iCloud Sync and Versioning

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Patrick J
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iCloud Sync and Versioning

Post by Patrick J »

I'd really like it if NWP had iCloud Sync and Versioning ☺

I know that some might say, "why bother with iCloud when you can use Dropbox" however I find I really like iCloud. I use a MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro and I love to be able to edit the same document on both. iCloud is really good with issues where I leave the document open in both computers accidentally and edit one and then the other.

I also really like Apple's Versioning. On numerous occasions I've found it so handy to be able to just go back to an earlier version of the document.

TextEdit has both iCloud support and Versioning. I am wondering that if TextEdit can do it, then maybe NWP can, as NWP files are very like TextEdit files.
Patrick
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martin
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Re: iCloud Sync and Versioning

Post by martin »

Thank you for the request Patrick. We understand these are potentially invaluable features for some user.
ryentzer
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Re: iCloud Sync and Versioning

Post by ryentzer »

+1
dshan
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Re: iCloud Sync and Versioning

Post by dshan »

As I understand it unfortunately only apps obtained from the Mac App Store can use iCloud, so if it was implemented in NWP then only those who bought it from the App Store would be able to use it. It would introduce a fairly major feature difference between the app store version of NWP and the non-app store version. I'm not sure how desirable that would be to Nisus or their customers given that there is no way to migrate users from the directly purchased version of an app to the App Store version, aside from the users buying it again from the App Store.

Versioning (which is just an aspect of what Apple calls the New Document Model introduced in OS X 10.7) is however, I believe, another matter. The NDM facilities can be used by any app, whether it comes from the App Store or not, and NDM support would certainly be a great addition to Nisus Writer. Once you've used the auto-save and auto-versioning features in NDM apps like TextEdit and Pages for a while you never want to go back to the old fashioned manual methods of saving and versioning documents. I'd love it if Nisus Writer would implement NDM in the next major release.
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martin
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Re: iCloud Sync and Versioning

Post by martin »

What dshan says about the availability of iCloud vs OSX versions is exactly correct: only apps purchased from the App Store are allowed access to iCloud, while any app can hook into OSX version history.
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Patrick J
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Re: iCloud Sync and Versioning

Post by Patrick J »

Well firstly I totally agree with dshan about the New Document Model which as he or she points out includes versioning. Once you have used this in TextEdit or Pages or other applications such as Preview or Pixelmator then you really don't want to go back to the older way of doing things.

So it would be really good if Nisus could introduce the New Document Model for Nisus Writer.

I realise that iCloud syncing would need to be added to a version for the App Store only. Personally I think that is really worthwhile. There can be two versions, an App store version and the one that is bought independently of the App Store. I have 1Password to manage my passwords for websites and this is available in two versions for this reason. The App Store version has the iCloud sync and the other version does not.

iCloud syncing is really a great thing because if you have a document open on two computers and you make different changes on each computer then iCloud sync offers up a dialogue at the sync asking if you want to keep both or just one.

My version of Nisus Writer Pro was obtained from the App Store so if iCloud syncing were introduced I would benefit from that. I appreciate that it is awkward that people cannot update a copy of Nisus Writer Pro bought directly from Nisus to the App Store one.

I think that not having iCloud sync or the New Document Model will become a bigger and bigger issue as people get used to these with other programs.
Patrick
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martin
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Re: iCloud Sync and Versioning

Post by martin »

The recently released Nisus Writer Pro version 2.1 has just added support for Mac OS X autosave and document versioning. Enjoy!

As for iCloud, Apple has made the situation more permissible. Now with OSX 10.10 Yosemite you can use iCloud Drive in all your applications, regardless of whether or not they were distributed via the Mac App Store. That said, once NWP 2.1 has been released on the App Store, it will be able to access the regular old (non-Drive) iCloud storage.
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