Where is actual data stored

[Doug Eddy]

I’m helping my former church develop a membership database using Tap Forms – only been urging them for a couple of years to do so lol. Two questions they asked me: 1. Is there a way to have the backups on the cloud rather than the computer? 2. Is the data contained in the databases stored on iCloud or on the Mac?

Thought those were good questions and I wasn’t sure even after reading Tap Forms documentation. My understanding is that the backups are stored no the computer and would have to be copied to somewhere like Dropbox or another cloud local manually, which is not what they are too excited about – an additional task for the church secretary to remember.

My understanding from reading the documentation is that the iCloud accesses the information and makes it available to the synch as sort of a passthrough from the main db on the Mac.

Is that correct? Thanks for the help in advance.

[Brendan]

Hi Doug,

Tap Forms stores all your database documents here:

~/Library/Containers/com.tapzapp.tapforms-mac/Data/Documents

To get there:

1. Copy the above path.
2. In the Finder, press command-shift-g or click on the Go menu and select Go to Folder…
3. Paste the above path into the field.
4. Press the Go button.

You can also select the database document on the main Database Documents list window (command-zero or select from Window menu), then click the Show in Finder button at the bottom of that window. Tap Forms will tell the Finder to take you to the above location.

iCloud or the other sync services just store sync information, not the full database document. So each change that you make to the database is sent up to the cloud sync service you’ve chosen. Think of the cloud service as a repository of commands applied to the database. Insert this value, update that value, delete this other value, record, form, etc. Each device would have its own copy of the database document. Tap Forms database documents end with a .tapforms file extension.

As for backups, if you go to the Preferences window on the General tab, you can click the Backups folder button, then select “Choose”. Now you can choose a different location for the backup files.

Hope that answers your questions!

Brendan

[Author]

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