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Forum Discussion
What to do with conflicted copies?
Our office has two desktop computers. Both of them access the same Dropbox. No mobile devices or other computers are involved.
In the Dropbox there is a database.
The database is _never_ used fro...
Åke E. wrote:
We are also confused because "conflicted copies" should not appear unless two people worked on the database at the same time. So why does this happen?
A conflicted copy occurs when a file has been changed from multiple locations. Something has to have the file open in multiple locations for the conflict to occur. A file doesn't necessarily need to change for a conflict to occur. Simply opening it can cause it, especially in Microsoft products which modify a file simply by opening it, even if you don't save it.
The only way to know which one contains the correct data is to open both and compare them. Also note that it's not recommended to use database files within Dropbox specifically for this very reason.
Hi all
First - this is not a solution suitable to your d/b problem but is a 'quick and non-technical' suggestion should you also share other Office applications (eg Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher) on Dropbox. I have found it useful with a team of non-technical users.
Create and save a file in the application you are sharing (Word, Excel etc) that contains a Text Box' that says in LARGE font
"This file is being used by <name>"
This is preparation.
When wanting to work on the shared file . . .
Open the file with the Text Box notice and copy the Text Box object to clipboard
Now open the shared file and straight away paste the Text Box and immediately save the shared file (don't need to close the file).
Any other user that now opens the shared file sees the Text Box notice and knows who to contact.
Assuming they don't ignore it (ie. they ARE genuine team-players) you can simply delete the Text Box, make your changes and on re-saving you replace the version that was saved with the Text Box notice.
Absence of notice = freedom to edit.
Sure if two (more) users open the shared file before you can paste the Text Box and save (a couple of seconds !!) you may still get the occasional conflicted copy.
Rgds
