Help -- I lost everything

CaitlinHannon

I have Working Hours all set up on my Microsoft computer. I had customized tags, tasks, etc and I had weeks worth of time tracked. I redownloaded the app on my iphone and turned on Sync and my microsoft version synced to my iphone, deleting all the customization I had done. Is there any way to go back to recover everything I lost? I'm so frustrated. I do the majority of my tracking on my computer --- not my phone. Will it always sync from my phone? If so, I probably need to delete the one on my phone entirely. Ugh!

timo

I'm sorry, I couldn't completely follow your explanation.Can you please explain in more detail?
What exactly do you mean with "customizations"? Is your data still there on the Windows PC? What did you use for the sync and are you sure you used the same account on all devices?

channon18

I had added all the tags and tasks that I needed for my client work (all my clients, all my internal work streams, color coded, etc.). I had tracked time all this week on my PC. When I opened the app on my phone, it didn't have the updated list of tasks and tags I'd entered on my PC. When I synced, my PC updated with what was on my phone -- I wanted my phone to update with what was on my PC. So now everything I tracked this week is gone. My phone and PC now have identical information, but I lost all the tracking I'd done this week on my PC.

timo

I am very sorry about the problem, I can understand the frustration. Unfortunately I am unable to reproduce such problem. Can you please explain - as detailed as possible, step by step - the exact actions that you did on what device and in what order? Maybe that helps me understand what happened.
In your first post you write that "my microsoft version synced to my iphone, deleting the customizations", in your second post you write "my PC updated with what was on my phone". This sounds a bit contradictory, maybe you can clear things up.
When using the Cloud Sync, the app creates a backup file (and saves it to the Cloud storage) every day that can be re-imported to the app.

CaitlinHannon

On my PC, I added about 10 tasks and tags. I used my PC to track my time for a week. I did not use WorkingHours on my phone at all. Everything was working great on my PC.

I opened the app on my iphone for the first time in several months. I noticed that it did not have the tags and tasks I had created on my PC, and it also did not have the time I had tracked all week.

I turned on "icloud" sync on both my iphone and my PC. I hit "sync now" on my PC. Everything on my PC that I'd created (all new tasks, tags, and all tracked time) disappeared and was replaced with what was in my iphone (which means now all the tasks and tags I created are gone and all the time I tracked is gone).

I am trying to understand two thing:

Is there anywhere on my PC that I can look to restore the data that was there BEFORE the sync?
In the future, assuming most of my time tracking will happen on my PC, how do I ensure that when the data syncs, this doesn't happen again? Should I turn off syncing? I do want to be able to track on both my phone and my PC, but I will give up use on my phone if I'm at risk of losing all data on my PC.

timo

What data was on your iPhone? When did you install the app onto your iPhone? Did you make any changes to the app (e.g. starting the timer, adding a task etc) after you started it after several months (before enabling the Sync)? Was the sync disabled on both devices? When enabling the sync, did you first enable it on your iPhone or your Windows PC?

CaitlinHannon Is there anywhere on my PC that I can look to restore the data that was there BEFORE the sync?

No, the database file is overwritten from what comes from the Cloud Sync

CaitlinHannon the future, assuming most of my time tracking will happen on my PC, how do I ensure that when the data syncs, this doesn't happen again? Should I turn off syncing? I do want to be able to track on both my phone and my PC, but I will give up use on my phone if I'm at risk of losing all data on my PC

The problem shouldn't happen and I haven't heard similar reports from other users in the recent months/years, which is why I am a bit surprised that it happened for you. I would recommend to keep the sync enabled at all times. You can also use OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive Sync. The app creates daily backup files on the Cloud services, which allows you to always go "back in time" and import back an old state of the database. The app also stores those backup files on iCloud but those files aren't accessible directly for users and from what I understood, the data from the Windows never made it to the Cloud anyways, because probably the sync on the iPhone was enabled first