idk, having avoided iCloud for a long time. Some users appear to have no problems with Obsidian but others have recurrent issues. If it shifts files to cloud expecting to stream them fast enough on demand, then that might not always work with Obsidian; but I don’t know enough to know that’s what is going on.
You can try to check by having a purely local vault, only syncing when Obsidian has closed the vault. Maybe your Dropbox backup clashes with Obsidian (or with iCloud).
I think it’s most likely to be an iCloud issue rather than an Obsidian one though. I doubt Obsidian works the way iCloud expects.
I was experiencing this issue on Windows 11 where iCloud would create multiple copies instead of updating the original copy. I followed @erik1131 post and installed the non-Microsoft version of iCloud. And that seemed to have solved the issue.
To check upload status quickly, you can look for the iCloud icon in the taskbar (right side of taskbar), and click on it. It gives you an idea of whether it’s uploading or has updated. I also checked the number of files on iCloud.com for what files are actually on iCloud (vs what just exists in the Windows folder) → as a indicator of whether syncing was actually progressing.
Also trying the installer from the Apple website and from preliminary tests with a new vault all the problems seem to be fixed! Vis a vis seemingly random file duplication and reverting of files to older versions while editing.
However, what I’ve found is that there will be file duplication if the vault isn’t fully synced before opening in Obsidian. When it seemed like the upload was stalling (still the same number of files displayed on iCloud.com over a few minutes), I restarted the computer and within a few minutes my vault (~1.6k notes) was fully synced.
I haven’t experienced any problems since! But as it’s only been an hour or two, will report back if there’s more problems.
I believe I have found the cause of the problem!
According to my observation, the synchronization period of iCloud on windows is much longer than expected (10 minutes+). It will only attempt to synchronize after the file has been modified on the windows side, and at that time, a conflict has occurred.
The solution is simple, you can try to create a temporary file and delete it when you open obsidian, this will trigger the iCloud sync, and then you can take your notes. (This function can be considered to write a plug-in implementation)
Hope useful.
Luckily after 1 or 2 days, the whole process is working great for me on this win7/8 version.
I do need to check the status on iCloud icon with roughly how many files are syncing, although we can check the exact upload status of every file on the win10 from the Microsoft store.
I haven’t came across the problem you’re facing, maybe try @bbluray method?
Does the version downloaded from Apple’s website has the same functionality as the windows version ? Or to put it differently are they somewhat the same or is there are a lot of discrepancy? Asking, because I do use the bookmarks and passwords sync from icloud.
This method works very well，I installed the non-Microsoft version of iCloud on Windows10.
Never seen again the create multiple copies instead of updating the the original copy.
Many thanks to you
I have the regular version of iCloud, non-Microsoft store, and always get duplicates but last 3 days their amount is insane: 20+ copies in a few minutes and the file I’m writing in is continuously wiping out of last few words or sentences and I must stay focused to ctrl-Z this immediately to save my data
I would do that but the “desktop” (windows 7) version forces your computer to download your entire iCloud Drive storage. I have more in the cloud than I have room on my PC. Only the Windows app gives the option to disable/enable specific iCloud drive folders.
I’ve been using Obsidian (with Icloud) for at least a year. The past months I have started getting sync/duplicate issues which have just escalated. Right now it is close to unusable. Just had a short session and saw a bunch of copies being created.
Will consider trying to install the non-Microsoft store app but has to say it feels like a temporary workaround since the old app might become abandoned by apple.
Also having similar issues, moving files between folders seems to trigger the problem with iCloud creating duplicates and I am often getting a reindexing of the vault at startup.
I moved one of my Obsidian vaults from iCloud to a local laptop folder because it has already become unbearable: 40 duplicates of one file in a very short time and I must stare at the cursor closely, not remove my eyes from the text because it is constantly wiping out.
But I need synchronization with other devices, I love to use the mobile app excluding the moment that every time I open it I have to wait while all plugins are being downloaded. And I have many of them. So the startup time is extremely long on the mobile: the app is unusable because of it.
Is there any chance to fix this?
There’s another problem with iCloud I’ve noticed: every time I open the iOS mobile app, it redownloads ~10 specific files and 2-3 files that I’ve recently worked on so their update time is corrupted. I also can see how files counter is increasing during this redownloading. All notes are updated by the mobile app on the same time.
I try to keep my notes in a particular order; rely on dates and time when I’ve been working on my notes. So I need to have this working properly.
I tried to find any consistent pattern in modifications of those ~10 files: language, size, file names and emojis in them: nothing. Though unexpected updates of recent files are also unwanted.
I also tried to find any changes in files content: also nothing.
I am not sure this fixes the whole problem, but make sure that you have the option “Always keep on this device” checked when right-clicking the obsidian vault in the file explorer, if you are using Windows.
