You’ve got Evidentia set up on your desktop at home. You also take your laptop to the archive on Tuesdays. Both machines connect to the same cloud storage. And somewhere in the back of your mind is a question you haven’t wanted to ask out loud:
If I work on my database on both computers, which version wins?
That’s a fair question, and you deserve a straight answer. Here’s exactly how Evidentia handles it.
The Evidentia Cloud Sync Rule
Every time you open a database, Evidentia does one thing before loading your research: it compares two timestamps.
- The modification time of the database file on your local disk
- The modification time of the same file in the cloud
Whichever one is newer tells Evidentia what to do next:
What Evidentia Does at Startup
- Local is newer → uploads your local database to the cloud automatically. No prompt, no confirmation dialog.
- Cloud is newer → syncs the cloud version to your local disk automatically. No prompt, no confirmation — same as the upload direction.
- They match → opens your database and gets out of the way.
What Happens When You Go Offline
This is where it gets interesting for anyone who’s ever worked in a place where the archive WiFi requires a form, a prayer, or a password that expired three months ago.
When Evidentia opens a database without an internet connection, it skips the cloud check entirely and opens your local copy. No error. No “you must be connected to continue.” You just work.
When you reconnect — whether that’s ten minutes later when you find the library’s guest network, or when you get home that evening — Evidentia checks the timestamps again. Your local copy is newer (you’ve been working on it all day). So it uploads automatically. The cloud catches up, and your other computer gets the updated version the next time you open the database there.
Watch out for stale copies
If PC A has done work since your last sync on PC B, opening PC B offline is risky. PC B works from an old version all day. When it reconnects, Evidentia detects the conflict and asks which version to keep — but either way, one session’s work is gone.
The fix is simple: always open Evidentia while connected before you start work. If the cloud is newer, you’ll see a notification to download first. Going to the archive? Sync at home before you leave.
A Small Detail That Saves a Lot of Trouble
Here’s something you’d probably never think to worry about: what if the clocks on your two computers disagree by a few seconds?
System clocks drift. It’s completely normal. If your desktop is two seconds ahead of your laptop, and both databases have similar modification times, Evidentia shouldn’t declare one “winner” based on a meaningless two-second difference. So it doesn’t. Evidentia treats timestamps within 5 seconds of each other as equal — no upload, no notification. Just open and go.
What Sync Doesn’t Do
Evidentia’s sync is built for one researcher working across multiple machines — not for two people editing the same database at the same time. If two computers open the same database simultaneously, each makes changes, and both try to save — you’ll be asked which version to keep. Either way, one session’s work is gone.
For most Evidentia users, this is never a concern. But if you’re collaborating closely with a family member, take turns — or use separate databases and cross-reference them.
The Safety Net: Offline Reconciliation
When you reconnect after working offline, Evidentia cloud sync doesn’t just check the database you happen to have open. It quietly checks every database in your cloud storage folder and makes sure the cloud copies are current. If you worked offline across several databases over a few days, they all catch up when you reconnect — not just the one that happened to be open at the time. It runs in the background. You won’t notice it, which is exactly the goal.
Seeing It in Settings
If you want to verify how your cloud sync is configured — or just confirm it’s actually connected — Settings → Storage shows your current provider, connection status, and the path where your databases live.
Your cloud provider, connection status, and database storage path are all visible here. If the sync isn’t behaving as expected, this is the first place to look.
For your cloud provider’s own sync troubleshooting, the official Dropbox sync documentation, OneDrive sync guide, and Google Drive offline access help each have detailed walkthroughs.
Evidentia 3+ is available now. If you haven’t upgraded yet, the store has all the details — including what’s new since Evidentia 3.
— Ed Thompson / Evidentia Software