Just some feedback about Joplin, OneDrive and 4 MB

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Hello,
I´m new here and to Joplin.

I cannot describe how much I love Joplin, as I found it for iOS and then also installed on Windows.

It is finally a way to use my splendit OneDrive accounts, as i am not willing to put anything unencrypted into the internet.

I have some smaller issues with the iOS and the Windows applications, but nothing realy serious. I may write about this later.

In general, I use the Notes just as a way to attach files, as I am interested to get my files encrypted.

But then …

then i discovered the 4MB limit of files on OneDrive.

This is a total show-stopper for me.

I have numerous files, the biggest part of them, surely bigger than this measly 4MB.

I could understand a limit of 2 GB, but 4 MB?!?`
I do understand, that this is just one of the possible ways to upload files to OneDrive and that the “bigger” version is not yet planned to be used.

Just wanted to say, that this is incredible sad.
Any way I can further this?

Joplin could be the final solution for soooo many users, but with the 4 MB limitation … it´s just like a toy version.

Another idea:

If it is difficult to use the “big” version, how about saving all files in chunks of 4 MB each, and concatenate them when actually using or sharing them?

Just an idea …

A very sad person, who just lost what he thought to have found: The final solution for encrypting stuff for Cloud Storage …

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Hello there, tja, and welcome! :slight_smile:

I do understand your issue - I had the same unpleasant surprise and had to ditch OneDrive sync because of that - I'm using NextCloud now.

You will soon find that the 'real' (i.e. 'useful') limit for your file size is even less than 4MB - for the reasons of (IIRC) cross-platform sync compatibility, the files are actually stored in Base64 strings, which further increases their size. (So your 3MB picture may end up being way over 4MB, as far as sync is concerned.)

I also don't think anyone's eager to implement the 'big file API' for OneDrive. I think the devs want to keep it platform-agnostic and only rely on filesystem-like operations for sync, to enable the widest range of targets possible. (If you only use file read/write operations, you can target basically anything.)
I'm not a dev though, and someone might implement this in the future - I don't know.

More importantly, I think you're approaching this from the wrong angle. Joplin simply isn't meant as a database or an encryption service. What you're trying to do is an entirely different problem.

I suggest approaching it as such. I've had the same problem - I do keep some files in the cloud in plain text, but there are some I really don't want to. Maybe you've tried encrypted containers, but they're a pain, because after a tiny file change the whole blob has to upload again.

Fortunately, after some time, I've stumbled upon just the right tool: Cryptomator. Check it out - it might do just what you need.
You create a virtual drive (in windows, it maps as a network folder) and put files into it - Cryptomator encrypts them on-the-fly and stores them in your target directory (e.g. OneDrive). However, it does so on a file-by-file basis, so if you only change one file, then that's the only one that needs reuploading.
(Of course, it doesn't do notes. I use cryptomator for files and Joplin for notes. :wink: )

Edit: just to clarify, I mention WIndows explicitly because that's the only one I use. Cryptomator itself is cross-plaform. (I did try syncing to an Ubuntu box, worked no problem.)

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Many thanks for your reply, zblesk.

Sadly, i cannot ditch OneDrive for Joplin :wink:

I have 5 TB there and would like to use it.

Cryptomator is ... not realy ready, IMHO.
The document provider in the Files App does not work and on Windows, you just cannot copy large files or large amounts of files.
It´s all ... not production ready.

I tried to use DEVONthink To Go instead, but it does not support OneDrive yet and so i use it on a small webdav server instead.

In generall, iOS seems to need more time ... still more time.