Editor: Add a toggle to disable automatic merging of changes (non-obsidian sync)

Feature requests
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21

Yeah, I’ll start shutting them off now. I was in a hurry last week and just put my laptop to sleep, didn’t close any programs.

22

I use x3 devices: iPhone 8+, iPad 2019, laptop on Windows 10-11. Synchronization via the iCloud is used. x2 problems arise every day:

  1. Duplicate notes files are created.
  2. The notes are automatically merged.

I use only x1 application at a time, most often it is a laptop with Windows. Accordingly, applications for iPhone and iPad are closed. Background sync is also disabled. What is happening seems to be one big lottery, since on different days, subject to the same conditions, there may be only x1 merging of notes or maybe x2 - x3. 1-2 duplicate files can be created or 3-5.

1 Like
23

@ayli.voltok the merging being discussed in this thread has to do with sync as far as I’m aware. I don’t think Obsidian merges notes based on what external cloud services do.

24

Cause and effect

25

That is not true, I don’t use Sync and I’ve definitely experienced the merge conflicts.

26

sync
Specifically iCloud sync

27

Right. Licat added this explanation (I’m paraphrasing):
Merging happens also (in addition to Sync) if the file was changed externally and Obsidian is open as well (before Obsidian has gotten a chance to save the edited file) within the 2s window

28

I was using iCloud many months ago but haven’t in a long time. So Sync or other cloud services might make this problem worse, but it definitely isn’t the only cause.

29

Ah.
So what else changes the local file in the background?

30

Text editor… (1 example)

31

Without file being open?

32

Any news on this?
I too am having issues with could sync and data loss!

  • Duplicate note files being created preventing Obsidian from starting altogether (stuck at file indexing screen)
  • Notes are automatically merged (even though I am using Obsidian only on one device at a time) resulting in lost data

I don’t have the file open in another program neither.

33

I just started using Obsidian.
I use it mainly on my iOS devices, but needed to do some work on my Windows laptop so I set up the windows iCloud client and pointed Obsidian at its folder in iCloud.
I am having constant issues with the last line of text being deleted as I type due to the synchronization issue reported here. I am editing the notes on one device at a time - it seems to pick up the on-disk version of the file as more recent than what I am typing in real time.
Is there any resolution to this or a workaround? It’s pretty much unusable at the moment.

34

Let me add to the pile to help in prioritizing this issue. I am experiencing this issue on a Windows machine with iCloud sync. I haven’t observed it on my MacBook or iPhone. Previously, I used dropbox for sync and I haven’t observed such behavior. So I support the attribution of this issue to iCloud.

I’m not necessary for the disabling of the automatic merge. I’m all for doing something about it as it spoils user experience a lot :worried:

35

I’m consistently seeing this extremely frustrating behavior.
To give a recent example I typed:

James Smith

Pressed Enter, see the sync popup notice appear, and have my line changed to:

Jamh

I appreciate that the focus of Obsidian development is on the paid subscription sync service, and I also understand that accounting for the quirks of the various cloud storage solutions out there is difficult, but this really is very broken behavior for a text editor.

I am on Windows 10, iCloud 13.0, Obsidian 0.13.14

2 Likes
36

Hello,

Newbie here. Just installed Obsidian 3 days ago on Mac.
I’m not on Sync or Publish. Not linked to dropbox or any cloud storage.

I have only 3 community plugins installed : Daily Notes, Calendar and Day Planner. And currently have less than 10 notes in my vault.

After installing Day Planner today, I started receiving the auto-merge notifications.
If I turn Day Planner off, I don’t receive any more auto-merge notifications.

May i know if those encountering this issue are also on Day Planner?
I love the Day Planner functionality and would hate to disable it if its causing auto-merge problem.

1 Like
37

I also experienced the same issue and deleted the day planner plugin, restarted obsidian though the bug persisted.

38

To anyone who’s experiencing this and wants to see some kind of workaround implemented – please “like” the top post, I believe this has some effect on how feature requests are prioritized.

1 Like
39

Managed to get the issue of merging changes resolved. In my case, i had created four separate obsidian vaults/folders which I later merged into one vault. This is where my problems began.

I had merged the obsidian settings from the four separate vaults into one setting for the merged vault. A few days after this merge, the “modified externally” bug began and while typing i would have words cropped when obsidian began “automatically merging changes” while typing. I initially thought that it was a syncing issue since i use syncthing to sync obsidian mobile with obsidian desktop.

The solution that worked, in this case, was simply to delete the obsidian settings folder and set up obsidian from scratch. This took a while since i had several community plugins that i had configured to my liking. This issue has been completely resolved and have not received the bug so far. I even synced with obsidian mobile and its working fine.

Hope this helps

40

I am experiencing these same problems, but syncing with Dropbox. Also using Day planner, calendar and other plugins.

With me it seems to not make duplicate files, but every few seconds after typing something it seems that the last characters that I type get deleted, though in mostly seems to go after the spaces? A very annoying trait indeed!