What syncs
Sign in on two devices and they share one vault. Everything Relic holds goes across: the item itself, the files attached to it, and the title, note and tags you gave it. Items you kept in your Vault and items sitting in history both sync. So do deletes, so clearing something on your laptop clears it on your phone.
Each item is sealed on the device that made it, before it goes anywhere. The server stores the sealed bytes and the times they were written. It cannot read what is inside them, so it never sorts, tags or previews your items.
Every item carries the name of the device it came from, which is what the small line under a row says. Change that name in Settings › Sync and account › Device name.
How fast it is
Copy something on one computer and it is waiting on your other devices within seconds. You do not have to press anything. A phone that is asleep catches up the moment you open Relic on it.
The chip beside the wordmark in the Relic window says where things stand. It reads Synced when everything is up to date, Syncing… while a round is running, Uploading 40% while a large file goes up, 2 pending when items are queued, and Offline when there is no connection. The window tour shows it in place.
Syncing on demand
You can always ask for a round right now. On a computer, click the sync chip in the window, or open Settings›Sync and account and press Sync now. The same row shows your account email and when this computer last synced.
On a phone, pull down on the list, or open the settings sheet and tap Refresh now. Both do a full round: send what is waiting, then fetch what is new.
Working offline
Relic does not need a connection to be useful. Capture, search, editing, tags and paste all run against the copy of the vault on the device you are holding. Nothing is greyed out.
While you are offline the chip says Offline and anything new queues up behind it. When the connection comes back the queue drains on its own and the chip returns to Synced. There is nothing to press.
When an item says Not synced
Sometimes the server turns an item away. When that happens the row says Not synced under its title, the chip counts them, and clicking the chip opens a sheet titled Not synced with one line per item. Each line gives the reason and how long ago it happened.
These are the reasons the server can give:
- Vault is full on your plan
- Free up space or upgrade, then retry. Deleting a few large images is usually enough.
- Too large for your plan
- Upgrade your plan to sync items this large. The item stays on this device either way.
- Confirm your email to sync
- Open the confirmation link in the email Relic sent when you made the account.
- A newer copy exists elsewhere
- This usually resolves itself on the next sync.
- Sync error
- Something else went wrong. Retry, and if it keeps happening send the logs from Settings › About.
Every line in the sheet has a Retry button, and Retry all at the bottom queues the whole list again. When the items have cleared on their own the sheet says Everything synced. These items cleared up on their own.
The same item edited twice
Each item syncs on its own, so two devices editing two different items never collide. When you edit the same item on two devices, the last edit to reach the server wins, and that version is what the other devices pull down. There is no merge screen and nothing to resolve.
In practice this means a title you type on your laptop replaces the one you typed on your phone a minute earlier. If both devices were offline, the one that reconnects last is the one that sticks.
- Deleting on one device deletes everywhere, and it is the same rule: the delete is just another edit.
- Keeping an item in your Vault on one device keeps it everywhere. See Your devices for the list of what is signed in.