Sync text files edited in Pleco

Hello everyone,

I understand the Dropbox API will be phased out.
Is there still a way to synchronize text files (notes) between Pleco and a cloud storage service (iCloud, Dropbox)?
I would like to edit text files in Pleco and have them sync with the cloud..

Thanks and best regards,
T.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
We'll be adding iCloud document file sync support prior to dropping Dropbox, I think - certainly by the same time, we don't want to leave people without a viable way to sync documents.
 

etm001

状元
I understand the Dropbox API will be phased out.

I wasn't aware of this. What's the reason behind dropping support?

Also, is there a single location where changes like this are announced/cataloged? Obviously I browse these forums, but I feel like I missing out announcements like this. (I checked www.pleco.com, but I didn't see anything).

Edit: in this thread I noticed this:

When using OCR I find frequent occasions where I want to capture new text, and plenty of other occasions where I need to append a second capture to existing text. The current way to change that is buried a few layers within the Settings and becomes a hassle to toggle back and forth on a frequent basis.

This is an enhancement I've requested previously and so I was excited to learn about it (unless it was available all along and I overlooked it?). Is there a change log available online or in the app?

Thanks!
 
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I wasn't aware of this. What's the reason behind dropping support?

Also, is there a single location where changes like this are announced/cataloged? Obviously I browse these forums, but I feel like I missing out announcements like this. (I checked www.pleco.com, but I didn't see anything).

Hi etm,
This upcoming change was displayed in a windows that would pop-up when opening Reader > Open Document > Dropbox folder (at least in the iOS version.

Also: http://pleco.com/ipmanual/vershist.html
 
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mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Basically, the Dropbox sync library is kind of buggy - we think it's responsible for several issues reported by both Dropbox- and non-Dropbox-using Pleco users (power drain, slow / crashy startup, bandwidth usage, etc) - on top of which, supporting seamless opening of files from Dropbox and outside of Dropbox involves a huge amount of extra code we have to constantly test / maintain / etc.

So we've been somewhat regretting the decision to add it, and Apple have now thankfully given us a way to get rid of it without losing functionality via iOS 8's new document provider system. If you're using iOS 8, you should see an "External Files" command in Pleco's file open dialog, and tapping on that will pop up a file browser screen giving you access not only to files from Dropbox but from every other file sharing service + every app that syncs its documents in iCloud. (it'll show the iCloud ones by default, but tap on "Locations" and you'll see Dropbox show up there too) And you'll be able to access files from all of Dropbox rather than just the Pleco-specific app folder.
 

etm001

状元
This upcoming change was displayed in a windows that would pop-up when opening Reader > Open Document > Dropbox folder (at least in the iOS version.

Thanks for the follow-up. I don't think I ever saw this pop-up as I usually selected the document from within the Dropbox app first, selecting to open it in Pleco for reading. Thereafter I just opened the cached version of the document saved in Pleco. In any case it looks the future solution described by Mike will work well (although it will force me to upgrade my iPad3 to iOS 8, which I've been avoiding.) I also book marked the version history webpage too.

Thanks!
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
The update that stops supporting Dropbox will most likely be the same update where we start requiring iOS 8, so it's still a little ways off, and if you haven't updated to iOS 8 by then you'll be able to continue along merrily with the old, Dropbox-friendly iOS-7-compatible version.
 

Tom F

Member
Not sure whether to start a new thread or post to this one, but this is broadly on the same topic.
I have a few questions re text files created / edited in the Pleco reader:

