Raven Sync

Raven Sync keeps a folder identical across computers, as ordinary files on each disk: across your own computers, or across every member of your organization.

How to reach it

Switch to the Sync view, next to Local and Cloud by the logo, then click Set up this device.

Just me

When you choose Just me on the first screen, Raven Sync keeps a folder identical on every computer where you are signed in, up to 10 devices. Nobody else sees it. The screen is headed Personal vault with a just me badge, and it has no Organization tab and no sharing. Personal vault is also the first entry in the picker at the top of the Sync view, before your organizations; choosing an entry switches what the view shows.

Setup has two steps. Turn on the vault creates an empty vault for your account on the server; your cloud notes are not copied into it. Then Choose a folder and start syncing picks the folder on this computer. Personal sync is part of the Individual plan; without it, turning the vault on opens the upgrade offer for the Individual plan instead. On another computer, sign in and choose Personal vault in the picker, or Just me on the first screen if you have no organization.

The suggested folder is ~/ContextRaven Sync/<your name>. When your account has no usable name the suggestion uses the first part of your email address, and after that the vault's id. Another vault's folder on this computer is never suggested.

Disconnect my devices cuts every computer you set up for your own vault. Once 10 devices hold a sign-in, setting up another is refused, and the message names the way out.

You can't move a personal vault into an organization.

Setting up

Set up this device enrolls a small background sync process for your organization's shared vault. There's no terminal step and no separate account: it uses the sign-in you already have.

Sync roots

A synced folder lives on disk at ~/ContextRaven Sync/<organization name> by default. When the name can't be a folder name, or another organization on this computer already uses that folder, the suggestion uses the organization's id instead. A sync root can also be, contain, or sit inside a folder you already track in the editor, so the same files show up in both the Local and Sync views.

Several organizations

One computer can sync the vaults of several organizations, each into its own folder. Pick the organization at the top of the Sync view and set this device up for it; the picker switches freely between them. The app remembers your selected vault when you leave this view and return, for the signed-in account and this app session. If you leave an organization, its remembered selection is dropped. Restarting the app uses the default again.

Warnings and errors show a ! inside their notice, beside its stripe: amber Warning or red Needs attention. The vault on screen has no problem suffix in the picker. A problem in another vault appears below the picker as Vault: problem — open, and that vault's option carries · needs attention. Activate the button by click, Enter or Space to open that vault and focus the notice explaining the problem. If several vaults need attention, errors come before warnings.

Disconnect my devices acts on the organization on screen only. The others keep syncing.

Setting up another computer

The Choose a vault first-run screen lists Personal vault first, then your organizations. Your personal vault is preselected when it is already turned on for your account and no organization is syncing on this computer. Choose Continue to set up the folder here. You can select an organization instead. If your personal vault is not yet turned on, select it and continue to its setup; turning it on offers Individual when your plan needs it. Continue waits while the app checks your personal vault. With no organizations or local vault on this computer, the Who is this sync for? question still offers Just me.

Disconnecting

Disconnect my devices stops the organization's sync on every computer you set up for it. If this computer syncs it, Context Raven then asks whether to delete its synced folders here too, and lists them:

• Delete folder deletes those folders and every file in them from this computer, and removes the organization's setup here. They are deleted, not moved to the Trash. What was already synced stays in the vault; a change that had not synced yet is lost.
• Keep files, or closing the question, removes the setup and leaves every file where it is. If you set the same organization up again in that folder later, it adopts the files already there.

If you close Context Raven before answering, or the removal is refused, the organization's card still offers it: open Advanced and choose Remove from this computer…. It asks the same question and works the same way. It appears only for a disconnected organization whose setup is still on this computer, and it goes away once the setup has been removed.

Nothing is deleted or removed if the folders on disk are not the ones listed, if Context Raven can't read which folders the setup syncs, or if it can't confirm the setup here is that organization's; it tells you so instead. If deleting stops part-way, the message names the folders that were already deleted.

Sharing folders

An admin shares specific folders with individual members or with everyone in the organization. For each shared folder, a member's status is simply whether they've set it up on at least one of their own computers.

While it's running

When a sync root is also a folder you track in the editor, files that arrive through sync appear the same way any other external change does: they update in place if you have no unsaved edits open in that file.

Running and stopping

Sync starts automatically when you open Context Raven and stops the moment the app quits, including a force-quit; nothing keeps syncing in the background afterward. If the sync process crashes while the app is open, the Sync view shows Not running; it comes back the next time you launch the app, or when you click Start sync.

Context Raven doesn't add a separate login item for this, and it doesn't send OS notifications unless you turn them on.

When a plan ends

Each computer’s sync sign-in lasts seven days. Context Raven renews it automatically while the required plan is active, starting three days before it expires. If you reopen the app after the sign-in has expired, the app automatically renews it when you are signed in and connected.

If renewal is refused because your Individual plan ended, the Sync view shows how many days remain and the date and time sync will stop. The last 24 hours say “less than a day”. For an organization, it names the organization’s Team plan and asks members to contact its owner. The owner’s plan determines shared sync; a member’s own subscription does not.

When the sign-in expires, transfers stop. Your files stay on this computer, and folder access and setup are kept. Renew the plan and open the Sync tab. For your personal vault, or an organization you own, Context Raven retries when it sees the required sync entitlement restored. A lost or restored entitlement skips the 20-hour interval once, at the first native renewal attempt. Routine renewals wait at least 20 hours after the last success. Newer account information showing the plan is active hides the plan-ended notice for a personal vault or its organization owner. It must arrive after the latest plan refusal; a new plan refusal shows the notice again and reloads account information once. Members of an organization retry automatically on the next hourly attempt. You do not need to set the vault up again. Other failed renewals are retried hourly. Network errors and disconnected devices have their own messages.

Older sign-ins already issued for 30 days retain their original expiry until renewed.

Availability

Personal and organization sync are being rolled out; see Plans and pricing for which plans include it.

Limits

Two organizations can't sync the same folder, a folder inside another organization's, or a folder containing one; setting one up there is refused, and the message names both organizations and both folders, including through a symlink. A disconnected organization's folder stays off limits while it still holds files: move or delete them first (empty subfolders don't count), or choose another folder.