Bluefrog,
I’ve read all the recent Dropbox/Sync forums (I think) and I have this question.
I am thinking of creating a database on my computer(s) that references PDFs–a massive amount (library) of them–that I recently moved to Dropbox. We’re talking 40 GBs. I will index them, and not put them into my computer DPTO database.
Does DPTO have a problem with this operation? It’s sort of a reverse of everyone wanting to put their database on Dropbox.
Thx.
This is an entirely legitimate thing to do and can be helpful in some workflows.
But…
Just clarifying for anyone who may be confused by this… The files still reside on your machine so they are technically copied to the Dropbox servers, not moved. This is an important detail…
If you wanted to Sync your database… the indexed files would be Synced along with the imported data. (It’s how Sync is built.) So… if you have 40GB of PDFs in Dropbox currently, and Synced your database to Dropbox, it would Sync the 40GB of local PDFs to your Dropbox account.
Also, if you Synced via Direct Connect, etc. , these files would Sync then too. This could potentially cause Dropbox to think files have been synced and start updating itself.
So I would suggest that you can have an indexed database with Dropbox synced PDFs, no problem. But I wouldn’t Sync that database. I would use it as a library and utilize DT’s searching and classifying power in it.
If I needed to annotate, etc. and wanted to Sync these things out, I would duplicate these items on a case-by-case basis to another working database (even a very small, focused database - potentially per project) and Sync that database.
Note that you can annotate an indexed file from within DEVONthink, so you may want to duplicate an indexed instance… OR, you can dupe an indexed instance, right-click it and select “Move into database” to create an internal copy that you can annotate relative to the project or database you are working on. The latter is my inclination but work according to the need.
I hope this helps (or makes any sense at all). 8^)
Yeah, kinda’ what I was thinking. But I wanted to access that same dropbox file of PDFs from another computer via DT.
Here’s what I’m really trying to do:
I have two laptops. One is attached to a big display. I want to write on the laptop attached to the display full screen with no distractions.
I want to use the little laptop (MB Air) not attached to the display to search my DT library of PDFs as ideas come to me, or to verify facts. Etc Etc.
Occasionally, I’m sure, I’m going to need to fire up DT on the ‘laptop attached to the display’ to actually copy text verbatim.
The real question
Can I do that? Can I have a DT database on the ‘laptop attached to the display’ that references/indexes the same PDF library as my MacBook Air? [No syncing, I understand 
]
Understand that the only things this one database (presumably on both laptops) will have in it are indexed PDFs, resident and synced on each computer outside of DT. I am not going to gum the database up with stuff that has to be synced, like notes or the like.
The reason why I am doing this is because although my writing program (Scrivener) allows research in it, I have SO MUCH OF IT that I can’t keep it under control. DT is faster and offers better granularity in a heartbeat.
I hope this makes sense.