Warn users if they try to use a known-bad sync service

[deanishe]

Google Drive and iCloud are known to do a rotten job of syncing Alfred's preferences, and the online help advises against using them.

The help is where people go when they already have a problem. In this case, that can mean GDrive or iCloud already lost all their stuff.

I believe it would be more appropriate for Alfred to warn users before they try to use a sync service that is known to work badly.

It might not stop them using that service, but it would at least be an informed decision.

I know that I, for one, would be extremely annoyed to lose all my workflows and snippets to iCloud, then discover via the above help page that it's known not to work, but that isn't mentioned anywhere in the sync settings in Alfred itself.

 

Edited February 4, 2018 by deanishe
muh-muh-muh-modals

[deanishe]

In fact, why not block them by default in the same way as the Dropbox/Apps folder?

Edited February 4, 2018 by deanishe
punctuation

[Vero]

@deanishe It's only recently that we've started hearing of more frequent issues with iCloud syncing.

 

It may be that more users are trying to use iCloud in recent times, but it's also possible that iCloud is increasing its use of Optimised Storage behind the scenes, where files are stored in the cloud to free up storage locally:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207236

 

Alfred needs absolute live access to files, so if files are arbitrarily being removed because iCloud has decided they're not needed, it's inevitably going to cause issues.

 

In short, yes, we'll be adding a notice in the next release, letting users know that these services aren't recommended, if they try to select them.

 

Cheers,
Vero

[deanishe]

5 hours ago, Vero said:

arbitrarily being removed because iCloud has decided they're not needed

 

Sounds like a recipe for disaster does that.