DEVONthink Pro 3 syncs via iCloud; can I sync Documents and Desktop Folders?

DEVONthink
1

I have DevonThink Pro 3 between my Mac Studio and MacBook Pro via the Sync settings in DVTP, which uses iCloud (CloudKit). That seems to work fine to keep my databases on those two machines synced. I have never used the option in iCloud to sync my Desktop and Documents folders between two Macs. Among other things, I’ve been concerned DevonThink would not like that, but am I wrong here? That is, can I turn on syncing my Desktop and Documents folders between my two Macs via iCloud without causing problems with syncing my databases in DevonThink Pro?

Randy

2

Depends.

  • If you index folders in Desktop or Documents, DT will not like iCloud interfering.
  • If you do not index folders in these locations, DT will not care. Unless you put (one of) its databases in Desktop or Documents.

Personally, I never allowed iCloud to do anything to my Documents and Desktop folders. Why would I?

If I need something to be accessible from different machines, I put it in iCloud Drive. That’s behaving as deterministic as any Apple software, but at least it doesn’t decide behind my back to remove local files.

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3

We don’t recommend it for reasons @chrillek mentioned or hinted at. But why would you want to?

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Although I do most of my work with documents on my desktop computer, I do travel some (such as last week during the Thanksgiving holiday) where it would have been helpful to have access to several documents stored in a subfolder in my Documents folder on my desktop. Is there a better way to handle this without syncing the Documents and Desktop folders via iCloud?

5

To do what you want to do, and keeping out of the way with any DEVONthink file that might be in ~/Documents (on your local disk home folder) … you can put all (Note 1) these files that you want into the iCloud “Documents” folder. That folder is separate and distinct from ~/Documents. Apple’s algorithm for controlling when and if the files in iCloud are synced is a bit of a mystery, but you’ll likely find it works. Just check on the second machine before you depart.

Note 1: For simplicity, I recommend you avoid putting any works-in-progress files in ~/Desktop, and put all of them in the iCloud “Documents” folder.

Edit: You can also consider keeping all your works-in-progress documents inside DEVONthink (imported, not indexed). I have a database called “WIP” for that. I count on the very-reliable DEVONthink sync to sync with other devices and making the documents available for working on them. Doing a Bonjour sync before leaving is quick and reliable (better than relying on Apple’s CloudKit or iCloud).

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Ah, thanks. I see what you’re getting at (and why). I’ll have to start trying that.

Thanks for the help and advice to everyone in this chain!

Randy

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8

I agree with @rmschne on this: put it in DEVONthink and sync to DEVONthink To Go before you leave and when you get back :slight_smile:

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I sync my desktop and documents on iCloud Drive for the files I keep outside DT, and it’s fine. The sync is near instantaneous (in fact it’s better than Apple Photos sync). There’s a box you can tick somewhere (sorry, I forget where) that puts your desktop on iCloud Drive so that’s it’s accessible from other devices. Once the box is ticked it just happens automatically.

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YMMV. There are copious reports of less than stellar iCloud Drive syncing. In fact, I have a Mac that routinely has iCloud Drive stall. Just like CloudKit: some have no issue, others do.

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