I have looked through the forum and searched extensively and found NUMEROUS examples of this problem ALL of which get closed without resolution.
The problem is this: Notes which are filled with text etc. will GO BLANK either while typing OR at random times while open.
This is a FATAL flaw in Obsidian for anyone who uses it to brain-dump or write important documents.
This bug is brought up repeatedly and ignored and closed by Obsidian which seems* to point towards Obsidian disingenuously pushing people towards paid sync.
Let’s clarify this:
I use I-cloud sync and have gotten this problem to disappear by the following method and when it goes away it often works for weeks or months without any repeating problem. So it is not an I-cloud issue per se.
The method of “fixing” has been fully deleting all Obsidian files on my Macbook Pro, signing out of icloud, signing back in to icloud after restart and then installing Obsidian fresh. This time when I did this it did not solve the problem.
I had thought this could have to do with sync errors between devices but I have REMOVED Obsidian from my ipad and iphone so this is ONE device, a macbook pro, syncing from I-Cloud>
Syncing a .md file program with icloud without deleting text cannot be rocket science, and I feel I have done due diligence with logic steps (eliminating possibility of other device).
This has consumed hours of my time and caused the loss of data, and if Obsidian is going to keep “closing” this bug issue without addressing it I am going to go on a rampage. I truly want to believe that Obsidian is NOT doing shady shit to get people to sign up for their sync like Evernote did because I was actually getting ready to promote Obsidian as a tool in a system I’m publishing.
Yes, I’m pissed… more pissed than you can see from my measured post here. This is the most annoying and damaging thing that I have ever seen a notebook company ignore.
In iCloud Drive’s settings, what is set for Optimize Mac Storage? For Obsidian to function properly, it needs to be OFF on pre-Sequoia versions of macOS. If you are on Sequoia (the latest macOS), you can right-click on Obsidian’s iCloud Drive folder and select “always keep downloaded”.
Thank you sincerely for your rapid response.
I have definitely turned OFF Optimize Mac Storage but just went and looked and it was ON. When I try to turn it off it flips right back to on haha…
It may well be that an update caused this to flip back on, not sure why it’s not letting me turn it off but I’ll look into that further.
I will update to latest OS and clear space on my hard drive and give updates on this thread.
A question for the Obsidian moderators: This seems to be an Icloud causal chain, but it seems like there would be a programatic way to prevent total loss of the note by duplicating or something?
The dangerous thing about this is that when it happens if I immediately hit control-z the content will reappear… but if I type anything or hit enter before that the whole content is permanently gone.
I understand it’s a bit of an “apple fuckery not our problem” but since it’s obviously caused distress for others as well wondering if there is a “patch” that Obsidian could implement that would at least prevent the loss of a note if that “Optimize mac” switch gets flipped by an OS update?
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