Moving existing Omni Sync Server documents to OmniPresence

OmniPresence is a great way to automatically sync documents between your devices, but it hasn’t always been around! Previously, in order to share files from your Mac using the Omni Sync Server you had to connect to the server manually via the Finder, but that’s no longer the case with OmniPresence. You might be wondering…

Why doesn’t OmniPresence display the files that I have already put on the server?

Good question! OmniPresence keeps its data in a hidden folder on the server, and any files located outside of this particular folder won’t be seen by the application. Since OmniPresence stores data in a special format, you’ll want to use the OmniPresence app to do the moving rather than copying manually.

Moving existing files to OmniPresence

1. Open your OmniPresence share folder in the Finder, and set that window to the side. If you haven’t configured OmniPresence already, you’ll want to do so now. The following video walks through this process: https://www.omnigroup.com/omnipresence/#omnipresence-tutorial

2. In the Finder, head up to the menu bar and select Go > Connect to Server.

3. When the Connect to Server window appears, enter https://sync.omnigroup.com/YOURACCOUNT/ into the Server Address field, replacing YOURACCOUNT with the name you chose for your account (Make sure to include the final / character; some versions of the Finder won’t connect if you omit it).

4. Once the information has all been entered, click Connect. You’ll be prompted to authenticate if this is your first time connecting, so type in your sync credentials in the window that appears and click Connect again. A new Finder window appears showing any files you’ve already uploaded to the server.

5. Our iOS apps that support OmniPresence sync are OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle, so move .oo3 and .graffle files from here to the other Finder window that shows your OmniPresence share folder.

6. To reduce future confusion, you can optionally remove the original copy from the non-OmniPresence network volume.

What are these other files in my Omni Sync Server folder?

The OmniFocus and OmniPlan applications have their own built-in sync capability, so they don’t use OmniPresence. As such, you’ll want to leave any data associated with those apps in place. OmniPlan files appear as a folder that looks a bit like rAnd0MnAMe.oplr. OmniFocus’s database is called OmniFocus.ofocus, but if you’ve set up calendar subscriptions they may appear with a name like OmniFocus-Reminders.ics as well.

Don’t feel like you need to get rid of everything on the server - if you’re not entirely sure about a particular file, you can leave it there! If you’re unsure about something you find on the server, feel free to get in touch and run it by us.