Duplicate pdf's when I sync to web

[gloriana11 0]

Hi.  I am a relative newbie and am confused about syncing.   I am an EN premium user and want to use EN to backup (one of many backups) of a bunch of PDFs I am using for academic research.   They live in a public EN notebook so I can access them from multiple platforms. 

 

When I run a sync some of them are being duplicated so there are two (and sometimes three) identical versions on the web which are now propagated back to my desktop.   I can't discern a pattern for which ones are being copied over or why.  It definitely has nothing to do with whether I have looked at them recently or not.

 

Does this happen to anyone else?  Can you tell me how to make it stop?

[CalS 5,280]

Did you get the PDFs into EN using the Import folder option?  If you did and you did not select the delete source option, the PDFs will be imported each time you open EN.  EN checks import folders when opened.  If this is the case, you can go to that folder delete the files that are there.  Also, go to the import folders option and change the setting to delete source to prevent the issue from continuing.

[gloriana11 0]

Thanks.  I do use the import function.   My only question is why it stops with two copies.  Why doesn't it just replicate them infinitely?

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Hi Gloriana11,

 

Let me explain a few things so that perhaps we can all be on the same page... and get to the bottom of why multiple copies of the same PDFs are appearing. I think maybe it's just a matter of terminology, but for what it's worth:

 

• You should be able to access your notes/ notebooks on all platforms without resorting to a Public Evernote notebook
  • A public Evernote notebook would require you to "publish" the notebook from within your actual account (have you actually done that?)
• Once any client (version) is synced, you should see everything within every other client (once synced), whether it be on mobile, desktop or web - and that information can remain private
• If you have created a public notebook for anyone else who has the link to view, still, the most practical for you would be to view your notes from within any of your Evernote clients
• If you have 3 versions of a PDF on the Web, they will be synced to your desktop (and all other clients). As is the case with anything you have on the Web.
• The question is why you have multiple copies on the web client itself

I just ran a quick test. If one is not signed into their Evernote web client, when you follow a public note link, and you choose to "Save to Evernote", it will ask you to sign in to your account... and once you have signed in, you will then be able to save your own note to your account, which will in fact duplicate it (in all clients). Now, I doubt you're doing this... but I am curious as to your use of "Public notebooks" (or notes) Perhaps it's just mixing up terms... but it's important to get past that to be sure that's not what we're dealing with.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Thanks.  I do use the import function.   My only question is why it stops with two copies.  Why doesn't it just replicate them infinitely?

 

In my experience, my files in any given import folder are not duplicated, ever... and they sit there for days until I manually send them to the trash. I'm using Windows desktop. Also, AFAIK, the import folders push files to the desktop client and are synced to the web from there. There is no way for them to be synced to the web first, which @gloriana seems to be saying ("identical versions on the web which are now propagated back to my desktop")

 

Also, just to be sure... we are talking about "Import Folders" found under "tools" on the desktop client (Windows), right?

I imagine that's what you mean by the "import function" you speak of...

[CalS 5,280]

Thanks.  I do use the import function.   My only question is why it stops with two copies.  Why doesn't it just replicate them infinitely?

Excellent question.  I need a do over on my previous post.  I just did some testing and EN does not import the PDF a second time if the Keep option is selected.  It did in the past, but now now.  My only excuse is that I hadn't been down that path in a while.  

 

So my next question would be relative to modifications and syncing.  There's a chance that if you make mods on one platform and then another, without syncing after the mods, that you could end up with a conflict and hence duplicate notes.  Any chance of this?

[gloriana11 0]

Thanks for your quick response -- I've been distracted by Thanksgiving.

 

So here's what I am trying to do -- possibly not using the right terminology.   I have 3 platforms -- PC, tablet and phone.  I have two kinds of notebooks -- local (only on the PC) and what I was calling public (on all three).  None is available to anyone but me at the moment.

 

One stack of notebooks is collected research material, mainly academic journal pdfs but some other things as well.   Before EN, they lived in a set of folders on my PC, are connected to a bibliographic management system, and are backed up externally in a couple of different ways.  I think of these as my working files.  I was attracted to EN initially for its search capability but thought it would be a good way to get web-based backup for these files.  I do not want to disrupt my working file system.   So I got EN premium, copied my pdfs over several months because of the monthly upload limit.  Then I set up a watch folder thing for EN so that when I add things to my working files they would get synced to EN.

 

What has happened is that in the sync process, I now have two copies of every file.  One is from the original upload whenever it was and the second one is universally from this November -- but not all on the same day.   For example, one folder which I have not accessed in months has 97 entries (which presumably should be 48) --  7 were created today, 13 on Nov. 25, 10 on Nov. 15, 13 on Nov. 10, and 3 on Nov. 8.  The rest were created on May 1.  There are four files from May 1 which have not been duplicated.  There is one which has three copies -- May 1, Nov. 8 and Nov. 25.  

 

I have not been watching closely enough to know if the newly updated files (the Nov. ones in this case) are replacing a previous duplicate that was dated sometime between May and November.

 

I find this all mystifying.  Any clarification would be welcome.

[CalS 5,280]

Don't know that I have an answer, but some questions.  Did you do any directory maintenance that might have caused a re-import the files?  An update to EN somewhere in the time frame?  Edit the notes on one platform without a sync and then edit on another platform?

[gloriana11 0]

To stick to the one folder that I checked all the dates -- I don't believe I have done any directory maintenance.  I probably have put in at least one EN update, it's on automatic and I always say yes.  I have definitely not edited the notes -- they are just imported PDF's. 

 

I'm working on a PC with Windows 7.   I also do automatic updates from Microsoft.  Is it possible that some MS update somehow reads as having changed the date in the directory?   That seems unlikely given that the files in the directory have recopied on different dates. 

[jefito 5,589]

Just for fun, check your activity log (Help / Activity Log) around the time that you do an import. Imported files get logged in the Activity log.

 

Oh, and check the Created Dates of the duplicates. If they're identical, that's a clue; if they're not, that's also a clue.

[CalS 5,280]

If the files are still i the import folder you might check the create/modify dates on them as well for clues.  Also, any import folder settings changes in EN tools?