How sync works

If everyone on your team uses FieldWorks Lite, there's nothing to do: your changes sync on their own while the app is open and online. The rest of this page matters for teams where some people also use FieldWorks Classic.

Lexbox keeps your project in two copies: a FieldWorks Lite copy and a FieldWorks Classic copy. An edit reaches a FieldWorks Classic colleague in three steps, numbered 1 to 3 below. Only step 1 is automatic.

See it in action

Pick a question and step through what happens. Tap any colored label (automatic, Sync on Lexbox tab, their Send/Receive) to see where you'll find it.

✓

Your device

FieldWorks Lite

✓ Teammates on FieldWorks Lite: automatic

1

Lexboxthe server where your project is stored

✓

Copy for

FieldWorks Lite

2

✓

Copy for

FieldWorks Classic

3

✓

Your colleague’s computer

FieldWorks Classic

your edit

their edit

happens by itself someone must do this your colleague does this

An edit travels in three steps.

1 Your device ⇄ Lexbox: automatic whenever you’re online. 2 Between the two copies inside Lexbox: someone presses Sync on the Lexbox tab. 3 Lexbox ⇄ your colleague: they run Send/Receive in FieldWorks Classic. Pick a question below to watch it happen.

What do you want to know?

Read all answers as text

I synced. Why doesn’t my colleague see my changes?

1. You edit a word. It’s saved on your device right away, even with no internet.
2. Moments later (once you’re online), your edit travels to the FieldWorks Lite copy in Lexbox by itself.
3. Pressing Sync on the Lexbox tab copies it into the FieldWorks Classic copy. Someone has to press it: it never runs by itself.
4. Your edit is now waiting in Lexbox, in the FieldWorks Classic copy. It cannot go further on its own.
5. It reaches your colleague only when they run Send/Receive in FieldWorks Classic. Until then, they won’t see it.
6. So: someone has to press Sync on the Lexbox tab, and your colleague has to run Send/Receive. Neither happens by itself.

Do I need internet to work?

1. No. FieldWorks Lite works fully offline. Every edit is saved on your device.
2. While you’re offline, your changes simply wait on your device. Nothing is lost, and you can keep working.
3. Once you’re back online, FieldWorks Lite sends everything to Lexbox at its next sync: after your next edit, when you open the project, or when you press Auto syncing.
4. You never have to remember what you changed offline. To be sure it all went out, check that Synchronize says Up to date.

What does Sync on the Lexbox tab do?

1. This Sync button works entirely inside Lexbox: it merges the project’s two copies, FieldWorks Lite and FieldWorks Classic. It only merges what has already reached Lexbox.
2. In FieldWorks Lite it’s on the Lexbox tab under Synchronize. People in the FieldWorks Lite beta also see “Sync FieldWorks Lite” on the project’s page on lexbox.org, which does the same thing.
3. Changes flow both ways at once: your FieldWorks Lite edits go into the FieldWorks Classic copy, and any FieldWorks Classic changes come back into the FieldWorks Lite copy.
4. Whatever came back for you then reaches your device by itself.
5. What it does not do: touch your colleague’s computer. Their FieldWorks Classic updates only when they run Send/Receive.

Why is Send/Receive still needed in FieldWorks Classic?

1. Your colleague edits in FieldWorks Classic. Their work is saved only on their computer.
2. Send/Receive is how FieldWorks Classic talks to Lexbox: it uploads their work and downloads whatever is waiting for them.
3. Sync on the Lexbox tab then merges their changes into the FieldWorks Lite copy…
4. …and from there, their changes reach your device by themselves.
5. FieldWorks Classic never talks to a server on its own. That’s by design: Send/Receive is how it joins in.

What if we both edit the same word?

1. You edit a word in FieldWorks Lite while your colleague edits the same entry in FieldWorks Classic.
2. Both edits travel to Lexbox: yours by itself, theirs with Send/Receive.
3. When the two copies are synced, the edits are merged. There is no error message and nothing to untangle by hand.
4. If you changed different parts (you fixed the definition, they added an example), both changes are kept.
5. If you both changed the very same field, the FieldWorks Classic value wins (between two FieldWorks Lite users, the later change), and the other stays in the word’s History.

How do I know my changes made it?

