I am trying to use RM 11 on my iPad and iPhone. I have installed the app on both and have a file in Dropbox. I cannot get the file into the app on my devices. The most recent video on Youtube is from 7 years ago. I have also searched the community. Please help!
The iPhone/iPad app requires a different file structure than the one created for RM11.
If you use File>Export Data>Dropbox, RM11 will put the file into the proper format and save it to Dropbox where the app can retrieve it.
Thank you Bob. After I select export, Dropbox, I get an error saying Safari canāt open the url.
Sorry, I canāt help with that, Iām not a Mac user.
@Melissa1 also NOT a Mac user BUT have you tried a different browser?
Maybe this will help you
Iām a bit confused. Safari shouldnāt have anything to do with this. Iām a Windows user rather than a Mac user, and I am not sure of the procedure on a Mac. On Windows, you have to get an RMGC file (a Rootsmagic 7 file) stored on Dropbox in such a way that the RootsMagic app on your iPad or iPhone can read it. I suspect the procedure is pretty much the same on a Mac. No matter what, you have to get an RMGC file from your computer to your iPad or to your iPhone.
Again I repeat, this has nothing to do with a browser on my Windows machine and should not have anything to do with a Safari browser on a Mac. What you have to do on a Windows machine and RM11 is to open your RM11 database which is an RMTREE database. Then do File > Export Data > Dropbox. On my machine, this will place a copy of my RM database as an RMGC file rather than as an RMTREE file in a folder called C:\Users\jbryan\Dropbox\Apps\RootsMagic\ ājbryanā is my Windows user id. This is where Iām guessing how it works for a Mac, but if this will work on a Mac then something very similar has to happen. The File > Export Data > Dropbox in my RM11 on my Windows computer put a copy of my data into an RMGC file in a place in Dropbox where the iPhone and iPad app could find it.
Then I open my RM app on my iPhone or iPad. I do not open my Safari browser on my iPhone or my iPad. Again, Safari has nothing nothing to do with this. When I open my RM app on my iPhone or iPad, I click on Files at the bottom left of the screen. I can choose āOn Deviceā or āDropboxā. In this case, I have to click on āDropboxā to download the file to my iPhone or iPad. From that point on, the file is now āOn Deviceā and I donāt have to use the āDropboxā option again unless I make changes in RM and export to to Dropbox again.
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Might be a security setting in Safari. See if you can switch the default browser to Chrome and use that.
Is it that you need a (free) Dropbox account and have signed in to it on your Mac? Just wondering.
It certainly works OK on my Mac when I have such an account - certainly for several MacOS versions including Tahoe. Dropbox just then appears as a folder hierarchy in Finder and is useable just like any other set of folders. If you donāt have a Dropbox account, then you access someone elseās folders stored in Dropbox by using a URL they provide and then you would access it via a browser such as Safari.
You donāt need to install Dropbox on the iPad or iPhone for the RM app to work.
In my experience you do need the Dropbox app in the iPad or iPhone. Am I missing something obvious? How else could the RM app gain access the the RMGC file from RM?
Again in my experience, what happens is as follows. You have to install the Dropbox app on your iPad or iPhone and provide it with your Dropbox logon ID and password. Having done that, you never have to touch the Dropbox app on the iPad or iPhone again.
Having installed and touched the Dropbox app just the one time as described, from then on you only have to work with the RM app on the iPad or iPhone. It will be the RM app that fetches RMās RMGC file for you. But it will fetch the RMGC file for you by using the Dropbox app. Thatās why you as the user never have to touch the Dropbox app on the iPad or iPhone again after setting it up.
Jerry, The Dropbox app isnāt installed now on either my iPad or iPhone, and I have never installed the Dropbox app in the past, but the RM app works just fine.
To double check, I searched for the Dropbox app in the App Store, and to now install it, I have to Get it. If I had previously installed it, even if I had then deleted it, it would already be attached to my Apple ID account and I would just have to download it (again), not Get it.
Quite why and how it works is a mystery, but it does. Maybe Dropbox connects via my Apple ID (which is also my Dropbox user name) in some way - you donāt need the Dropbox app on an iPad to access a file in Dropbox provided in some way you use the appropriate URL. (Wasnāt there mention earlier on of Safari being associated with the problem the user reported, so perhaps implying a URL was involved.
Below added by edit -
Looking back, it was Mellissa who had the problem. I wonder if her username in Dropbox is different from her Apple ID? Just a long shot.
Iām guessing this is all taking place between RM on a Mac and an iPhone/iPad. Not being a Mac user, I cannot do any testing. But I suspect that after the *.rmgc file is created via File > Export to Dropbox by RM on a Mac that there may be a path involving iTunes and/or Finder and that does not involve Dropbox that gets the file to the iPhone/iPad in such a way that the mobile app can use it.
