[de-sascha]

Hi everyone,
I am having some trouble with the synchronization of my library between my Mac and my Tablet. I use Google Drive for the synchronization.
The Issue: When I make a color highlight (using the annotation/highlighter tool) on a line in a ChordPro file on my PC, it does not show up on my tablet after syncing. Interestingly, text edits and metadata changes are transferred correctly—it's only the visual annotations (highlights) that are missing.
My Workflow:

• I create and edit my songs on the PC.
  
• I then sync the folder to Google Drive.
  
• Finally, I sync the tablet to the same Google Drive folder.
  

Questions:

1. What are the optimal sync settings for a multi-device workflow like this?
   
2. What should the "Merge Behavior" (Verhalten beim Zusammenführen) be set to on both devices to ensure annotations are always included?
   
3. Is there a specific setting I might have missed that prevents graphical annotations from being uploaded or downloaded?
   

Currently, I have "Sync Annotations" checked on both devices, but the highlights still don't appear.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Sascha

   

[de-sascha]

Hello MobileSheets Support Team,
I am writing to report a specific synchronization issue I’ve encountered when using MobileSheets across different operating systems.
My Setup & Workflow:

• Devices: A Mac, a Windows laptop, and two Android tablets.
  
• Cloud Service: Google Drive (Sync to Cloud Folder).
  
• File Type: Primarily ChordPro files.
  

My Observations: The synchronization between my two Android tablets works perfectly. When I create a highlight or a graphical annotation on one tablet, it appears correctly on the other tablet after syncing.
The Problem: As soon as I involve my Mac or my Windows laptop, the synchronization of annotations fails:

1. If I create highlights or annotations on the Mac or Windows version, they do not appear on the Android tablets after syncing.
   
2. Conversely, annotations made on the Android tablets do not show up on the Mac/Windows versions.
   
3. Crucially: Text edits within the ChordPro files and metadata changes (e.g., Title, Artist) are transferred correctly across all platforms. Only the visual annotations (highlights/drawings) are missing when moving between Desktop and Android.
   

Current Settings:

• Code:

  Sync Annotations
  is enabled on all devices.
  
• Code:

  Merge Behavior
  is set to "Merge" on all devices.
  

Thank you for your help!

[de-sascha]

Hello again,
I have another observation that makes this even more confusing.
I tested another ChordPro song, "Days of Elijah", and discovered something very strange: The song exists on both devices, but the annotations are completely different on the Mac compared to the Tablet. It’s as if the sync process is running, but instead of merging or overwriting the annotations, each device is keeping its own local "version" of the visual layer for that specific song.
Let's recap the current state:

1. PDFs: Syncing works perfectly in both directions.
   
2. ChordPro (General): Metadata and text sync correctly.
   
3. ChordPro (Annotations): * Sometimes they don't appear at all on the other device.
   • Sometimes (like with "Days of Elijah") they exist on both but are different/out of sync.
     

This leads to new questions:

• Why does the
  
  Code:

  Merge
  behavior work for PDF but seems to fail or "split" for ChordPro?
  
• Is it possible that because ChordPro is text-based, a tiny difference in line endings (LF vs CRLF) or a hidden character causes MobileSheets to think the underlying "canvas" is different, thus failing to map the annotations?
  

I am still standing here with "1000 question marks". It feels like the database is losing the link between the annotation and the song ID when moving between Android and macOS/Windows.
Does anyone have an idea why one song would have "diverging" annotations instead of being unified by the sync?
Thank you, Sascha

[Zubersoft]

I generally don't advise using a two-way sync. It's much more reliable to use a one-way sync and only make changes on one device at a time between synchronizations. I don't know if that's related to the issue at hand or not. I'm going to have to set up some tests to see if I encounter any issues doing what you've described. 

The only way in which annotations are different on ChordPro files is that there is no original page size, so I have to save the scaling factors in a different way (based on the screen density of the device they were created on). Setting a fixed page size for the ChordPro files bypasses this problem, and you are sure to get identical rendering across all devices.

Mike