In short
Open Account, then Sync, on both Macs and read the status line. Sync stops when a Mac is signed out, signed in to a different account, set up with a different recovery key, offline, or turned off. Recordings never sync, so a missing recording on the second Mac is expected.
If a meeting recorded on one Mac does not show up on your other Mac, start with the Sync screen on both. In Notey it is on the Account screen, in the row called Sync, and the line under it always says what is true: signed out, set up for another account, off, or on with the time it last synced. Almost every sync problem is one of five things, and that line tells you which.
This guide goes through them in the order worth checking, then covers the things that look like a sync fault but are not: a recording that stays on one Mac, a meeting that has not stopped yet, and an edit kept aside. Setting sync up from the start is covered in keeping your meeting notes on two Macs.
Check sync on both Macs
- Open the Account screen on the Mac that is missing meetings. Click Account in the top bar. Read the line under Sync.
- If it says Sign in to sync, sign in. Use the same account you used on the other Mac: the same Google account or the same email address. Signing out pauses sync; it does not delete anything.
- If it says Set up for, followed by another email address, sign in as that account. This Mac's sync belongs to the account named. While you are signed in as someone else, nothing on this Mac is sent and nothing is fetched.
- If it says Not set up on this Mac, enter your key. Open Sync and choose I have a recovery key from another Mac, then type the key you saved when you set sync up on the first Mac.
- If it says Off, turn it on. Open Sync and choose Turn on. While sync is off, nothing is uploaded or downloaded.
- If it says On, open Sync and read what is under it. A problem shows as a sentence in place of the last-synced time, with a button where there is something to do, such as Enter the recovery key or Sign in again.
- Press Sync now on both Macs. It runs a sync straight away and says what it did, for example "2 meetings sent, 1 meeting brought up to date" or "Everything is up to date."
- Do the same on the other Mac. A meeting reaches the second Mac only after the first has sent it, so a problem on the recording Mac shows up as a missing meeting on the other one.
What each message means
Notey says what went wrong in a sentence, and only offers Try again where trying again could work. These are the ones you are most likely to see.
| The Sync screen says | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Couldn't reach Notey's storage. Your meetings are safe on this Mac. | The Mac is offline, or the connection failed. | Nothing. It tries again by itself, and everything made offline is sent later. |
| Please sign in again — your session has expired. | The sign-in on this Mac is no longer valid. | Choose Sign in again. |
| This account's meetings were synced with a different recovery key. | The key on this Mac is not the one the other Mac used. | Choose Enter the recovery key and enter the key from the first Mac. |
| That recovery key has a typo in it. | What you typed is not a valid key. | Check it against the copy you saved. Spaces, dashes and capitals do not matter. |
| Sync on this Mac is set up for a different account. | You are signed in as someone other than the account this Mac syncs with. | Sign in with the account named on the Account screen. |
| Your storage on Notey is full. | New changes cannot be uploaded. | What is already there stays. New changes go up once there is room. |
A wrong key and a typo are told apart on purpose: the fix for one is finding the right key, and for the other is looking again at what you typed.
If you have lost the recovery key
The recovery key is the only thing that can read what your Macs have synced, and Notey never had a copy. If no Mac has it and you did not save it, the synced copy cannot be opened. Meetings already on each Mac are not affected. Lost your recovery key? covers what you can and cannot get back.
One meeting will not sync
Sometimes a sync finishes except for one or two meetings. The Sync screen lists them under Problems, each with the reason in a sentence, and says "Everything else is up to date. Notey tries these again by itself." A meeting that came from another Mac and has no title yet is shown as "A meeting from another Mac".
You do not need to do anything for these unless the reason asks for it. The rest of the sync has landed.
It is not a fault: things that do not sync
The recording
The recording never travels with sync. On the Mac that did not record a meeting, where the player would be, there is one line naming the Mac it was recorded on and saying the recording stays there. The transcript and notes are on both Macs. The meeting is not marked as broken or incomplete.
Notey never uploads a recording, not even encrypted, so there is no setting that brings one to another Mac. To protect recordings against losing a Mac, back up its disk; recovering recordings from a lost Mac explains what comes back and from where.
If the Sync screen says the copies of your recordings that an earlier version of Notey kept could not be removed yet, nothing is wrong with your meetings. Notey is deleting a copy an earlier version made, and it tries again on every sync until it is done.
A meeting still being recorded
A meeting is sent only after its recording stops. Sync never touches a recording in progress. If you are looking for a meeting that is still going on the other Mac, it will appear once it is finished.
The improved transcript
After an English meeting, Notey reads the recording again to make a better transcript and to tell voices apart. That work happens only on the Mac that has the recording, and the result syncs out from there. If the second Mac shows an older transcript, the recording Mac may still be working on it, or may not have been running since.
Settings
Each Mac keeps its own settings, such as voice recognition, calendar choices and whether transcripts are improved. Those do not sync.
When two Macs changed the same thing
Both Macs keep working without a network. When they reconnect, everything ends up on both and no meeting appears twice. If you edited the same thing on both before they synced, the newer edit stands and the other is kept under Edits kept aside on the Sync screen, where you can copy it back if it was the better one. Something you typed always wins over something the AI wrote.
Deleting a meeting with sync on
Deleting a meeting with sync on deletes it on every Mac, recording included. The confirmation says so before you agree. If a meeting vanished from both Macs, check whether it was deleted on either one.
Still not syncing
Sync between your Macs is part of the paid plans, so check that the account you sign in with is on one (the pricing section lists the plans). If every check above passes and meetings still do not appear, note the exact sentence on the Sync screen of both Macs and contact support with it. For problems with recording itself, rather than sync, the troubleshooting cluster starts with microphone permission on a Mac.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the other Mac show the transcript but not the recording?
That is how sync works. The recording stays on the Mac that made it, and the other Mac shows a line saying so where the player would be. Only the transcript, notes, names and speakers travel. Recordings are never uploaded, not even encrypted.
What does "synced with a different recovery key" mean?
The meetings on your account were encrypted with a key other than the one on this Mac. Enter the key from the Mac you first set sync up on. Without it, nobody, including Notey, can read what that Mac synced.
How long does a meeting take to reach my other Mac?
Sync runs when Notey starts, every few minutes while it runs, and shortly after a change, so a change on one Mac is normally on the other within about five minutes. A meeting is sent only after its recording stops. Sync now runs one at once.
Does sync work on the free plan?
No. Sync between your Macs is part of the paid plans. On a free account, meetings stay on the Mac that recorded them. See Notey's pricing.
I edited the same note on both Macs. Which one wins?
The newer edit stands on both Macs, and the other is kept under Edits kept aside on the Sync screen, so you can copy it back. Something you typed always beats something the AI wrote.