Move Sync store from Dropbox to local server

DEVONthink Tips
1

I have my Sync store on Dropbox and databases on two Macs. My question is can I move the Sync store from Dropbox to a local computer without having to re-upload my data? I’d like to click “New Local Sync Store” in the Sync preferences and point it to the new location on a local server and have it “see” the data is already there because I downloaded it from Dropbox and copied it to the local computer. Is this possible and if not how do I go about moving the Sync storage without copying a few GB worth of data. I hope I’m using the correct terminology. I’m new to DEVONthink Pro Office.

Thanks for any tips.
Paul

2

Yes, that should be possible. The .dtCloud packages are the same, regardless on which service they’re hosted.

3

Thanks, I’ll give it a try.

4

I need some advice on locating my local sync store.

I have had DTPO on my system for several years now and have started and stopped using it over that period. I have now committed to go 100% with DT and realize that I need to be in DTPO full time to learn to use it effectively.

This thread is helpful because I have found the concepts of syncing to be a bit obscure. I have had my sync store on Dropbox but am now moving away from Dropbox. I switched to using a local sync store. I decided to use direct syncing and, after reading a post on this board, decided to put my local sync store in ~Documents on my MBP, having forgotten that with the latest iOS and High Sierra OSes, that folder is now on iCloud Drive. So far, having the local sync on iCloud drive does not seem to have caused problems, but backing up to iCloud Drive is slow. Also, based on what I have read here, I think I should move the sync to a local folder on the MBP to avoid potential problems. Am I correct in thinking I can create a new local sync store, move the existing store from the iCloud Drive documents folder to a folder only local on the MBP, and then sync to that store going forward? Any cautions?

5

The way you’ve described this sounds like far more effort than need be. Syncing to iCloud Drive via our Sync engine is fine. If you want you can stop using it and just create a new local store, but I’m not sure why you’d want to be moving things from iCloud to a new location. Also, if you made a new local store, you would not move data from the iCloud store into it.

6

Thanks for the quick reply.

Just to be clear I am not syncing to an iCloud Drive sync store. I need to sync between my iPad Pro and my MBP using a local sync store, which happens to be in a folder on my MBP (~/documents), that is in a folder on iCloud Drive under High Sierra, but it is a local sync store. The reason I don’t want to sync to an iCloud Drive sync store is that it is my understanding that an iCloud Drive sync store can’t be used to sync to DTTG, yet.

Here’s the screen shot:SyncPrefs.rtfd.zip (140 KB)

Any likely problems with doing it this way? I have seen many dire warnings about where to store databases (I have them in a local folder on the MBP named “databases” as recommended on this forum) and sync stores. I’ve read about them in the DTPO manual and Joe Kissel’s Getting Started with DEVONthink, and I’m still confused by all the warnings.

If the only disadvantage to doing it the way I have it configured now is the slow syncing of the local sync store to iCloud Drive, I’ll live with it this way until Apple fixes the issue with iOS that will allow DEVONtechnologies to update DTTG for iCloud Drive syncing. Just don’t want to have any problems with the data.

Thanks for any clarification.

7

DEVONthink To Go doesn’t support local sync stores, therefore you have to use Bonjour, Dropbox or WebDAV (including CloudMe or Box.com).

The next maintenance release won’t open databases located in cloud-based folders anymore and will offer options to either reveal the database in the Finder or to relocate it to a safe location instead as too many users seem to ignore the warnings.