Connect a Pinegrow Desktop project to a Pinegrow Online project, send Desktop changes Online and review Online changes before they update Desktop.
Pinegrow Desktop can connect a project on your computer to a project in Pinegrow Online. You decide when to send Desktop changes to Online and when to bring Online changes into Desktop, and Pinegrow shows you what will change before any files move.
Sync is explicit. Nothing is copied automatically in the background, and it is not real-time collaboration: only one editing session can change a connected project at a time.
Before you start
- You need Pinegrow Desktop 10 and a Pinegrow Online account. Pinegrow asks you to sign in when needed, and sign-in opens in your web browser.
- All sync actions are in Pinegrow Desktop, in the Publish window.
- This is different from opening a local folder in Pinegrow Online. In that case Pinegrow Online edits the files on your computer directly and there is nothing to sync. See Working with local projects.
Connect a Desktop project to Pinegrow Online
- Open the project in Pinegrow Desktop and click Publish in the toolbar.
- Click Add target and choose Pinegrow Online….
- If you are not signed in, Pinegrow shows Pinegrow Online account required. Click Account and sign in in your browser.
- In Choose Pinegrow Online project, select an existing Online project, or choose Create new Online project…, enter a Project name and click Create project.
The project now appears under Project connections. The connection card shows its status, such as Connected for editing, and when it was last synced. When Pinegrow Online is the project's only target, the toolbar button is labeled Online.
Send Desktop changes to Online
- Click Review & send to Online. Pinegrow checks that the project is compatible with Pinegrow Online and compares it with the Online version.
- Review the plan. It lists the files in the project, whether shared project settings change, the Files to upload, the Remote deletions and the paths that are Not sent. Click the arrow next to a count to see the files.
- Click Send to Online. To stop without sending anything, click Cancel.
When the send finishes, Pinegrow shows Project pushed to Pinegrow Online., the connection shows Last synced just now, and a new entry appears under Online revisions.
Sending to Online updates the project in the Pinegrow Online workspace. It does not publish a public website. To publish the site, use a website target, as described in Publish your website.
If the Online project changed since your last sync, Pinegrow first shows you the Online changes to review, then continues with the send. The same happens the first time you connect to an existing Online project that already contains files.
Bring an Online project into Desktop
- On the Pinegrow Desktop start screen, click Open… and choose From Pinegrow Online…. Close the current project first if one is open.
- Sign in if asked. The list shows the projects of your active Pinegrow Online organization.
- Select a project to preview it, then click Import.
Pinegrow creates a new folder in your Folder for new projects (set in Settings), opens the project and connects it to the Online project. If you imported the project before, click Open Local to open the existing copy, or Import Duplicate to create another local copy in a new folder.
Get Online changes
Click Get Online changes. If nothing changed, Pinegrow reports Desktop and Online are up to date. Otherwise the Review Online changes window lists each changed file, and each changed shared project setting, with its status. For each item choose:
- Use Online to update Desktop with the Online version.
- Keep Desktop to keep your Desktop version. It stays ready to send to Online.
- Decide later to leave the item unchanged and pending.
Use the choice above All files or All settings to set every item at once. Changes made only in Online start as Use Online. Click Compare to see the Desktop and Online versions of a file side by side, or View values to see both values of a project setting.
Click Apply decisions to apply your choices. Before any file changes, Pinegrow saves a project revision named Before pulling from Pinegrow Online, so you can restore the previous state from the History panel. See Visual change review and revisions.
Click Continue editing locally to close the window without applying anything. Items that still need a decision are shown on the toolbar button, for example Online · 2 pending. Review them before you send again.
When both copies changed
Pinegrow never picks a winner for you. An item needs your choice when:
- the file changed in both copies,
- it was deleted in Online and changed in Desktop, or deleted in Desktop and changed in Online,
- there is no previous synced copy to compare with.
Compare the versions, then choose Use Online or Keep Desktop.
When you open a connected project
When you open a connected project, Pinegrow checks Pinegrow Online. If the Online project changed, it shows Online changes available. Choose Review Online changes to review them now, Edit locally to keep working on Desktop and review them later, or Close project.
One editor at a time
A connected project can be edited by one session at a time. While Desktop holds the project, its status is Connected for editing, and opening it in Pinegrow Online shows that it is being edited in Pinegrow Desktop. The other session can open it read-only or, if its role allows, choose Take over editing. Taking over makes the other session read-only, and that session may have unsaved changes. The same choice appears in Desktop when the project is being edited elsewhere.
Online revisions
The Online revisions list shows the revisions saved in Pinegrow Online, including each send from Desktop. Click Open to open a revision in Pinegrow Online. Revisions are restored in Pinegrow Online.
What is synced
Pinegrow sends all project files except:
- hidden files and folders, and folders ignored by the Pinegrow folder setting,
_pgbackupand_pgexportfolders and generated-image drafts,- Pinegrow's internal logs, sync and recovery files in
_pginfo.
The files and folders you exclude from website publishing are still sent to Pinegrow Online.
From the project settings, only shared settings are synced, such as the design framework, breakpoints, CMS Mode settings and page lock settings. Open pages, device width, view state and publishing targets stay local.
The compatibility check warns about files that may not work as expected Online, such as server-side files (Pinegrow Online preview doesn't run PHP or other server code), build-tool sources, possible credential or key files, and very large files. It blocks the send if, for example, the project is larger than 1 GB or a folder can't be read.
Where the connection is stored
The connection is saved in the project's pinegrow.json, and the last synced state is saved in _pginfo/publish-manifest-desktop.json. To remove the connection, click … next to the target and choose Forget target…. This removes the connection from the Desktop project.
Troubleshooting
- Sign in required: click Sign in and sign in in your browser, then try again.
- Access denied: your account no longer has access to the Online project. Ask an organization owner to restore access, then retry.
- Pinegrow Online connection unavailable: check your network connection and click Retry, or choose Edit locally. You can keep editing local files, but you can't send or get changes until Pinegrow reconnects.
- Pinegrow Online changed while the pull was being reviewed: nothing was applied. Click Get Online changes again to review the latest version.
- Another editor took over editing of this Pinegrow Online project, so the push was not saved: the Desktop project becomes read-only. Choose Take over editing only if the other session should stop editing, then review and send again.
- Project recovery required: a previous update from Online did not finish cleanly, and further updates are blocked. The recovery folder is in
_pginfo/online-pull-recovery. Keep a copy of it, inspectrecovery.json, and restore the affected files or the Before pulling from Pinegrow Online revision before you remove it.