A copy elsewhere, and a second device

In browser mode your data lives only in this browser. Keep a copy somewhere else keeps a copy of one space in a place you choose, and brings back what another device wrote there. Nothing happens on its own: every exchange is one press of a button.

Where to find it

Go to Settings, Data, and open the line Keep a copy somewhere else. The button Turn syncing on, at the top of the screen, opens it for you. Once you choose a place other than a file, or after your first sync, it opens by itself.

This section is for browser mode. In server mode your data already lives on your server, and every device signs in to it.

What travels

Sync works on one space at a time: the space that is open or, with a file, the space inside the file. It is made for shared spaces. The personal space of one device never joins the personal space of another.

To follow the same money on two devices, keep it in a shared space (see Spaces). To take your personal space to another device, use Backup and restore.

The four places

In Where to keep the copy you choose one of these:

1. A file you move yourself: the file goes to your downloads and you carry it, through a cloud folder of yours, a network share or a memory stick. It needs nothing else.
2. A server of yours: Cofre Ink on your own server, with an account there. See Install with Docker.
3. An online database: a database of yours at Turso, or a sqld you run yourself. Two devices can write at the same time without one going over the other.
4. A WebDAV folder: Nextcloud, ownCloud, Synology and most hosting panels offer one. The server there has to allow calls from the address where you use Cofre Ink, and the screen warns about it.

Carry a space to another device with a file

On the first device:

1. Open the shared space, from the space menu at the top of the screen.
2. Go to Settings, Data, and open Keep a copy somewhere else.
3. In Where to keep the copy, choose A file you move yourself.
4. Press the button with the name of the space, such as Sync Casa now.

A file named like cofre_sync_0192a3b4_20260925.json.gz downloads. Take it to the other device.

On the second device:

1. Go to Settings, Data, open Keep a copy somewhere else and choose A file you move yourself.
2. In File from the other device, pick the file. The screen says how many changes it carries.
3. When this device does not have the space yet, the button reads Bring this space in. Press it. The screen says Casa arrived and is yours now. and opens the space. When the space is already here, the button is Sync Casa now.

Whenever there is something new, the exchange also downloads a new file with everything both sides know. Carry it back when you want the first device to see what was written on the second.

Sync through an online database

1. Create a database at Turso, or run sqld, and keep its address and a token.
2. In Where to keep the copy, choose An online database.
3. Fill Address of the database (the one ending in turso.io, or the one of your own sqld) and Token.
4. Press Sync Casa now.

On first use, Cofre Ink creates two tables in that database, cofre_changes and cofre_people. If you chose A database in the cloud on the first screen, the app opened here with An online database already chosen.

Sync through a WebDAV folder

1. In Where to keep the copy, choose A WebDAV folder.
2. Fill Address of the folder, User and Application password. Use an application password made for this, not the password of your account.
3. Press Sync Casa now.

The folder receives one file per space, named cofre_ followed by the identifier of the space.

Sync with your server

1. In Where to keep the copy, choose A server of yours.
2. Fill Server address, then the Email and Password of an account that already exists on that server, and press Connect.
3. Press Sync Casa now.

Being connected is not remembered: after the page reloads, type the Password and press Connect again before you sync.

The server takes in a shared space it has never seen, as long as nobody is in it there, and the account you connected with becomes its owner. The personal space does not go this way, because the account already has one: see Changing where the data lives. When you use Cofre Ink at https://app.cofre.ink, your server has to answer over https and accept that address; Install with Docker covers the settings.

What the screen says

The examples use WebDAV; the screen names the place you chose.

1. Sent 3, received 5. How many changes went out and how many came in.
2. Everything already agreed in, followed by the name of the place. There was nothing to exchange.
3. Last sync at, with a date, under the button: the last time this space met this place.
4. I could not reach WebDAV. Check that you are online and that the address is right. Nothing answered: no connection, a wrong address or, for a WebDAV folder, a server that does not allow calls from the address where you use Cofre Ink.
5. WebDAV refused the access. The token may have expired: sign in to the service again. The token, the user or the application password was not accepted. Make a new one at the service and type it again.
6. WebDAV answered 500 and did not finish. Try again in a few minutes. The place answered with an error of its own, shown by its number.
7. That file is not a Cofre Ink sync file. The file picked in File from the other device is something else, such as a backup, which goes through Bring it back instead.
8. The server did not let you into that space. Either it belongs to somebody else there, or you signed in with another account. The space already has people in it on the server, or you connected with a different account.
9. A message that starts This file carries the personal space of another device, and you already have one. Two personal spaces never join by sync. The message says to use Restore: on the Data screen that button is Bring it back.

Good to know

1. Nothing syncs by itself: not on a timer, not when the page opens. The copy is as recent as your last press.
2. The database, the WebDAV folder and the server keep in step a space that both devices already have. The screen has no way to pull from them a space this device does not have yet, so bring it in once with a file first. This path has not been tested end to end.
3. Sync each device at least once a month. The app tidies the history of each space on its own, folding changes older than about thirty days, and an edit that waited longer than that on a device that never synced may not reach the other side. For a device that was away a long time, a backup is the safer way.
4. Addresses, tokens and passwords typed here stay in this browser and pass through no server of the project. In browser mode, Erase everything removes them (see Erasing data).
5. How much each place has been tested: the file way end to end, in two separate browsers; the online database and the WebDAV folder only against stand ins for those services, never against a real account; the server way on the server side, not through this screen.
6. Files over 25 MB are refused.

Related pages: Backup and restore, Changing where the data lives, Spaces.