Recovering data and encrypted data on a new Joplin install on iOS

pat3 · 2019-08-11T16:16:41.290Z

I can’t configure Joplin as I reinstall it on my new iPhone and would like to sync with Dropbox. The dropbox sync goes well. But then I can’t sync my datas, they are all encrypted; I desinstall-reinstall the app on my iOS devices, let the sync process work by itself, and after that, click the “press to set the decryption password” and reconfigure the encryption process, but nothing works. I can’t sync to my iOS devices the data I had on my Macbook.
Can I have some help ?

CalebJohn · 2019-08-11T22:29:07.580Z

Have you read through the encryption document I followed the steps given there and got it syncing correctly. I’m not sure exactly what your issue could be here.

pat3 · 2019-08-12T08:41:06.776Z

Yes, I’ve read this several time and I follow it step by step. I also read the spec to better understand how it works.
But for now, I finlally remove the encryption, which is not the result I’d like, and reinstall one more time the iOS apps (on iPhone and iPad) form scratch. Now I had all my files and folders back, but an orange bar appears on every apps (macOS included) asking for a decryption password on iOS, and for a master key’s password on macOS.
As it took much time to reach this result, I’m a bit reserved to launch another try on encryption (though I’d like to encrypt my file) - I don’t want to end reinstalling everything.
Note that I use Dropbox sync, and that I don’t touch the macOS app to avoid loosing all my files (not sure they could be save with only a copy on Dropbox).
It seems encryption has problem in this other topic.
Finally, if I can’t re-encrypt my files properly, I’d like to remove the orange bar… but I’d like better recovering encryption.

CalebJohn · 2019-08-13T02:47:28.096Z

Currently it looks like the data on your sync target is encrypted and if using your encryption (master) key isn’t working then that probably means you’re either entering it wrong, or you entered it wrong during encryption. If you have a backup of your notes the easiest thing to do would be to wipe all devices and the sync target, and then restore from a backup. If you don’t I would suggest entering your encryption key on the desktop, see if that works and go from there.

Sorry that things are a bit messed up, I hope you can recover your notes.

pat3 · 2019-08-14T13:43:23.823Z

I recover my notes as I erase encryption on all my devices.
But now it seems I can’t sync: I write two or three notes on the desktop, and they don’t sync with the mobile devices. I create a new file on each device, and none of them appeared on another device, though they all seem to sync.
The problem seems to be that the app has the memory of old encrypted synchronizations and blocks new sync, but I don’t know how to erase old keys to start over from scratch, without losing my datas.
I exported all my notebooks to have a backup, but now I don’t konw what to do…

CalebJohn · 2019-08-14T15:44:29.421Z

Hmmm sounds like you’re having a very strange problem, what you’ll probably need to do is uninstall Joplin and all Joplin data (from each device) re-install, and import from backup on one device. Have that device sync, and then one by one sync the other devices.

pat3 · 2019-08-24T07:54:24.883Z

Try to delete Joplin apps on both iOS and MacOS, delete syncing through Dropbox, delete sync datas and reinstall all to restart a fresh install, but all the datas persist.
Where are they stored on MacOS (even an app eraser like AppTrash can’t find them)?

CalebJohn · 2019-08-24T14:15:59.319Z

You can check out this forum topic, the question is slightly different but the location is the same. Sorry I would answer more completely but I’m ony phone.

pat3 · 2019-08-25T10:32:57.868Z

Thanks for your answers, I read this topic but I didn’t link it to my issue because of the Windows domain. For the record, on macOS, Joplin store its datas in the User/<your name>/.config/joplin-desktop, which prevents any uninstaller to see it and trash it with the app (as I know, you need to test several uninstaller to be sure).
Uninstall with brew has the same result, the hidden directory remains unchanged.

Means it could be a good idea to built a uninstaller for the app, given with the installer ?

However, I recover a fresh version of Joplin on my mac, can reinstall the ios versions on ipad and iphone, and sync all. I’ll test it for a while before reinvesting time in testing the encryption feature.