The Archive hangs when deleting note from iCloud (macOS 10.15.7, The Archive 1.7.5)

Jon

When I set Archive directory to a folder in iCloud I can make and edit notes, but when I try to delete a note (using keyboard shortcut or right click then clicking delete) The Archive freezes, stops responding, and I have to force quit.

This only happens when I set the Archive directory to a folder in iCloud. It doesn't happen if the folder is on the desktop, sharepoint, or dropbox.

I wonder if this is an iCloud permissions issue?

I'm using The Archive version 1.7.5 with macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (this might also be the issue, I'm using an old mid 2012 macbook pro with an old OS).

Not the biggest issue if I can't figure this out, but was wondering if anyone could help?

ctietze

Thanks for reporting this! Can you try a couple of things to narrow down the problem?

When I set Archive directory to a folder in iCloud I can make and edit notes, but when I try to delete a note (using keyboard shortcut or right click then clicking delete) The Archive freezes, stops responding, and I have to force quit.

That's odd, yikes. If this happens when you delete from within the app, what happens when you delete a note in Finder? Does trashing from Finder work alright, and does The Archive pick up the changes?

This only happens when I set the Archive directory to a folder in iCloud. It doesn't happen if the folder is on the desktop, sharepoint, or dropbox.

I wonder if this is an iCloud permissions issue?

It's likely. I've heard of new flakiness in iCloud in Big Sur and Monterey, but thought Catalina was spared thus far.

In v1.6.3 I introduced "signalling" file operations to macOS as intended. This should help with iCloud syncing when other apps on e.g. an iPhone access the same file because the file change intent is then synced, too. That's also another possible point of failure when it comes to syncing.

To narrow this down, could you try to see if what I have in mind indeed introduced the problem:

• https://dlyfuw95744jo.cloudfront.net/TheArchive-v1.6.3.zip -- after the change should be the first version that introduces the problem (if it doesn't, it's something different, no need to test the next)
• https://dlyfuw95744jo.cloudfront.net/TheArchive-v1.6.2.zip -- before the change should delete from iCloud fine, then

Jon

Hi Christian,

Thanks for your helpful response.

Trashing from finder works, and The Archive picks up the changes. I've also realised that even though The Archive hangs when deleting the file, when I then look in finder the file has actually been deleted, and this change is picked up the next time I open The Archive.

I tried v.1.6.3 and found that I have the same problem.

You're right that v1.6.2 is able to delete from iCloud fine.

ctietze

Alright, thanks for testing! That's disturbing news (because in v1.6.3 I changed the way files are handled so that it'd be more compatible with iCloud in particular), but reveals what is the root cause here.

Do you share this folder with any other machine, or access the files from an i-Device? I wonder if macOS just doesn't tell The Archive that the operation was permissible and indeed carried out successfully, keeping a lock of sorts.

I have to research if there's a way to double-check if something's wrong with your iCloud Drive. The only "fix" I know so far is to disable the drive, log out of iCloud, then back it and re-enable it.

Jon

I also access the files from my iPhone.

Will try disabling, logging out, then re-enabling.

Do people using a later version of macOS also have this problem?

kewlpinguino

I know this is old but I'm having the same issue on Monterrey (12.4). Using 1.6.2 it works fine, but on 1.7.7 deleting a note makes it start initializing forever when I relaunch the app.

ctietze

Thanks for confirming, @kewlpinguino!

If you want, you can send me an email (e.g. from within the app), then I'll prepare a test build of the app so we can see if I know what the problem is, and how to fix it