I use DT Personal, and I want a co-worker to be able to work on some files in my db on her Mac, but not all. Can’t figure out how to do that with Personal… even if I buy her a second copy.
Is the only way to do this to upgrade my Personal to Pro, then create a second database and move the relevant files there, then synch only that database with my coworker? (I assume Pro allows synching of single databases at a time; part of the problem is that her computer doesn’t have that much room on it for my large database to live there.) Then I guess when she’s done working I’d move the relevant files back to my main database.
If I go that route, can I give HER my old copy of DT Personal, and upgrade mine to Pro, or will I need to upgrade my Personal to Pro and buy HER a second copy of Pro?
If I was doing this, I would place the documents in a Dropbox (or Box, etc.) folder, share that folder with my colleague, and also index that folder in DEVONthink.
I should have been clearer: I want her to be able to use DT’s search abilities to do research on a group of documents in my database. (I want her to be able to search several of them at once, for instance…) And to do that she’d need SOME version of DT on her computer – either by my copying my old Personal to her computer, or by my buying a copy of Pro for her use.
I think you can copy the relevant files into another database, give her a copy of that, and she can open it to do whatever searches she would like. You basically do the same thing with your stuff when you copy a database in your backups.
Interesting: I’d need DT Pro to copy the files into “another” database (personal only allows one), but then she could probably manage with DT Personal (if it turns out there’s a way for me to give her my old copy when I buy DT Pro). Of course, she wouldn’t be synched-in, then, so she couldn’t make any comments or changes in the relevant files. But she could search…
I’m not a salesperson, but in any collaborative or business environment, I wouldn’t run any less than DEVONthink Pro (for either party).
With Pro you wouldn’t have to move files between databases, you could copy them to the smaller database to Sync.
In fact, I am a huge proponent of what you’ve stumbled upon: Smaller shared databases instead of trying to share massive databases full of non-pertinent (en total or unneeded at the time). Less burden on transmission, better perfomance in general, as well as more granular control over the data you want to share.
Thanks, Jim – I’ll take your advice. DT Pro for both of us, and sharing a small, relevant database. (Do you happen to know if I can replicate files between databases, so as to have the same file available in both databases at once?)
Now all I have to do is figure out how to upgrade my DT to Pro (or Pro Office) and buy another for my co-worker, at the multi-copy price (I hope).
Sorry but no you can’t replicate between databases (for underlying technical reasons). Contact our Sales department in Support and they can give assistance on upgrade/purchase options. Start here: Support Ticket.