Troubleshooting
What it means when a Mac is shown as missing in the menu bar, and what helps in each case.
First question, always: is Wi-Fi switched on on all Macs?
This is the most common cause of “does not connect” — and that also applies if you actually connect by cable. Details under Connecting.
What the menu bar says about a missing Mac
If a Mac is missing, EdgeFlow names it and assigns one of several reasons instead of just reporting “not connected”:
| Message | Meaning | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| is reachable, but EdgeFlow is not running there | The Mac answers on the network, but EdgeFlow has not been started there (e.g. after a restart or after quitting). | Start EdgeFlow on that Mac. So that this happens by itself in future: switch on “Launch at login” in the EdgeFlow menu. |
| answers, but the connection does not come through | The Mac accepts the connection but drops it again. | Check the radio conditions and, if applicable, the cable; if that does not help, restart EdgeFlow on the other Mac. |
| is there, but not paired with this Mac | The Mac is visible on the network, but the two devices have never been paired. | Pair — see Pairing. |
| is not on the network (asleep, Wi-Fi off or cable unplugged) | The Mac does not answer at all. | Open the lid or wake the Mac, and check Wi-Fi/cable. |
| still announces itself on the network, but no longer answers | The Mac was last seen on the network but has not responded for some time — typically a stale entry. | Wake the Mac or restart EdgeFlow there. |
EdgeFlow does not keep knocking at a Mac that cannot be reached at the same rate all the time; it becomes more sparing over time — as soon as the Mac reports back, EdgeFlow reacts quickly again.
The menu item “Wake up …” shows you the matching hint from the table above for every missing Mac. It does not (yet) wake the Mac remotely by itself — that is a deliberate statement, not a bug: a button that does nothing but looks as if it did would be worse than no button at all.
Log location for support
EdgeFlow continuously writes a diagnostic log to ~/Library/Logs/EdgeFlow/. Should you contact support, the most recent file from this folder is the most helpful attachment. In the Finder, use “Go to Folder…” (⇧⌘G) to jump straight to this path.
If EdgeFlow does not come back by itself after sleep
EdgeFlow tries to re-establish an interrupted connection by itself after waking from sleep. If, exceptionally, that does not work: wake up or log in to the affected Mac once and wait a moment — EdgeFlow keeps looking for the other side automatically afterwards; a manual restart is normally not necessary.