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jamiepoindexter

conflicted copy

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We have two genealogists working from the same TMG fles stored in Dropbox. The other one forgot to check with me to make sure I didn't have the files open when she entered massive amounts of new research data. This resulted in there being a conflicted copy of the .pjc file with her name as part of the file name.

 

I have lots of computer background and some at the IT level, so is there anything I need to do or can do in TMG to make sure all her additional data is readable by opening the original non-conflicted .pjc?

Edited by jamiepoindexter

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No. You could potentially have very big problems. The .pjc file is simply a heading file. A TMG project consists of over 80 separate files, all of which have to be in sync. TMG can have multiple users of the same project if run on the same computer since it can do file locking. But Dropbox does background mirroring. You could make a change then she could, but if your version of one file got mirrored after hers while another got mirrored before hers there could be a real mess.

 

I hope you have some good backups.

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Michael, thanks. I understand the heading file you mention, and I can open the pjc's in Notebook to at least see what person was last edited in the conflict files. I will harvest that info for the other genealogist to reveiw so she can go by her paper trail to re-enter the new data under the proper pjc file. Unfortunately, a manual recovery like that will take precious time on her part.

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I would also point out that many users have encountered problems when even only one person is using TMG if the folder containing the TMG data files is being mirrored by Dropbox. A safer procedure is to first Backup the project in TMG but not into a folder being mirrored. Then move the backup into a mirrored folder. That would signal ending an editing session and tht the project is available to the other person. Now removing the backup file from Dropbox would signal the project was in use and being edited. That could prevent a future conflict.

 

Hope this gives you ideas.

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Not sure that would be helpful as we already had rules in place to check with the other editor via Skype before opening the database. That step was missed. Unfortunately, TMG or Dropbox should have been written to open as read-only when opened by a second person.

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Jamie,

 

TMG does manage properly multiple users accessing the same set of Project files. It allows each to open the project, but if more than one tries to open the same record the later attempt is forced to be read-only.

 

The problem with your configuration is that each copy of TMG is reading local files. There is no other user visible to TMG, so it can't manage conflicting requests.

 

Separately, as Michael says, there are many report of issues caused by keeping the working copies of the project files in a folder being synced by DropBox. Even if you manage the issue of another user accessing the files successfully, a number of normal TMG operations are interrupted by DropBox activity. The most commonly reported issue is that GEDCOM exports fail to work, but issues other operations have also been reported.

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