Is running the server the right solution for my situation

DEVONthink
1

My wife, and I, are both involved in research. Although we work in separate areas, there are overlaps in our research interests. I bought DT3Pro and the Server license in the hope that it would give us both separate research databases, and a simple way of sharing relevant articles etc.

Initially, I set up the server on my desktop machine, and configured syncing via iCloud. This worked well on my iphone and ipad. I now have a separate server, and I am about to move my databases over to that machine, and add my wife’s machine and phone as a user. However, I am now wondering if this is the wrong approach. Presumably, the server won’t be able to sync with both of us via iCloud, so we will be limited to syncing when we are at the office. I can create a VPN back to the server, but all of this is making me think that I am taking the wrong approach. So, my questions are:

  1. Would it be better to simply install the pro license on both of our desktop machines, and let iCloud synch to our individual devices?
  2. Is there a way - under that scenario - that we can still have a shared database?

Obviously, I am completely new to DT, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

2

Welcome @andyburnett

The Server has nothing to do with synchronizing DEVONthink. It is merely for broadcasting a DEVONthink database on a network and accessing it in a web browser.

  1. Would it be better to simply install the pro license on both of our desktop machines, and let iCloud synch to our individual devices?

Yes… maybe. If you mean putting your databases in iCloud, then NO. You cannot and should not do that. You should only be syncing via our sync engine (see Preferences > Sync).

  1. Is there a way - under that scenario - that we can still have a shared database?

There is no central database you are both working on. We advocate and follow a decentralized data model where each device - Mac and iOS - have theri own copy of a database but can sync to a commonly accessible location.

So you can have a synced database, but you will each have your own copy on each device. Our sync engine - within the confines of the sync method, e.g. iCloud - keeps the databases mirrored on each device.

PS: Sync is covered in ​Help > Documentation > In & Out > Sync​.