1. I have downloaded to my Mac some files that I manually created in the Reader, mainly as a form of back up. I did this using the upload / download files interface in File Manager. I chose to save them in my Dropbox folder , but it seems like you can actually just save them anywhere. It creates .webarchive files. Am I doing this correctly? The files are there on my Mac, but appear as gobbledygook if I open them. Is there a way to open them on my computer as Chinese text files, i.e. in the same format as I see them in Pleco? I would like to be able to use the files on my computer, view them, print them, email them etc. Is this possible currently? If so, how?
2. I have the impression that I am not using the Dropbox interface as intended, but I am not clear how to do to. Are there any guidelines on this, or can anyone explain?
3. I haven't tried using the WebDAV interface - is this a good / recommended way to go for back up, moving files around etc. E.g. if I wanted copy Reader files from my iPad to my iPhone, via my iMac? It would be nice to have an easy way to have the same files on all 3, and to be able to view them all the same on all 3 devices, for a number of reasons, including having a safe back up.
4. Will the proposed iCloud synching mechanism solve all these problems? Any idea when it is expected?
5. I have IOS v8 on my iPad, but only v7 on my iPhone (it's an iPhone 4 so I don't think it can be upgraded to v8). Is this a problem for anything in Pleco? I am assuming from the post above that my iPhone 4 with IOS v7 will not be able to use the iCloud synching interface, but are there any other problems, current or expected?
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
1) How exactly are you saving them? Webarchive suggests that your web browser is wrapping them up in something - try right- (or control-)clicking on each file in the list and choosing "Save As," do they save out correctly then? What if you wrap them up in a .zip file, by going into File Manager and tapping Edit, selecting the files and tapping "Zip" or "Pack"?

2) Basically it's just another folder but one that happens to be synced with Dropbox - there should be a corresponding folder in your Dropbox account, but buried (Apps / Pleco Chinese Dictionary / Documents).

3) Not really that different from the web one, to be honest, but might work a bit more reliably with your text files if your browser is wrapping them up in web archives.

4) Not completely, since they'll still be a bit of a pain to get onto your Mac - Apple has never provided a really seamless way to do that except by having your own Mac client app, which we aren't quite prepared to do yet.

5) It would prevent any sort of iCloud syncing, yes, but shouldn't cause problems beyond that - data file formats are identical at the moment. We are however planning to drop iOS 7 support in the not-too-distant future and at that point the data file formats may start to diverge, though we plan to continue supporting some sort of round-trip compatibility for a while at least through exported flashcard files if not through databases.
 

Tom F

Member
Ah! ok thanks. I was using Safari, which by default, after you click on a link, saves the files in webarchive format. Even ctrl-click/"save linked file as" saves them in .css format (although you can go in change that to .txt by editing the file name).
Simplest thing seems to be to choose the option to "save linked file to downloads", which keeps the .txt format & extension. Then move the files from the download location...

Firefox saves them in the original .txt format, which is more sensible. So maybe I should just use Firefox for this.

Anyway, I now have a way to do the things that I need to do, so thanks!

When do you expect to introduce iCloud synching of text files in Pleco?
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Great!

Not quite sure about iCloud document sync - will probably wait until we start requiring iOS 9, actually, since that fixed a lot of iCloud Drive issues.
 

Cran

Member
Hello,
I'm greatly appreciating Pleco (ios) and the care that clearly goes into it.
Do you have any advice on the best way to sync the file manager to Windows 10, either locally or in the cloud? The ios "open in..." can be used with cloud storage apps, but is not adequate for my purposes as it does not allow for ongoing synchronization. It appears that Dropbox is no longer an available option, and I do not see that files appear anywhere in the iCloud file manager. I have also attempted to use the webdav function, but am running into difficulties with Windows 10 explorer not detecting it. Uploading and downloading to my browser do work, but this is too awkward to use for synchronization. iTunes is also not realistic for ongoing mass sync.
I have tried looking through the forums but do not see anything except older references to Dropbox. Am I missing something?
Thank you.
 

mongrel

举人
On Android I use Dropsync to force Dropbox to two-way sync with folders on the device. Seems to work perfectly.
You could look for a corresponding app on ios (there is one by the same name but different author).
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
I’m afraid we don’t have a better option on that for iOS at the moment, though we are aiming to offer better sync with external files in the future.
 

Cran

Member
OK, good to know. In the future, access to the files area in iCloud would certainly be useful.
In the meantime, I presume that the Pleco files area is backed up as part of the iCloud backup? If something were to happen to my phone, those files would be recovered if I restored from a backup?
Thanks again.
 
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