RemNote 1.8 Update and Syncing Issues

[Moritz]

We wanted to acknowledge and provide some clarity (as well as our sincerest apologies) regarding what happened with our 1.8 update release.

• Syncing: Due to significantly higher-than-anticipated traffic, syncing broke during our 1.8 release. We’ve been working around the clock to deploy fixes. Users can once again reliably sync their knowledge bases, and all server-side syncing issues have been resolved.
• Offline Access: Over the past few days, some users were unable to access RemNote offline while the syncing servers were down. As a company and product that prides itself on being offline-first, this has been a nightmare for us. We can’t apologize enough for the downtime this may have caused. We have since resolved this issue, and access to knowledge bases should no longer be affected by server disruptions or new updates.
• Enhanced Syncing & Collaboration Features: We’re continuing to work on real-time syncing which will not only significantly increase speed and strengthen reliability (as well as avoid any update-related syncing issues in the future), but will also enable real-time collaboration. (Ironically, the syncing issues were partially caused by the new groundwork that will enable these exciting features and developments.)
• Resolution: We believe that all critical issues have been resolved (please contact us at support@remnote.com if you encounter any remaining issues).
• New Apple Mac M1 Build: For Mac M1 users, we’ve released a new native build containing some M1-specific fixes.
• We’re Going to Do Better: We sincerely apologize for any and all inconvenience. We’ve been working around the clock to fix these unexpected issues and appreciate everyone’s patience. We know how important it is for you to have continued access to your extended brain, both on and off-line. This is precisely why we’ve designed our core system to enable easy access (local first data storage, complete offline mode, etc.). We will continue to work around the clock to ensure your full access and reliable support, always. Thank you for your continued understanding. We are incredibly grateful for your support.

Still facing issues?:

• Desktop App: Please reinstall the latest version from remnote.com/download
• Web App: Please ensure you’re on the latest version of remnote.com. Click into the URL bar, then refresh with Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R.
• If none of the above helps, kindly let us know through support@remnote.com.
• If you encounter any other bugs, please report them in-app through “?” menu (bottom-right of your RemNote screen).

We’ve also been thrilled to see users enjoying RemNote’s exciting 1.8 improvements:

• new plugin system
• multiple knowledge bases
• shared knowledge bases (Alpha)
• first-class dark-mode
• improved mobile UI
• expanded imports
• 🪟 multiple panes reimagined
• … and more!

Read the comprehensive changelog.

With much gratitude, and happy learning, Your RemNote Team

[monotreme]

OK, so why is that for the past day or so the Windows desktop hasn’t been syncing at all and keeps restarting itself and on the webapp sync goes on forever and eats up more and more memory, as in several GIGABYTES?

Rebooting/redownloading/restarting do not help. Are other people having this problem?

[dgg4]

The update effectively broke your system for your users for days. I had hoped to switch to RemNote, but this requires more than an apology. A transformation from amateur to professional software development is needed.

[Achyut_Morang]

Exactly

worst update ever

[baramon]

where is an Iphone app? Potty time is study time.

[Joey_McKay]

Can somebody please help with this? I have downloaded the latest desktop update for Windows (1.8.6). When I try to install it, I get as far as “Wiring your knowledge base” and then after a short while, I get the message “Cannot access local database, Automatically restarting” This loop continues and I cannot get out of it without terminating the app using task manager.

[Lizzy]

I still can’t sync my phone (14 days) and can’t also learn flashcards on my laptop as it makes the app crashes. The web version contain not even the half of my real database as it’s bugging too.
I didn’t receive an answer to my last emails.
Are you still working to fix the problems?
When are the problems going to be fixed?

I had planned to spend time reviewing this summer instead of having a summer job but maybe it was the wrong choice. I need to know what is your schedule to make a choice.

[kolar]

@Lizzy As I can see ver. 1.8 of phone app is not ready yet in play store even if you’re registered as beta tester.

[snikoyo]

The announcement says “all server-side syncing issues have been resolved” - yet the Android app cannot sync at all, it will display “Syncing” eternally. Last sync was 18 days ago. There is no new version available via the play store.

[jaime2021]

Who said these?? my app 1.8.8 dont synchronise about 10 dayz and no have dayli backup

[Ruslan_Apostolov]

same lol wtf is this

[snikoyo]

@jaime2021
The first post in this thread by Moritz said so in the first paragraph.

After sleeping on it, I’m actually grateful for the wakeup call. The skeptics were right all the time but I didn’t want to believe it: For personal knowledge bases, use only open file formats like text or markdown. This way it will be readable as long as computers exist. It’s Murphy’s law, every proprietary app will one day fail you and your life’s work will be gone or damaged.

I have now cancelled my premium subscription and will be moving my knowledge base to markdown files that I sync myself, probably with Obsidian as editor. It will be more work now to setup once but it will be worth it because I’ll have no anxiety anymore to loose or corrupt the data. No more sweating whenever a Remnote upgrade is announced.

[JRY]

If you enjoy outline writing, logseq is another great choice.

[snikoyo]

@JRY I will have a look, thank you!

[snikoyo]

Some update on this: I have migrated to Obsidian, synced via git on a private Github Repository (on two Linux laptops and two Android devices). It was some work to set it all up and more work to migrate because the RemNote export function is not very good and because it’s another structure - I have to decide which REM is worth its own markdown file and which one will be just a section of the file “above”.

But it was worth it, my fear of loosing my work is gone, I am more motivated to write notes and I observed that I tend to elaborate more on my notes instead of writing just bullet points. The graph view is also much better in Obsidian.

But the Spaced Repetition feature is difficult. There are different plugins in Obsidian but none is really meeting my needs. I exported my flashcards directly to Anki but RemNotes Anki export creates quite ugly and unreadable cards. So I decided to continue to use RemNote for the spaced repetition questions I already have. I’ll create new ones directly in Obsdian and sync to Anki.

One thing that really astonishes me is that Obsidian is bug free. I use a lot of features and plugins and it all just works. This is such a relief. And if an update should be buggy in the future, I can just choose to skip it. Upgrades are opt-out in Obsidian while there are forced in RemNote. This is a HUGE difference. If Obsidian development should come to an end (I don’t think so because the user base is MUCH bigger than RemNote’s, just compare the activity in the two forums) I can just keep the last version forever and use it with my local markdown files.

[Rai_i]

The same thing happening to me. Have you found a solution to this now?

[Fabio_Muller]

1.8 is really one of the bad release so far. So many problems. I never lost a knowledge base before, but in 1.8.17(or .18) I lost part of one. For my luck, it was one of the shortest that I had, but I lost about 3 hours of content (course notes) that I was doing and had to do everything again. Today 1.8.19 is not working at all. Probably another Sync issue. Really sad.

[Ozer_Tayiz]

Same thing happening to me. Version 1.8.18 on Linux laptop. Although I can barely see “Cannot access local database” error for less than a second, and it doesn’t restart, only shuts down. I am using the web interface for the laptop these days, as a work around.

[jaime2021]

The same problem to me