provide syncing. However, Dropbox does not currently support this, it only offers import/export functionality.
[quote=“DerekM, post:2, topic:24113, full:true”]
We have added external document provider support to OmniOutliner which allows any service to provide syncing. However, Dropbox does not currently support this, it only offers import/export functionality
[/quote]Thanks for a prompt reply, Derek. But it looks like it is applicable only to native OO file format, as detailed in “The challenge of syncing OmniOutliner”: you need to store a bunch of files and make sure every sync operation is atomic.
As for OPML (which my question is about), every outline is a single XML file–and Dropbox works on a per-file basis just fine, as demonstrated by dozens of apps syncing user documents to Dropbox. And OmniOutliner for OS X and Outliner for Android are the most relevant examples to confirm that.
External document provider support itself doesn’t matter what the file type is. We allow you to use it with whatever file can be added the OmniOutliner which includes OPML. You can use the external document provider syncing support with OPML for any service as it is only the file packages, such as the OmniOutliner native format, that these services have trouble with. Most apps that are syncing with Dropbox integrate Dropbox’s API to do so which only provides syncing for a single provider.
Sorry, this time I just can’t understand what exactly you are trying to say.
My question is about OPML and Dropbox, not native OO files or other cloud file storages.
I’m trying to explain why you can’t sync OPML with Dropbox. We’ve added a way for it to be possible, but Dropbox is missing support for Apple’s external document provider syncing.
So the reason other apps allow syncing to Dropbox but not OO is that they use Dropbox-specific API, not Apple’s generic API which works with most file cloud storages but not with Dropbox–did I understand correctly?
Yes, that is correct. Dropbox does support the import/export functionality so if you really want to edit or add something from OmniOutliner to Dropbox, you can do that. You can read more about that here https://support.omnigroup.com/documentation/omnioutliner/ios/2.9/en/working-in-the-cloud/
Now, given Dropbox is not a good opion I am trying to sync OPML with Google Drive on iPad.
But I can’t open an OPML when it’s on Drive (OPML file is not “clickable”), only export there. Am I missing something?
Alternatively, is it possible to use iCloud Drive for OMPL sync on iPad?
Hmm, I am getting mixed results trying to use Google Drive. We’ll have to look into this to see if there’s anything we can do to make it work better. Though, the Google Drive iOS app seems to have major issues of its own – https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/drive/z0KWrxDMRUM
iCloud Drive should work perfectly fine for OPML and .oo3 files. OneDrive has also been reliable so far for OPML files.
DerekM, thanks for a prompt reply.
So by OO design ,Google Drive should allow opening OPML and saving back to GDrive, right?
Will wait for results of your investigation.
Afraid I don’t have any sort of definitive answer yet. Though I do know why the opml files aren’t being recognized. If you use the Drive iOS app to send a copy of the file, that file has changed extensions to .xml. I don’t know why Drive would be doing this but I assume you’ve tried creating new OPML files with Android Outliner and saving them to Google Drive. If you’re seeing the same result with those files, then that would suggest there’s a bug with the Google Drive iOS causing this.
