26th
Syncing EventBox using Dropbox
I got asked by a couple of people to write about how you can sync EventBox using Dropbox.
Syncing
When you’re using multiple machines and would like EventBox to know what you’ve already read, you can sync its database over Dropbox (until we implement built-in syncing). In order to sync EventBox, you will have to copy:
- one file
- one folder
Before We Start
I assume that:
- Your Dropbox folder is located in your home folder
- You have a folder named “EventBox Sync” (without the quotes) inside your Dropbox folder
- EventBox is located in the Applications folder
If your Dropbox folder is located in a different place, just adjust the paths in the Automator workflows. You should also create a folder named “EventBox Sync” (without the quotes) inside your Dropbox folder if you haven’t already done so.
Push / Pull Syncing
Push / Pull syncing allows you to have control when you sync EventBox but the downside is that you have to remember to do it before you move to a different machine. I’ve provided two Automator workflows which accomplish the copying of files.
- EventBox Push (zip)
- EventBox Pull (zip)
Here’s how you use them. Before moving to another machine, you need to run EventBox Push which will copy the data from your current machine to Dropbox. Essentially, you’ve now pushed the data onto the cloud. When you start using another machine, run EventBox Pull to download the data from the cloud into to the appropriate paths.
There are two very important points to keep in mind:
- You will need to adjust the paths if they differ from the assumed ones
- You will need to wait for Dropbox to download the files from the cloud before applying a pull. Also, after you’ve applied a push, you need to wait for the files to get uploaded before you can shutdown your machine.
