[Bug]: All folders deleted!

[texinick]

What happened?

After the updating to 5.07, and signing in on another device, all my folders have gone. Tags that I had previously deleted have returned. My main machine now has zero folders. It looks like I have to reset the whole thing, and re-import all my data again (1155 notes).

Not good at all!

How do we make it happen?

I had 5.07 installed on my linux desktop, installed PrivacyNotes on my Samsung Tab 9, and when the sync finished, all my folders were missing. Came back to the desktop, and they're all missing here too.

Version

0.507.29

Where?

Linux app

[texinick]

Is it possible the folders were wiped out after the Contact import? I disconnected a device from wifi to stop it syncing, and all the folders are still there, so they've been deleted somewhere since the Contact Import.

[LifetimeLabsDev]

Sorry about this. Losing the filing system you built across 1155 notes is exactly what this app is supposed to make impossible,.

The contact import did not delete your folders. Contact data cannot reach folders, and no importer in the app removes one. What went wrong is the first sync of the newly installed tablet. Your folder list is stored differently from your notes. A note is an individual record that merges on its own, but the folder list travels as one block. A device that has just been installed holds an empty block for the few seconds before its first sync arrives, and if anything writes a setting during those seconds, that empty block is what gets saved and sent. Opening the Folders view is one of those writes. It then replaced the real list everywhere. We have reproduced it and it is fixed.

Your notes themselves are not affected, and you will not be re-filing anything by hand. Every note records its own folder inside the note. The moment the folder list comes back, all 1155 return to where you put them.

Please do the following today, before anything else. Your iPad is the only remaining copy of the folder list, and that copy is gone the moment the device syncs.

1. Put the iPad into Airplane Mode. Switching wi-fi off is not enough if it has a mobile connection.

2. Open PrivacyNotes on the iPad and go to Settings > ID & Sync. Turn ON the "Pause sync" switch. It is per device, it stays on until you turn it off yourself, and it stops that device both reading from and writing to the server. Once it is on, the iPad is safe to have online again.

3. Check that your folders are still listed in the sidebar. If they are not, stop and tell us before doing anything else.

4. Go to Settings > Import & Export > Export and save an "Encrypted backup (.pnbackup)". Open the Files app afterwards and confirm the file is really there with a sensible size. Keep it somewhere safe. It is encrypted with your recovery phrase, so please do not send it to us or to anyone else.

That file contains your folder list. Once it exists, the folders cannot be lost, whatever else happens. This step matters today rather than later, because iOS clears an app's stored settings after about a week without opening it, and the folder list is part of what it clears.

After that, leave the iPad alone with sync paused and carry on using the desktop as normal. Everything syncs as usual. Your notes will simply be unfiled until the next step.

What is coming: the fix for the cause, plus a "restore folders only" option that reads the folder list out of that backup file and puts it back without touching or duplicating a single note. You run it once on your Linux desktop, and the folders return on every device with the notes already back in place. We will message you the moment the release is out. Please do not sign out of anything or reinstall in the meantime, and if you use the app anywhere else, on another browser or machine, leave that alone too.

Two things that would help us:

• The support report from the Linux desktop: Settings > ID & Sync, then the "Support report" button, which copies it to the clipboard. It tells us which of two paths hit you. Send us this via X.com, we already have a conversation ongoing there.

• The tags. You mentioned tags you had previously deleted coming back, and that is not something we have reproduced yet. If you can say roughly when you deleted them and on which device, we will chase it separately.

We are also changing how the folder list is stored, so that a device holding an older copy can never remove a folder that another device has. Folders should be as hard to lose as notes are, and right now they are not.

[texinick]

Hey, thanks for the follow up!

I pretty much did all that already (a long IT/support background helps when going through these things!). I exported on the iPad, transferred the file to my desktop, tagged the old notes, (because duplicates aren't overwritten) and restored. I could then delete the old tagged notes that weren't filed in folders. I seem to be back to where I was, but feeling a need to be a bit extra cautious. I've since backed up again from the desktop, so I have something to restore from if it happens again.

"Folders should be as hard to lose as notes are, and right now they are not" - and tags! Folders, Tags and Notes should all be very hard to lose!

Thank you again for the quick response!

[LifetimeLabsDev]

Fix ships later today: v0.508.0 - Folders can no longer be lost to a stale device, and a restore repairs a vault instead of doubling it