# Before syncing with Joplin server for the first time, should I copy my notes to the server first?

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [12 March 2021 10:02 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583 "2021-03-12T10:02:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KajWiik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/kajwiik/32/6867_2.png) [@KajWiik](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/KajWiik)\
**Post date:** [12 March 2021 10:02 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/1 "2021-03-12T10:02:51Z")

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What is the preferred way to start syncing with the Joplin server?

The scenario is that I have a Joplin app with \> 1000 notes and an empty server. Should I copy the note database somewhere to the server first so that Joplin does not delete all my notes? If so, could you point me to instructions how to do it?

Please note that the FAQ instructions is for WebDAV and the case that you move from existing server to a new one. In my case there is no 'old' server.

Also, what if I have another Joplin client with different set of notes, will they be merged to the server database in first sync or will they be all deleted?

Thanks,  
Kaj

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

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$ docker image ls  
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE  
florider89/joplin-server latest 19ef4bbef6b5 6 weeks ago 1.85GB

* * *

Joplin 1.7.11 (prod, linux)

Client ID: 40683fe1a78849e6b5c0a92eaa12db43  
Sync Version: 2  
Profile Version: 34  
Keychain Supported: No

Revision: f560563 (master)

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**Author:** ![MrKanister](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrkanister/32/20054_2.png) [@MrKanister](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/MrKanister)\
**Post date:** [13 March 2021 10:44 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/2 "2021-03-13T10:44:20Z")

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Hi! If you have just set up the server and everything is basically fresh, then Joplin will synchronise all the notes (upload them to the server). I would still make a backup of your data, because the server is still in beta and things can go wrong! If you then sync with a second client, I don't exactly know what that looks like...but I think that Joplin also wants to upload everything there first that isn't there yet. Here, however, a backup is even more important, so that if it doesn't work out, you can import your data again later and sync it that way. Let me know if it works!

Best regards  
MrKanister 😃

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**Author:** ![KajWiik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/kajwiik/32/6867_2.png) [@KajWiik](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/KajWiik)\
**Post date:** [23 March 2021 22:48 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/3 "2021-03-23T22:48:10Z")

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I got finally everything set up with the server and client1 and tried with another client (client2 in Android). It's quite surprising that nothing gets synced to client2 but if I create a new note in client2, it gets synced to client1. Any hints how to get all notes from client1 (or the server) to client2?

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**Author:** ![KajWiik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/kajwiik/32/6867_2.png) [@KajWiik](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/KajWiik)\
**Post date:** [24 March 2021 07:35 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/4 "2021-03-24T07:35:08Z")

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Hmm, over the night, some (not all) notes have been transferred but notebooks are not visible , i.e, they are only seen in 'All notes'. Restarting sync manually returns 'Completed' immediately.

Any ideas?

Kaj

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**Author:** ![MrKanister](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrkanister/32/20054_2.png) [@MrKanister](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/MrKanister)\
**Post date:** [24 March 2021 08:01 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/5 "2021-03-24T08:01:54Z")

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This is really weird behavior, which I haven't experienced myself, I think it's not client2, but client1. I would export a complete backup of client1, delete all notes (be careful! Make sure the backup is not corrupted...), syncronize. Then theoretically (?) there should be no more entries on the server. If you then import the backup again, it should resync completely.

Have a nice day!  
Mr Kanister

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**Author:** ![KajWiik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/kajwiik/32/6867_2.png) [@KajWiik](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/KajWiik)\
**Post date:** [24 March 2021 21:08 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/6 "2021-03-24T21:08:11Z")

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It seems that the main problem was an aggressive battery management of the cellphone that stopped syncing before completing. Now I have disabled it and it seems to be syncing everything...let's see...

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**Author:** ![KajWiik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/kajwiik/32/6867_2.png) [@KajWiik](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/KajWiik)\
**Post date:** [25 March 2021 10:55 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/7 "2021-03-25T10:55:41Z")

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Yes, that was it, now everything is synced. However, there is still a strange behaviour in the App: even if the sync is completed, it still fetches resources continuously (the numbers are changing fast):

![joplin](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/2X/3/3d53ed125bbc7c35f9b3d1a79c871512dcefc136.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![jb261](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/jb261/32/7324_2.png) [@jb261](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/jb261)\
**Post date:** [25 March 2021 15:27 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/8 "2021-03-25T15:27:26Z")

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There's an Android app called ScreenOn that keeps the phone active so that the large initial sync can complete.

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**Author:** ![MrKanister](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrkanister/32/20054_2.png) [@MrKanister](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/MrKanister)\
**Post date:** [25 March 2021 18:27 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/9 "2021-03-25T18:27:10Z")

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The "Fetching resources" is not really about synchronising, but rather about downloading your resources (images, pdf's, etc.) from the server. You can change the behaviour of this in the settings, where it says "Attachment download behaviour". I suppose, you have checked "Always" right now, in which case it downloads all the attachments at the first sync. But I think it should be completed now after 7 hours 😛

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**Author:** ![KajWiik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/kajwiik/32/6867_2.png) [@KajWiik](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/KajWiik)\
**Post date:** [25 March 2021 18:33 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/10 "2021-03-25T18:33:20Z")

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Ahaa... Well, it was still fetching resources frantically 🙂 but after changing Always -\> Auto it stopped. Many thanks for the tip!! Now everything looks very close to perfect!

Cheers,  
Kaj

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/1/c/1c948e33314e232a0927789508474d8624f4270b.png) [@system](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [24 April 2021 18:33 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/before-syncing-with-joplin-server-for-the-first-time-should-i-copy-my-notes-to-the-server-first/15583/11 "2021-04-24T18:33:53Z")

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