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Keeping multiple computers in sync
With version 3.04+ you can automatically keep copies of the Perfect Diet Tracker running on different computers in sync using either a shared drive, or the DropBox service.
The computers do not have to be running the same operating system, so you can use the feature keep a Windows PC and Mac perfectly in sync.
Using DropBox and the Internet to keep data in sync
DropBox currently offer a free (basic) and paid (pro) service to keep files in sync across multiple computers using your internet connection. Using the DropBox service to keep copies of the Perfect Diet Tracker in sync is easy.
First, click on the ‘edit settings’ button in the diary, then click on the ‘File options’ tab (1).
Next click on the ‘backup your data’ link to perform a data backup before making any changes.
Finally click on the ‘Enable DropBox sync’ (2) option, the Perfect Diet Tracker will check to see if you have DropBox installed and if not take you through the setup stages step by step.
Once you have setup DropBox, we recommend after turning a computer on you wait a few seconds to allow DropBox to perform an online sync and get details of any changes made on other computers before opening the Perfect Diet Tracker.
Keeping computers in sync using a shared or network drive
To keep your computers in sync using a shared or network drive click on the ‘edit settings’ button in the diary, then click on the ‘File options’ tab (1) to load the screen shown above.
Next click on the ‘backup your data’ link to perform a data backup before making any changes.
Finally, click on the ‘change’ button (2) and select a folder on your shared or network drive. You data files will be moved to the shared drive, and you can perform this step again on other computers, selecting the same location to let them share the same data files and stay in sync.
If you want to go back to the default file location you can click on the ‘Reset’ button to restore the default settings.
Resolving Sync Conflicts
When you add your first computer to the DropBox service it will automatically upload its data to your DropBox.
When adding a second computer because there is already data in your DropBox and on the computer, the software will ask you which copy of the data you want to use. This will also happen if you select a folder on a shared drive, like the DropBox service there will be two sets of data files, the ones in the shared folder and the ones on the computer you are using and the software needs to know which copy of the data files you would like to use.
If your data is up to date on this computer you can select the first option (1) and the software will overwrite the data in your DropBox or shared folder with your current data. All your other ‘synced’ computers will then be updated to use the data on this computer.
If the data in your DropBox or shared folder (the information from the computers already synced) is correct, you should select the second option (2) to sync this computer with the data in your DropBox account.
4 responses to “Keeping multiple computers in sync”
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Still not appearing to sync.
Just to be clear….
I set the path on my computer to use my dropbox.
My husband sets the path on his computer to use his dropbox.
or….
do we need to set the path to either his or my drop box?I am assuming that we should be able to set path to our own individual drop boxes and then they will sync to each other. Other wise we would be dependent on having the other computer available.
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**Updated**
Hi Laura,
I’m sorry for any confusion, we have updated our response as apparently this is now possible with the latest DropBox.
The instructions above assume you a single DropBox account to sync your data between two computers. The diet tracker saves your data on one pc and dropbox will then copy it to the other pc so it is available there. If they do an update on the other pc, the data will be copied back to the first and so on.
If I understand you correctly you are saying you have two different DropBox accounts, presumably to sync with computers elsewhere and your two computers do not copy files to each other using the same Dropbox account.
I’m afraid in this case the software will be unable to locate any updated data as DropBox will not have copied it between your computers. It may be worth looking to see if it is possible for DropBox to sync files across accounts as this may be the answer to your particular problem, it is not a scenario we have seen before as most users use a single account to sync data between all their computers, but we will look into this and see what can be done.We now have a solution!
DropBox have a help page available at http://www.dropbox.com/help/19
This page runs through the steps needed to link the Perfect Diet Tracker Data folder in your DropBox to another users account, so if you follow the steps the folder should appear in both yours and your husbands separate DropBox accounts, and be kept in sync using their service.
I hope this helps!
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We never used dropbox before. That makes total sense. We just set it up for each of us instead of setting it up with only one of our email addresses. So, you are right, we had 2 accounts. I changed it and now it seems fine. Thanks!
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One Dropbox usage caveat: if you have two instances of PDT running and you make changes in both of them, on quit you will get file conflicts which must be resolved manually as Dropbox does not do any kind of smart merging.
Any questions or comments?
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