# "copied from elsewhere" out of sync
**URL:** https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830
**Category:** Android
**Created:** [October 19, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830 "2017-10-19T15:58:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@emacsomancer](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/emacsomancer)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830/1 "2017-10-19T15:58:38Z")
How do I mark Syncthing to sync a file it thinks is “copied from elsewhere”?
I’m using Syncthing to (amongst other things) sync Emacs .org files between my computers and mobile phone. When I changed a file on my mobile using Orgzly, then this file gets marked “copied from elsewhere” and remains out of sync.
I’m not sure why this is occurring. Is there a way to tell syncthing (for a particular share) to sync even if it thinks a file is “copied from elsewhere”?
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### Author:  [@AudriusButkevicius](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/AudriusButkevicius)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830/2 "2017-10-19T16:18:19Z")
I think you are misunderstanding something. Copied from elsewhere means file was reconstructed locally from content available on other files. Whats the actual error?
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### Author:  [@emacsomancer](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/emacsomancer)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830/3 "2017-10-19T16:20:42Z")
Where should I look to see the actual error?
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### Author:  [@AudriusButkevicius](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/AudriusButkevicius)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830/4 "2017-10-19T16:21:08Z")
Out of sync modal dialog or the stdout logs.
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### Author:  [@emacsomancer](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/emacsomancer)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830/5 "2017-10-19T16:32:10Z")
I’m assuming the ‘out of sync modal dialog’ is the one which appears when I click the text in the ‘Out of Sync Items’ bit. It doesn’t seem to reveal anything more. The header appears purple, which seems to indicate the ‘copied from elsewhere’ state. But otherwise this is all I see:
```
Sync Notes.org 178 KiB
```
Where [Notes.org](http://Notes.org) is the file that isn’t syncing properly.
For stdout logs, the system I’m on is an Arch box, so I presume I check via journald. When I do:
`journalctl --user -u syncthing.service`
The only relevant seeming thing I find is:
`Oct 19 10:21:46 sindhu syncthing[7159]: [G3X5R] INFO: Puller (folder "fvh5z-gzm4g", file "Notes.org"): pull: peers who had this file went away, or the file has changed while syncing. will retry later`
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### Author:  [@AudriusButkevicius](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/AudriusButkevicius)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830/6 "2017-10-19T16:49:33Z")
There are multiple reasons for this:
1. The other side hasn’t scanned the file recently, so it’s out of date.
2. File is changing faster that we can sync it.
3. File is memory mapped/the application tweaks files mtime so we don’t detect mtime movement and don’t recognize the file as being changed.
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### Author:  [@emacsomancer](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/emacsomancer)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830/7 "2017-10-19T16:59:34Z")
1. The file was changed on the mobile device more than 2 hours ago. I’ve restarted Syncthing on both the desktop and mobile several times, so they both should have scanned the files by now.
2. The file was only changed once on the mobile device 2+ hours ago, and neither side has changed the file subsequently
3. I don’t believe this to be the case.
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### Author:  [@AudriusButkevicius](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/AudriusButkevicius)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830/8 "2017-10-19T17:12:12Z")
Well try forcing a rescan on the mobile, if that doesn’t work, try touching (modifying) the file.
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### Author:  [@emacsomancer](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/emacsomancer)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/copied-from-elsewhere-out-of-sync/10830/9 "2017-10-19T17:15:53Z")
(before seeing your latest message) I manually copied the file from the mobile to the desktop, and forced rescans on both sides, without change in the ‘out of sync’ error. I then removed and readded the share on the desktop and it then reports that it’s in sync.
if I see the issue again, I’ll try touching/modifying the file.