But if this taking place between RM on Windows and an iPhone/iPad, I stand by my understanding that this would be a scenario that that seems impossible.
In any case, do be aware that even in the RM on Windows to an iPhone/iPad scenario, that after the *.rmgc file has arrived on the iPhone/iPad via Dropbox that the RM mobile app can use the file even if the Dropbox app is then deleted. The issue is just getting the *.rmgc file to the iPhone/iPad in the first place. After the file is there, the Dropbox app is no longer needed, even in the Windows scenario.
Although this is getting a little esoteric, I thought it worth trying to look a little further into this, though I only have a Mac/iPad combination on which to test.
The first problem is that I canāt see any of the RM files on the iPad using the standard iPad Files app - they are only visible within the RM app. However, if you connect the iPad to the Mac, you can see the files the RM iPad app has access to using Finder.
When saving an RM file to Dropbox, the file is only visible within Dropbox as viewed from Finder on the Mac. It does not appear anywhere on the iPad. And the iPad has no view of Dropbox as the Dropbox app is not installed.
If you then open the RM app on the iPad and select the newly created RM .rmgc file from the Dropbox option, that file gets copied from Dropbox onto the iPad (it is still also in Dropbox) and is then visible as belonging to the RM iPad app using Finder. That is the step we do not yet understand.
I do know that I can allow anyone to access one of my Dropbox files or a whole folder by sending them a URL, and I suspect there is an API for Dropbox that allows a program - the RM iPad app ? - to access Dropbox, but it would need some information to clear security. In this case, the folder name - Apps/Rootsmagic - is fixed, but more would be needed to identify the Dropbox user. Maybe the Apple ID is used indirectly for access to Dropbox - like using āSign-in with Appleā. Just speculating.
Later addition ā
Further testing demonstrated that the move of the RM the file from Dropbox to the iPad happens even if the Mac is powered off. So nothing to do with anything on the Mac (such as Finder).
Thank you everyone for your excellent responses!! I greatly appreciate it. The problem has been solved.
I knew I didnāt need a Dropbox on my iPhone or iPad. The problem was happening after I selected Export Data and then selected Dropbox. I had already created a RM file in Dropbox. After selecting Dropbox, I received a Safari error that said āSafari canāt open the pageā following by a url and then it said āThe error is: Navigation failed because the request was for an HTTP URL with HTTPS-Only Enabled. I went thru the steps again just now, got the same error and then was told the data was in Dropbox. The file was there! Sometimes just trying again later on a different day can work things out.
The error message indicates that your access permissions (in Safari) are set to a specific (higher) level of security (HTTPS) whereas the URL that you tried to use to find the file was attempting to use a lower level of security (HTTP). The fix is to review the URLs and change any occurrence of HTTP to HTTPS. The latter should be the default for any program that stores URLs.
Any cloud service is prone to lag in how fast and thoroughly it syncs data to it from the local machine as well as how fast and thoroughly it syncs data from it to the local machine. For most cases where a cloud service other than iCloud is to be used from macOS as a sync service, one recommendation is to export contents to a local folder and subsequently copy the contents into the Dropbox folder. The added peace of mind is that, should Dropbox be slow and yet you make changes on the contents in the meantime, you will not overwrite what Dropbox is trying to sync.
The only way to have a Dropbox folder accessible directly from the Finder level on macOS (i.e. for RM to find it in the Exportā menu) is to have the Dropbox app installed on macOS. On i(Phone/Pad)OS, the Dropbox folder can be accessed in the standard Files app by toggling it on. The app on the i(Phone/Pad) has to make use of the Files app access. This is not a process that requires iTunes or requires installing the Dropbox app on the i(Phone/Pad). Indeed, the only reason to install the Dropbox app on i(Phone/Pad) is to have a direct window into the Dropbox files besides the standard i(Phone/Pad)OS Files app.
In summary, after toggling the above switch in Files to ON, one can use an i(Phone/Pad) app to access a file that has been stored from Windows or from macOS into a Dropbox folder.
ā
JJW
This is getting a little Mac specific but Iām not too sure that the above is correct. Below is the equivalent screen capture from my iPad. I donāt have the Dropbox app installed but can access RM11 files saved to Dropbox - as you can see, there is no option to enable or disable access to Dropbox files.
Apologies. You are correct. I had installed the Dropbox iOS app so long ago that I forgot it is not a default in Files. And the search information on āhow to use Dropbox on iPadā only mentions the caveat about the Dropbox iOS app as a fine print disclaimer at the end.
One can access Dropbox files through a Web browser using a URL method. This approach works without having the Dropbox iOS app. However, this approach is not the same as allowing RM on an iPad to gain access the Dropbox files. For this, you must have the Dropbox iOS app installed on your iPad.
ā
JJW
I think we are going around in circles. This is not true - as I stated earlier in this discussion, I do not have the Dropbox app installed on my iPad (or iPhone) and it has never been installed. Both Devices have access to all my RM11 files saved to Dropbox.
