Sync troubleshooting guide

Synchronization does not work

  1. Make sure that KeePassium works with the online database, and not with a local copy. Press the ... for the database and check the File Location field. It should show the name of your online storage or at least a generic text “Another app / Cloud storage”.
  2. Make sure your storage provider app has the necessary permissions:
    • Open device settings
    • Scroll to the storage provider app (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc)
    • Make sure that Background App Refresh is turned on
    • (Optionally) Make sure that Mobile Data is turned on, too
  3. Some storage providers pause synchronization while the Low Data Mode is active.
  4. Clear cache of the storage provider app. Most apps have this function in their settings screen.
  5. In the storage provider app, try to mark the file as “available offline”, if possible.
  6. Find your storage provider in the list of supported sync sources, and check if there are any provider-specific troubleshooting steps.

Specific error messages

Couldn’t communicate with a helper application / Kommunikation mit der Hilfs-App nicht möglich

This error message means that the system cannot contact the storage provider app (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc). Most frequently, this error is produced by Google Drive when there is no Internet connection. In other cases, this means that the storage app has been either uninstalled or broken by an iOS update.

In all these cases, the solution is to open the cloud storage app and check that it works properly.

Unfortunately, sometimes this error seems to happen because of a random system bug. Restarting the device usually resolves it.

The file does not exist / Die Datei existiert nicht

This message can be caused by a variety of reasons:

  • The file was actually deleted, moved, or renamed
  • The database has been edited by KeePass or KeePassXC

As an immediate fix, re-add the database to KeePassium again. (On macOS, the AutoFill maintains a separate file list, so you might need to re-add the database there as well.) If you cannot find your database, try to restore it from in-app backup.

If this happens every time after you edit the file in KeePass or KeePassXC, the likely cause is their multi-step saving process. (By default, desktop apps save the database to a temporary file, then delete the original database, then rename the temporary file as the original. It looks as if the database was simply updated, but technically this is a new file. But KeePassium’s link points to the original database, which has been deleted.)

To fix this, change settings of the desktop app:

  • KeePass: Tools → Options → Advanced → File Input/Output Connections → Use file transactions for writing databases → turn it off.
  • KeePassXC: settings → General → Basic Settings → File Management
    • 2.7.0 and later:
      • Use alternative saving method → turn it on
      • Set it to Directly write to database file (dangerous)
    • 2.6.6 and earlier:
      • Safely save database files → turn it off.
    • Backup database file before saving → turn it on
      • This addresses the “unsafe” effect of direct saving: if your computer crashes while writing the database, you would still have a good copy around.