Files deleted for no apparent reason

@licat @rigmarole

Obsidian v0.12.0 on Windows10

Community plugins:

  • Calendar v1.5.3
  • Dangerzone Writing v0.0.10 (which I now deactivated; I had deactivated other community plugins earlier - but apparently missed this one)

It has happened again. A file that I had not touched or moved in weeks shows up in “Deleted Files” in Sync plugin (and actually is deleted).

It is this path:

This is the deletion history - which makes me wonder why a file is deleted and restored automatically like that several times. And if this is happening to anyone else as well?

I cannot actively reproduce the result.

Couple of quick questions that can help us narrow down the issue:

  • Are you using any third party synchronization services by any chance?
  • What other devices are you using with Obsidian Sync?

We’ve heard of reports of suspiciously similar issues using the iOS app with Obsidian Sync + iCloud. If that’s your setup then you may want to re-setup your vault without iCloud.

@Licat

  • sync: only via Obsidian sync
  • other devices: 2 more windows 10 devices, 1 iPhone, 1 iPad

Any chance either your iPhone or your iPad has the vault in iCloud? Open the vault switcher to see the icon on the vault - a cloud icon means it’s in iCloud.

@Licat The active vault has the “vault symbol” next to it. I made the mistake of clicking on my “test vault” which actually has the cloud symbol next to it (to verify that this is not the active vault with currently modified files). Now the app is showing me a screen to “create a note” and no navigation buttons working … new download?

So at least I can definitely say that my active vault “was” connected with Obsidian sync.

What versions of the app are you using? I’m pretty sure we fixed that issue (with no navigation bars) already. The latest versions of the app also stores the device name in Obsidian Sync’s log, so if you open the activity log on your desktop app, you should find the deleted action along with the device name.

I hadn’t seen this post but I’ve just raised a similar issue on Discord. This is a Samsung tablet and sometimes a phone as well, on startup deleting a seemingly random file. No other syncs, all latest versions.

I have seen this deletion issue too but seemed to be related to moving a bunch of documents into a folder.

Do see lots of revision activity as noted.

I follow the Sync plugin delete files a lot and haven’t seen lately.

Setup: 12.1 Ob
Vault in iCloud
Mac Mini and Mac Powerbook 10.15.7.
1Writer on iOS.

This is truly terrifying and makes me think I’m going to stick to something more stable until Obsidian is safe to use. I can’t imagine a personal knowledge system that randomly deletes your knowledge. That is one sick twist. Honestly very concerning.

The original issue in this thread was fixed. If any other user in this thread has problems with sync, please open a new bug report and attach the sync logs.