If you select one of the files in Dropbox, the RM app downloads it from Dropbox to the iPad and then opens it. If you then look at the RM files on the iPad, the newly downloaded file is now included in the list whilst still also in the list of Dropbox files.
The mystery is how does it work - but it does. (I speculated earlier that it used my Apple ID in some way as the RM app on the iPad is connected to it as are the files accessible via Finder on my Mac, and Finder has access to the files on Dropbox, which appears as just another set of folders.)
The Dropbox App is not required to have on your device, but some devices appear to not work with the RM App for iOS unless it is installed. Not sure why, but it happens.
Even though Iām not a Mac user, I have been doing some research and I think I can describe how the RM mobile app can work between a Mac and an iPhone or iPad without the intervention of Dropbox.
First of all, whether it be Windows or Mac, I think you do have to have Dropbox installed on your Windows or Mac. Or at least you have to have a Dropbox folder. Remember that first and foremost, the Dropbox folder is an actual folder on your local hard disk. In addition, if you are actually running Dropbox on your Windows or Mac, that folder will be synced to the cloud. But the Dropbox folder itself is not āin the cloudā. Rather, the Dropbox folder is is synced to the cloud - or not synced to the cloud if you are not running the Dropbox app.
On Windows the path your RM data normally takes to get to your iPhone or iPad is usually the following. You do the Export to Dropbox in RM on Windows which creates an *.rmgc file in a folder called \Dropbox\Apps\RootsMagic\ The *.rmgc file is then synced to the Dropbox cloud. Then you get on the RM mobile app and click on Files. It will ask you, On Device or Dropbox. After making a new *.rmgc file you will pick the Dropbox option. That will cause the RM mobile app to contact the Dropbox app on your mobile device which gets the *.rmgc file from the Dropbox cloud. The net result is that the *.rmgc file is now On Device and the RM mobile app can use the file moving forward without any more interaction with Dropbox.
I went through all of that because on a Mac you can do the exact same thing if you wish. But you donāt have to. You can do the following instead. As before, you can do the Export to Dropbox which creates an *.rmgc file in a folder called /Dropbox/Apps/RootsMagic/ One of the things I donāt know is whether the Export to Dropbox will create that folder for you if it doesnāt exist or if you have to make sure itās there. And one way you could be sure itās there is to be running the Dropbox app on the Mac - or to have run it at least once. For our purposes, the Dropbox app doesnāt have to be running. Itās just that RMās Export to Dropbox will create the *.rmgc file in /Dropbox/Apps/RootsMagic/ Iām repeating that I donāt know on a Mac if RM will create the folder for you or not.
But hereās the difference on a Mac. If you start up the RootsMagic mobile app on your mobile device, you will have the same two options of On Device or Dropbox. And you can simply choose the On Device without ever choosing Dropbox and the *.rmgc file can already be there. The way it works is that when you connect your mobile device and your Mac together, Apple has so integrated iPhones and iPads with the Mac that Finder will simply copy the *.rmgc file from the Mac to the iPhone or iPad for you. Thatās why the RM mobile app can see the *.rmgc file as already being On Device, even though you do not have the Dropbox app on the mobile device. Instead, Finder on the Mac is syncing the /Dropbox/Apps/RootsMagic/ folder on your Mac with the same folder on your iPad or iPhone.
Jerry has stimulated me to do some experimentation - all the following applies to a Mac user but I suspect the same applies to the Windows user - I canāt see why it would be any different. All this in an attempt to better understand this area.
First, I had a close look at the iPad RM app Files panel. Selecting the Dropbox option, I noticed at the top there is an āUnlink Dropbox Accountā, so I selected that. Then, on my Mac, I deleted the Apps/Rootsmagic folders (and therefore all their contents).
In the RM app, when then selecting the Dropbox option within files, I was prompted to Link the RM app to Dropbox.
To do that I had to enter my Dropbox username and password, and then enter a code sent by Dropbox to my email account - so 2-factor authentication.
As a result of this, the Apps/Rootsmagic folder was recreated in my Dropbox account (as viewed from the Mac).
Going to Rootsmagic on the Mac, I exported a database to Dropbox, and then I could see that on the Files/Dropbox panel on the RM app. Selecting that database, the RM app downloads it, opens it, and, if one selects Files/On Device in the RM app, this shows that the database is now stored on the iPad.
So, the key fact here is that the RM app has to sign-in to your Dropbox and can then subsequently access files stored in the Apps/Rootsmagic folder. Once signed-in, it seems to maintain this ability āforeverā - at least, I suspect Iāve only ever done this the first time (other than this experiment) and it has been a year or two.
I hope this is useful and clarifies this area - how the Mac or Windows file gets to the iPad/iPhone.
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