Dropbox synching doesn't start

DaveKi

Hi there,

for some while I noticed my 1Password apps an iMac; MBP and iPhone didn't sync anymore. Noticed on iMac synching via Dropbox was off (don't know why, never wittingly disabled it). Two items .agilekeychain and .opvault were created. Now all apps are up-to-date, Dropbox works fine, all are set to ... .opvault, it's the same DB account and folder alright. There's just one thing on the iMac 1PW simply sits there and will not sync but tells me 'never synched'. Ok, but how can I make it start? Thank you!

Update: After some time, I get an alert telling me there is a problem with 1Password Sync: Update preferences. I select the same file in Dropbox I sync the other devices with... but it seems to spring back 'nothing selected'... Help please :-)

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1Password Version: 1Password 6 Version 6.8.9 (689001)
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: 10.13.6
Sync Type: Dropbox

littlebobbytables

Hello @DaveKi,

Can you try making your way through our support guide If you’re having trouble syncing with Dropbox. As long as you have one copy of 1Password, ideally 1Password for Mac that you can point to as a canonical source of your data then I'm a firm believer in a full reset of sync - disable it everywhere, move anything 1Password related out of Dropbox and start afresh, using the canonical source to create the new OPVault to be used everywhere else.

If you're unsure about Dropbox working properly on both the Macs one extra thing to do is after disabling sync everywhere in 1Password, add a random file to Dropbox and see if it appears everywhere else. Then once you're happy Dropbox is working set up 1Password again.

Hopefully you'll be reporting good news.

DaveKi

Hi @littlebobbytables thank you for replying. I've done the reset a couple of times and then deleted everything 1Password-related in Dropbox. Not sure what you mean by 'canonical' copy but from the machine I first installed 1PW on I created a new folder in Dropbox with the 'Primary Vault' (the only one I have) archive in it. Upon selecting it, all fresh, the same problem appeared right away. notification : 1Password Sync: Problem detected; Update pereferences. The selected file simply doesn't stick. Unfortunately, this didn't bring a solution.

AGAlumB

@DaveKi: "Canonical" meaning the data you actually care about, presumably a full copy of it. It may be worth disabling sync completely and setting it up again with that data. We don't have any control over or insight into Dropbox though, so you'd need to get help with them if it's not syncing your data as expected after checking everything in this guide:

If you’re having trouble syncing with Dropbox

1Password doesn't sync any of the data in this case; Dropbox does. From your description, it sounds like there is a fundamental problem reading/writing the files you've selected in your Dropbox folder. So you might want to check your permissions, and make sure you don't have a more serious problem with your hard drive.

littlebobbytables

Hi @DaveKi,

I apologise for not being clearer. Brenty is correct, what I was trying to get across was the idea that you could look at a single copy of 1Password and say that contains everything, if for any reason you couldn't access 1Password anywhere else it wouldn't matter, this copy right here contains everything it ought to.

What I was hoping for was a copy of 1Password for Mac that you can say this about and here's why. Ever since 1Password 4 for Mac 1Password has had the ability to generate an entirely new sync container (previously an Agile Keychain then for newer versions an OPVault) using the data in its encrypted SQLite database file. What I was hoping you could do is have a copy of 1Password for Mac do this, create an entirely brand new OPVault that you then use to connect other copies of 1Password to. It sounds like you're trying to reuse an existing Agile Keychain or OPVault and that is continuing to fail.

Does that make sense? If anything still isn't clear please do say and I will elaborate where needed but I would like to see what happens if you point 1Password for Mac to the root of your Dropbox folder, one with no trace of 1Password data anywhere, not even a user folder and allow it to create everything from scratch itself.

What I failed to do in my earlier post was consider the possibility of 1Password 4 for Windows. 1Password 4 for Windows shares more in common with 1Password 3 for Mac than later versions. It does not have an internal database and instead reads and writes to the Agile Keychain/OPVault directly. You won't be able to try this approach using 1Password 4 for Windows as there is no easy way to create an entirely new OPVault without a bit of faffing about.

DaveKi

Hi everyone, I did all the stuff in the guides, creating a new file, disabling and re-enabling syncing... to no avail. Unfortunately, I don't have one complete file, since some changes weren't taken over to my 'main' computer (a desktop).
The idea of a privileges error is intriguing since on the computer giving trouble, Dropbox sits on a secondary, albeit also internal drive. However, I've never had problems syncing before or with any other app. Permissions seem also to be ok.
(And sorry for the belated reply, I was on a holiday)

Henry

Hi @DaveKi, no worries on the belated reply, and I hope you enjoyed your time off!

Before you troubleshoot Dropbox more, you may want to consider a 1Password membership, since sync is built in, and we control that end-to-end, seamlessly and securely. It's $3/month (billed annually) and includes the latest 1Password 7 apps for all your devices, syncing as I mentioned, and more quality-of-life features. We can help you migrate all your data and devices to an account in a flash, and those syncing issues would almost certainly be resolved without spending time on additional troubleshooting. :)

Let me know your thoughts on that, and I'm happy to answer any questions you have. If you'd definitely prefer to stick with Dropbox, you just need to setup all your devices to use the same vault, and that’s covered by the guide Brenty linked above.

DaveKi

Hi Henry, thank you for your comment. As for Dropbox, it simply doesn't work... I've tried an retried... Dropbox on my iMac refuses to use the same file. Well, it's a pitty this all of a sudden stopped working. I'll consider my options. In the meanwhile, is there a convenient way to extract info stored in 1PW for use in a different application?
Thank you.

Lars

@DaveKi - I'm sorry for the continued trouble, but I'm not sure there's much else we can do for you here. If the trouble you're having is with Dropbox, I'd suggest seeking them out for assistance; they may be able to shed some light that we can't, since we have little visibility into their sync engine.

I'd also recommend Henry's suggestion of a 1Password account; one of the very reasons we wrote the 1password.com server backend was because one of our top category of issues users were experiencing was sync difficulties. We love both Dropbox and Apple, but with 1password.com, we can actually see into both ends of the sync equation if/when there are problems, and there are no opaque, 3rd party sync APIs in the mix. There's also no device limit with a 1Password account, the way there is with Dropbox's new 3-device limit for free accounts. You can try out a 1Password account free for 30 days, and we'd be happy to help you get set up and data migrated.

If you just want to export your 1Password data for use elsewhere, File > Export will walk you through the options, and this page can help as well. Good luck! :-)

DaveKi

Hi Lars, thank you for your kind reply. I'll check out the 1Password account these days.

Best,
David

ag_ana

On behalf of Lars, you are welcome @DaveKi! Sounds good, and please let us know if there is anything we can do to help :)

Have a wonderful day :)