Obsidian Sync repeatedly restoring deleted files

[Syberyah]

Steps to reproduce

1. Have Obsidian Sync set up on two devices
2. Delete files/notes on one device
3. Open Obsidian on the other device so that they sync with each other

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide?

Yes. I’m using the latest Obsidian version, I have no CSS snippets (I admit, I’m using a custom theme, but it is update and I see no reason that would impact my Sync whatsoever,) and I tested it in Restricted Mode on both devices and the problem persisted.

Expected result

Deleted notes would be deleted on the second device.

Actual result

Deleted files were restored on the first device.

Environment

Desktop: SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.5.12
Installer version: v1.4.16
Operating system: Windows 10 Home 10.0.19041
Login status: logged in
Catalyst license: none
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: Things v2.1.20
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 37
Plugins enabled: 31
1: Better Word Count v0.10.1
2: Calendar v1.5.10
3: Janitor v1.0.7
4: Natural Language Dates v0.6.2
5: Note Refactor v1.8.2
6: Image in Editor v2.2.6
7: Plugin Update Tracker v1.5.2
8: Reading Time v1.1.1
9: Recent Files v1.3.10
10: Style Settings v1.0.8
11: Table of Contents v0.2.0
12: Tag Wrangler v0.6.1
13: Vantage - Advanced search builder v1.4.2
14: Global Search and Replace v0.3.0
15: Vault Statistics v0.1.3
16: Periodic Notes v0.0.17
17: Custom Frames v2.4.7
18: Dictionary v2.22.0
19: File Explorer Note Count v1.2.1
20: File Info Panel v1.3
21: Find orphaned files and broken links v1.10.0
22: Highlightr v1.2.2
23: Charts v3.9.0
24: Show Current File Path v0.5.2
25: YouVersion Linker v1.2.0
26: Excel to Markdown Table v0.4.0
27: Plugin Groups v2.1.0
28: Emoji Shortcodes v2.2.0
29: Templater v2.3.1
30: Automatic Table Of Contents v1.3.2
31: Dataview v0.5.66

Additional information

All plugins are up-to-date on both devices. I have sync logs below. I should also note that I have files on the second device which have not synced to the first device, because it’s been so busy restoring files I don’t want restored.

Desktop Sync log (this is where I deleted the files): ObsidianSyncLogDesktopMay2024 - Pastebin.com

Phone sync log (this is where they appear to be restoring from) (one note which was mentioned repeatedly was erased from this copy of the log for privacy reasons): ObsidianSyncLogMobileMay2024 - Pastebin.com

[nicolas.lienart]

Had the same issue recently, where I deleted an entire folder after having moving everything files it contained to another folder (manual merge of two folders). The folder magically reappeared, maybe because of another device resyncing it and with some files (not all surprisingly) still in there.

[HomeOfTheWhopper]

Same issue here. Can’t seem to find a way to stop this!

[WhiteNoise]

To everyone experiencing this, if/when you can reproduce it, can you kindly provide the sync logs of both devices?

Are you all only using Obsidian Sync or are you file also on iCloud or something else?

Thanks!

[WhiteNoise]

@Syberyah Hello!

Which file(s) in your log was deleted on desktop and restored from mobile?

If you can reproduce without plugin could you kindly share some logs of both devices when it happens?

[CluelessProductivity]

Same thing is happening to me! I wanted to rebuild my vault because it was a mess! I moved the vault files to the cloud, but left the folder where it belongs. All other devices have sync closed. Right when I opened the vault all of the files that I moved into cloud are retiring! This has actually been happening if I deleted items off of devices, but I thought it was user error! I ended up with 13,000 files which is what prompted me to take the opportunity to start over! I thought I could fix this by moving the notes and now they are coming back! This has happened when I deleted files from my phone, my windows computer, my iPad and my MacBook. My vault is not in any type of cloud service.

[CluelessProductivity]

I’m not sure how to get my sync log file, but here it is in my phone, after I deleted the Obsidisn folder all together! All apps and snippets are off and all of the files are returning. I did notice that normally it tells me from which device, but this time it’s just the file.

[leotohill]

Hey y’all, are you deleting via file system or via Ob?
Does it matter? Enquiring minds want to know.

[leotohill]

I’ve had the same problem, complicated by a folder that was being recursively duplicated to maximum depth. I worked around it by excluding that folder.

See

Search produces thousands of duplicate results

Once you’ve done the above, delete everything above this line. Steps to reproduce Open the vault. Click the search icon. Type in “passkey” . I should get about 10 hits in 2 notes. After a wait of many seconds, results begin to appear. The results list the same file with 5 hits, again and again and again, finally listing 2,146 results. Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N] Y Y Expected result two notes found, a few hits per note. Actual result See above. The same note lis…

[CluelessProductivity]

It was both, even the files from mobile or iPad. They all came back! I finally just deleted the vault and started over🤣 I needed a refresh anyhow.

[PaulAmosKreiner]

Having the same issue. Additionally, sometimes it is not a file reappearing but a recently added line within a file doubled. Also in talks with support, no solution yet.