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Merging several databases into one

Christian

October 22, 2018 08:09

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Hi there,

I've been using Pagico for quite a while now, but I can't say I'm an experienced user. I still have the feeling that I am not using Pagico as efficiently as I should. I'm using a MacPro5,1, a MacBook Pro (both with MacOS 10.12), and an iPhone 5s with iOS 11.

For some reason my database has been almost emptied two weeks ago. Luckily, I made a backup about 4 months earlier, so that not all data is lost. However, replacing the actual database with the backup is no choice.

In sight of this dilemma, several questions came up to me:

1. Is there a way to merge the actual (emptied) database with the backup?

2. Can I open more than one database at once? And is it possible to move projects from one database to another per drag & drop?

3. Can I export a complete database or selected projects and import it or them into another one? (Well, I could drop them into the Inbox and move them to the desired place, can't I?)

4. Is it probably a sign of database corruption that I cannot open my database by double-clicking it? Doing this results in a nearly blank Pagico screen where nothing happens. When I quit Pagico, the database opens when I restart the application, but sometimes I have to do that several times, before the database shows up.

Keep up the good work. For me, there is no alternative to Pagico.

 

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9 comments

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  CM December 30, 2018 01:34 Official comment

  @Christian,

  I am sorry for the delay of our response! For some reasons we were never notified about your post. I apologize!

  The answer to your question is a no, sadly. As of now databases are top-level containers and cannot be merged. However, you can certainly try merging the content by using a workspace. For example, join the same workspace from both databases, and share everything from one database. Then go to the other database, wait for everything to sync, then "take ownership" of all those shared projects. By doing so, Pagico will make a copy of all these selected projects. Then you can go ahead and remove the old database from your workspace to stop the data sync and free up your workspace capacity.

  Hope this helps a little!

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  Christian October 30, 2018 07:31

  No one?

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  Christian December 02, 2018 10:35

  No answer. Very sad.

  If this is not possible, I will be satisfied with a simple „no“ by now.

  Ignoring my question, however, made me look for an alternative.

  I have been trying 2Do In the meantime. While 2Do lacks some cool Pagico features, it offers some other things I am missing here, most of all a responsive support. 

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  Christian January 03, 2019 09:30

  Hi,

  thanks for the answer. In the meantime I came across that very same solution by myself.

  However, I have lost one database due to a fatal hardware crash. The contacts and projects from that database are still there on my laptop (somehow, I think they are still being shared in the workspace), but I can't share them from my laptop in my workspace for the machine that has replaced the crashed Mac, since I am not the owner of those contacts and projects that were originally created on the crashed Mac.

  I would very much appreciate an option for bulk editing ownership. As it is, I have to do one project after another and that is certainly annoying. While this works for projects, trying to do the same with contacts causes Pagico to freeze.

  I am fiddling around a lot these days. By now I think Pagico handles some things much too complicated. Pagico should make things easier, but it consumes too much time to configure it as I had it before the Mac broke down.

  Macs crash and even die sometimes, but that can't mean I am losing control over data that were synced before.

   

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  CM January 03, 2019 20:42

  Hi there,

  Great to hear from you again! You can actually do bulk ownership change already! Simply go to your workspace, sort all items by authors (by clicking on the Authors column heading), multi-select all the things you want, right-click and choose "Take ownership".

  That's it! Hope this helps a little. Thank you!

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  Christian January 04, 2019 06:32

  Hi there,

  yes, I know, but I still have some items that are in my database, but are not listed among the shared stuff in my workspace. I can do no bulk editing of all contacts in the contact list at once

  I fear this is from the backup file of the database.

  Anyway. I am struggling, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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  CM January 04, 2019 14:25

  @Christian,

  If projects & contacts are not listed in the workspace, then you don't have to take ownership on those; they are local already. If these are things from the old database, you can put them into your workspace to make them available in your newer database. 

  Does it make sense at all?

  Thanks!

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  Christian January 06, 2019 11:57

  Well, no :)

  The problem is I can't sync the local files to my new office Mac Pro, since I am not the owner.

  If I want to become the owner of project, this works pretty well, although I have to modify projects one by one.

  Locally stored contacts which were created on the machine dead-and-gone are hard to modify, for two reasons

  1. I can do no bulk editing, since they don't appear in the workspace

  2. Pagico hangs itself if I try to take ownership for a contact.

  But what happens when I copy the database from my MacBook to my Mac Pro? Then I have mere duplicate which contains all locally stored projects and contacts from my MacBook on my Mac Pro, right? And still no chance to sync them to my iPhone.

  As it seems, Pagico's syncing concept cannot compensate the loss of a database completely.

  By now, I am on the brink to start all over again, that is to reimport all contacts and forget about past projects.

  Before I do that, however, I will have some more questions about syncing, e.g. syncing the databases via solutions like DevonThink.

  If you don't mind, that is. ;)

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  CM January 08, 2019 21:29

  Christian,

  I'm sorry that you have to go through all these steps in an attempt to regain full control of your data! We'll make the necessary improvement so that you can multi-select local items and take ownerships in bulk.

  Normally when you move a database to a new computer, Pagico would prompt you to assume the original identity so that you don't run into issues like this. 

  We'll perform some more tests on taking ownership of contacts and identify why it hangs on your end.

  And no, we don't mind answering your other questions! If you want, you can put your questions in a support ticket so we can track them more easily.

  Thank you!