Safe to relocate data files?

[H C]

Trying to get comfortable as a newcomer to Tap Forms, after being forced out be FileMaker’s indifference, if not hostility, toward individual users.

I like a lot of what I see, but do have questions, the first being whether it’s OK to move TF’s data files out of their native directory?

To me it’s an odd location for documents, as the ~/Library directory is one that’s normally hidden from users, making it more difficult to access, and not an easy target for quick backups.

I’d much rather keep my TF data with the rest of my other data, in the Documents directory of my home folder.

[Brendan]

You can certainly move the document files to wherever you like. As long as you don’t store them on a network volume or cloud storage service such as Dropbox or iCloud Drive. That can cause SQLite database file corruption if you open up and work with the document on one of those volumes.

Tap Forms will still look for the files in its normal place, so it won’t show your documents on the main Database Documents list window. But they will show up in the Recents menu.

[H C]

Great. Thank you.

I generally don’t use splash screen document access anyway, so I’ll turn that window off and just go straight to the doc file.

[Victor Warner]

With the database in the default location it is possible (through the Database Documents list window) to send a database, with AirDrop, to Tap Forms on an iOS device (after first opening Tap Forms on the iOS device).

However, if I move the database to another location, and send the database via AirDrop in Finder, the database is not sent to Tap Forms on an iOS device (after first opening Tap Forms on the iOS device). The copying occurs but the file just is not shown. I also cannot find it through the iOS Files app.

How is this possible if the database is not located in the default location?

[Sam Moffatt]

In an existing Tap Forms database, go to the “Tools” menu, click “Files” and see if the document landed inside the “Imports” area on the device.

[Victor Warner]

No it did not. There is nothing present.

I would be grateful for other suggestions or a solution.

Would copying the file to iCloud and then importing into Tap Forms on the iOS device work?

[Brendan]

Before you use the Send Document function (or AirDrop in the Finder), open Tap Forms on the iOS device but make sure any document you have opened is closed. It should be sitting on the main Documents screen with all the document icons.

Now use Send Document/Air Drop to send the file over. It will appear there.

Tap Forms looks for .tapforms document files being received and puts them in the root of the Tap Forms Documents area. You won’t see them appear in the Tools > Files > Imports area.

You can see them using iTunes File Sharing (or in the Finder in macOS Catalina).

[Victor Warner]

Brendan,

Thank you.

Closing documents and being on the document screen, and then using AirDrop did result in the database being copied.

[Author]

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