Syncing

Syncing data from external data sources to your custom Noloco applications

Noloco offers two robust methods for syncing data from external sources to your custom applications: Scheduled Syncing and Live Syncing. Understanding how these processes work can help you maximize the efficiency and reliability of your data flow, ensuring your application always reflects the most current information in your data source.

Data Source	Live Syncing	Scheduled Syncing
Airtable	✅
Google Sheets		✅
Hubspot	✅
MySQL		✅
PostgreSQL		✅
REST APIs		✅
SmartSuite	✅
Stripe	✅
Xano		✅

Scheduled Syncing

Scheduled syncing is enabled for data sources that require regular data updates;

• Google Sheets

• MySQL

• PostgreSQL

• API Collections

• Xano

How Scheduled Syncing Works

• Frequency: The frequency of scheduled syncing depends on your Noloco subscription plan. Each plan offers different syncing intervals (priority or standard), allowing you to choose one that best fits your business needs.

• Process: On the set schedule, Noloco reads all of the data in your external data source. It checks for any new or updated data since the last sync. This includes additions, deletions, or modifications to the records in your tables.

• Application Update: Once the syncing process is complete, the changes are reflected in your Noloco application, ensuring your data remains current up to the latest sync.

Live Syncing

For businesses requiring their applications to reflect data changes almost instantly, live syncing is the ideal solution. This method is supported exclusively for Airtable and SmartSuite, and Stripe data sources with limited support for Hubspot too

How Live Syncing Works

• Real-time Updates: Unlike scheduled syncing, live syncing listens for changes in your external data source in real-time. When a change occurs, it's immediately communicated to Noloco and reflected in your application.

• Setup: Live syncing is enabled by default for Airtable and SmartSuite, providing an effortless setup for instant data updates.

Schema Syncing

In addition to syncing data content, Noloco also periodically syncs the schema (structure) of your external data sources. This ensures that any changes to the tables or fields in those tables are accurately reflected in your Noloco application.

• Periodic Checks: Noloco periodically reviews the schema of your connected external data sources for any changes every few minutes.

• Automatic Updates: If a change is detected, Noloco automatically updates your application to align with the new schema, ensuring structural consistency.

Updating or creating data in Noloco

When you make changes to any data source in your Noloco app, or through our Make or Zapier integration or through the API the data will instantly be updated in your external data source too.

For example, if you use Airtable as an external data source and create a new record in your Noloco app, that record will be instantly created in Airtable and stored in Noloco.

Manual Syncing

Despite the efficiency of scheduled and live syncing, there might be instances where an immediate update is necessary, or an inconsistency arises.

• Immediate Action: In such cases, Noloco allows for manual syncing. Users can initiate a manual sync for a specific table or the entire data source directly from the data table in their application.

• Problem Resolution: This feature is particularly useful for quickly resolving any discrepancies or ensuring data is up-to-date following unforeseen changes.

How do I manually sync a table?

1. Click the Data tab to access data management features.

2. Select the table you want to sync in the sidebar

3. Open the Syncing menu to view or manage data synchronization options.

4. Click Sync Now to manually update the data and ensure the latest information is displayed.

5. This process might take a few minutes but you will be notified once it's complete

How do I manually sync a data source?

1. Open the Data tab to begin managing and syncing your tables.

2. Click the more options icon next to the Data Source to access advanced table actions.

3. Select Queue data sync to start synchronizing all the tables in the connected source and ensure your data is up to date.

4. You'll receive an email when the process is complete

How do I manually sync a data source schema?

1. Open the Data tab to access data management features in the portal.

2. Click the more options icon next to the data source you want to sync to reveal additional data actions or settings.

3. Select Queue schema sync to update your data schema and reflect structural changes.

4. You'll receive an email when the process is complete