Elipsa Annotation Syncing Is Broken Again

[Cootey]

I’ve just noticed tonight that annotations (highlights & notes) aren’t syncing between my Kobo Clara HD and my Kobo Elipsa. In addition, the iOS apps aren’t syncing annotations again. Obviously, handwritten notes won’t be synced from the Elipsa to the Clara either since the Clara doesn’t support them.

The only element that syncs across devices and platforms is the last page read.

I’m running 4.30.18838 on both Kobo eReaders. I’m afraid that I’ve been extremely ill this year and didn’t notice when syncing stopped. It could have been an earlier firmware for all I know.

I’ve repaired my account on both devices. Still no luck. I’m wondering if anybody else is seeing this lack of annotation syncing between Kobo devices as well as the mobile apps.


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[RobertJSawyer]

I certainly see annotation synching failing between my various Kobo E Ink ereaders.

[davidfor]

My devices and the Android and iOS apps are syncing annotations with no problems.

[Numnumnum]

I’ve never found annotations to reliably sync on demand. However I usually find that over the long term things somehow catch up.

Between iOS and my Kobo is in particular the worst for this. I no longer read non fiction on the go on iOS for this reason. Only novels.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by Numnumnum

I’ve never found annotations to reliably sync on demand. However I usually find that over the long term things somehow catch up.

Yes, the following morning, things had synced between my eReaders. I can't say that I like waiting 24 hours to see a sync on the eReaders and now the iOS apps are out of the loop again. Earlier this year and last, Kobo had improved things. In fact, last spring I recall things syncing quite well—and quickly—for me between iOS apps and eReaders.

Between iOS and my Kobo is in particular the worst for this. I no longer read non fiction on the go on iOS for this reason. Only novels.

Well, I understand the sentiment. I don't have any of these issues with Kindle apps and eReaders. Unfortunately, I'm all in with Kobo. I invested in the Elipsa because they had finally fixed their syncing. The jokes on me.

And because I write fiction, I annotate novels as well, so I don't want to migrate over to Kindle for annotations. I just want syncing to work. grumble grumble…

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

I certainly see annotation synching failing between my various Kobo E Ink ereaders.

Thanks for the feedback. Sorry you're in the same boat! haha

Originally Posted by Davidfor

My devices and the Android and iOS apps are syncing annotations with no problems.

I wonder what you're doing differently, aside from living on a different continent. How quickly do your eReaders and iOS apps sync annotations?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Numnumnum

I’ve never found annotations to reliably sync on demand. However I usually find that over the long term things somehow catch up.

Between iOS and my Kobo is in particular the worst for this. I no longer read non fiction on the go on iOS for this reason. Only novels.

Kobo has told me that there are some delays built into annotation sync. At one time there was a 12 hour delay for annotations between the ereaders and the apps. I'm not sure why except maybe to handle issues with clock accuracy. I think they were reducing this, but, I don't know if they have, or what it was reduced to.

From my testing, for the first annotation added to a book, it seems to syncs to the other devices/apps quickly. And it might be that if you only add annotations in one place, they go to the others quickly. But, once you start adding annotations to a book in the other devices or apps, the syncing isn't as quick. I think this is when the time delay is used.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by davidfor

From my testing, for the first annotation added to a book, it seems to syncs to the other devices/apps quickly. And it might be that if you only add annotations in one place, they go to the others quickly. But, once you start adding annotations to a book in the other devices or apps, the syncing isn't as quick. I think this is when the time delay is used.

I have only made annotations recently on my Elipsa. I expect them to propagate across devices as they have done so formerly. Adding annotations from multiple devices just creates chaos when syncing isn’t working.

I understand that syncing is complicated. It always will be. Yesterday I discovered that Apple Books on my Mac and iPad/iPhone was out of sync. It took quite a bit of work to get them synced again (deleting Apple Books on my iPad, shutting off iCloud, then restoring it all, etc). Just last night, my text editor showed conflicts in my archives from old versions of the articles that I wrote years ago, suddenly appearing like iCloud zombies. When whispersync was new, my Kindle refused to sync with the iOS app. They were separate databases. Syncing takes work. It’s easy to create conflicts, which slows things down as you mentioned, or stops syncing entirely as each install becomes unique—as if the syncing forked the database.

This isn’t the first time I’ve posted about Kobo and syncing. You and I have discussed it for years. But Kobo did finally get it right. Before last spring annotations synced across apps and devices within moments. It was glorious. Then I entered a period of troubles and didn’t pay attention to syncing. Now things are broken again. My Clara finally shows all the annotations that aren’t handwritten, but after three days, my Kobo iOS apps still don’t show new annotations from the Elipsa.

Well, the purpose of this thread was to see if I was not alone. I’m not. Others are seeing the same syncing issues. I can’t explain why you aren’t having issues and others are. I guess I’ll reach out to Kobo when I have time to kill.

[Numnumnum]

Hello,

I just wanted to provide an update to this thread regarding my experience. In particular, using annotations with overdrive.

I was testing with a book that I had taken out several times from my local library via overdrive. I wanted to see if the annotations would sync between Kobo and ios devices, but also to see if the annotations would remain synced on the second or third rental from the library.

I understood from others' reports, and from my own experience, that although syncing may experience some severe lag between devices, over time the device s appear to catchup up to each other (as reported by @davidfor above).

My experience is very odd and inconsistent. On my first rental, I found that the annotations were not syncing between my devices reliably. I had to return the book to overdrive before I could confirm that things synced up. On my second rental a month later, it seemed that *all* the old annotations from both devices were now synced on my ios device. But on the Kobo (where most of the annotations were made) only the first chapters' annotations were present. After 21 days, the devices did not sync up at all.

I have the book on hold for a third rental, available any day now. I am curious to see what happens.

But TLDR is that Overdrive syncing is not as reliable as previously thought. These syncing problems are a real disappointment. I do not want to go to Amazon/Kindle but it really seems they have this stuff sorted out better. Even if I can't rent books from the library with Kindle in Canada.

[Cootey]

Numnumnum,

Do you keep the preview that replaces the loan? I’ve found I tend to maintain annotations with Overdrive loans if I keep the preview. There are times that it fails, however. Very frustrating.


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[Numnumnum]

Originally Posted by Cootey

Numnumnum,

Do you keep the preview that replaces the loan? I’ve found I tend to maintain annotations with Overdrive loans if I keep the preview. There are times that it fails, however. Very frustrating.


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Yes I keep the previews. Yes I agree it is frustrating. Most of all it is inconsistent. I just wish whatever they implement for annotations could be reliable or don’t do it at all.