Is Sync “Slow”?

Today’s network speeds are indeed much faster than in the past. (Do you remember, dial-up modems with 2400 baud, screeching in someone’s ear when they picked up the phone and interrupted your connection?!) The speed and availability of networks are a marvel compared to what we had in the past. But with that, we have so many more devices connecting to these networks that the promises these networks make aren’t always upheld. There are still complaints of “Why is this uploading so slowly?”, video playback stuttering, or an online game’s frame rate dropping just as the boss is delivering his special attack!

Our sync engine, especially when used with a remote sync location, is affected by the network conditions, just as any web browser or application. Because of this, we have employed several techniques to make the transfer as quick and reliable as possible, and in general it works as advertised. However sync is still reliant on the quality of the connection or responsiveness of the remote servers.

Also, the larger the database is, the longer it will take for the initial upload and download to the devices. Often people are syncing multi-gigabyte databases, not just a small handful of files as they do with their cloud services. Of course, this takes more time to transfer. Patience is key when doing initial uploads and imports. But subsequent syncs are generally faster as less data is being transmitted.

For some more information on sync, check out the built-in Help or manual: In & Out > Sync and basic troubleshooting steps in the Troubleshooting > Sync Issues section.