1. Open Synchronize in FieldWorks Lite: the sidebar item with the little status dot (on a phone, tap ☰ first).
2. Its FieldWorks Lite tab is about your device and Lexbox: “Up to date” means everything on your device has reached Lexbox.
3. The Lexbox tab is about the two copies in Lexbox: “No new data” on both sides means they match.
4. Your colleague’s Send/Receive has no indicator on your side. Whether they have your changes shows only on their computer.

Why do FieldWorks Lite teammates see my edit in seconds, but FieldWorks Classic colleagues don’t?

1. Your edit reaches Lexbox automatically, within moments.
2. Teammates using FieldWorks Lite get it from Lexbox the same way, usually seconds later.
3. The road to FieldWorks Classic, though, has two manual steps. First, someone presses Sync on the Lexbox tab.
4. Then your colleague runs Send/Receive.
5. Automatic for FieldWorks Lite, two manual steps for FieldWorks Classic: that’s the whole difference.

Does everything in the project sync to FieldWorks Lite?

1. No. FieldWorks Lite carries the dictionary part of your project: words, meanings, example sentences, and so on.
2. Everything else (interlinear texts, grammar, notebook data) lives only in the FieldWorks Classic copy.
3. That data still travels safely between FieldWorks Classic users through Send/Receive. It just doesn’t appear in FieldWorks Lite.
4. So FieldWorks Lite users see and edit the dictionary, and the rest of the project is left untouched.

If someone doesn't see your changes

Open Synchronize in the sidebar (on a phone, tap ☰ first). The dot beside it is green when the last sync worked. The FieldWorks Lite tab shows one of these:

• Up to date: your changes have reached Lexbox.
• Pending: some changes are still waiting. Press Auto syncing to send them now.
• Offline: no connection. Your changes are safe on your device and go out the next time the app is open and online.
• A Login button: you were logged out. Log in and your changes go out.

If your colleague uses FieldWorks Lite, ask them to check the same on their device. If they use FieldWorks Classic, someone also has to press Sync on the Lexbox tab, and then they run Send/Receive.

Where you'll see this in the app

1	In FieldWorks Lite: Synchronize in the sidebar, on the FieldWorks Lite tab. It shows Up to date or Pending, with counts of changes waiting in each direction. The Auto syncing button runs this step right now. It is not the Sync button on the Lexbox tab: it only moves changes between your device and Lexbox.
2	The same dialog's Lexbox tab. Its two boxes, FieldWorks Lite and FieldWorks Classic, are the two copies inside Lexbox in the diagram above. Between them: New data or No new data, and the Sync button. Sync only merges what has already reached Lexbox, so first check that the FieldWorks Lite tab says Up to date. People in the FieldWorks Lite beta also see a Sync FieldWorks Lite button on the project's page on lexbox.org, which does the same thing.
3	Nothing in FieldWorks Lite. This step happens on your colleague's computer, when they run Send/Receive in FieldWorks Classic.

Under the hood

Show the technical detail

On this page	Actually	Worth knowing
FieldWorks Lite copy	Harmony, a change database (a CRDT)	Every edit is a small change record; merging is automatic and gives the same result on every device.
Step 1, "automatic"	HTTP sync plus a push channel (SignalR)	Runs after every edit and when you open a project. While the push channel is connected, other people's changes arrive as they happen, and a check every 5 minutes restarts a dropped channel.
Step 2, Sync on the Lexbox tab	A merge job in the FwHeadless service	There is no schedule. It runs only when someone presses Sync on the Lexbox tab in FieldWorks Lite or Sync FieldWorks Lite on the Lexbox project page. Jobs queue one project at a time; the very first sync imports the whole project and can take minutes.
FieldWorks Classic copy	A Mercurial repository	The same repository FieldWorks Classic's Send/Receive has always used.
Step 3, "Send/Receive"	Chorus over Mercurial	Unchanged for FieldWorks Classic users. FieldWorks Lite adds nothing they must learn.
"The same field" clashes	Deterministic merge rules	Between two FieldWorks Lite users, the most recent change wins. Between FieldWorks Lite and FieldWorks Classic (since the last Sync on the Lexbox tab), the FieldWorks Classic value wins. The overwritten value stays in the word's History.

Full technical documentation: Sync.