#1

Things I have tried

Bulk restoring files and folders using sync

What I’m trying to do

I changed a folder in Obsidian from “PROJECTS” to “Projects”, and ever since, Obsidian has been deleting all the sub-folder (they are only two deep) and associated files. I have restored using the Sync bulk restore (which is tedious); I now restore by using git on my desktop and discarding the changes. But Mobile keeps on deleting. I have therefore had to remove Obsidian from my mobile, which is a real shame as having obsidian mobile was a long-awaited feature for me. Does anyone else have similar experiences - I’d love to re-install mobile?

#2

Rename=Move=Delete+Create.
I think you saw the delete part and panicked. Now, it’s likely that your sync history is in big mess.
My advise is to

  1. delete the remote vault on desktop
  2. delete the local vault on mobile
  3. fix your vault on desktop
  4. connect your desktop to a new remote vault
  5. create a new local vault on mobile and connect it to the new remote vault.
#3

I didn’t panic when I saw the delete part - I was concerned about having my file vanish from all my synced vaults.

I only use Obsidian sync (no other cloud backup services)

I am in the process of uninstalling and re-installing - so I will see how it goes.

#4

I would be concerned/panic too if I thought my files were going to be deleted.

#5

Tried to reproduce it. If I renamed a folder “TEST” to “Test” on Android, it gave an error notification “Destination file already exists”.
When I renamed it on Windows, it first deleted the files and folder on Mobile and then recreated them under the new folder name.

Wasn’t able to reproduce the issue.

#6

It is weird.

I went from “PROJECT” to “Project” on my desktop. Somehow between the Desktop-Sync and Mobile-Sync, it has got its knickers in a twist.

#7

To reiterate, to most sync services, a “rename” operation doesn’t actually exist.

When you rename something on device 1 and then sync, your other devices think you’ve deleted the file, and meanwhile, you created another file with the new name. So, you would see device 2 deleting files, but if you waited for the sync to complete, you’d also see device 2 download the newly-named files.

However, if you stopped this process before it’s finished, bad things might happen. Follow @WhiteNoise’s advice above to avoid trouble.

#8

It is possible that the issue resides with Android/Mobile syncs being interrupted when moving between apps and/or is a much slower sync.

#9

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