One database accessed by 2 computers

Hi,
Pardon my ignorance in advance. I’ve read over 10 posts on this topic that ranged from 2003-2010 and I don’t want to accept that I can’t see my DTOP databases on a second computer. Call me stubborn. So my iMac has a couple of databases in my apartment. I just installed DTOP on an MBA. How can I get the MBA to see the databases on the iMac? DTOP is closed on the iMac.
Do I have the copy the iMac db to the MBA? Can’t I access them through Dropbox? I have used To Go for this in the past.

I also have problems with DT To Go app. It won’t sync with my iPhone SE.
I used to use Bonjour. The cloud icon starts but quits rather quickly. Any suggestions?

TIA

There are several approaches you could use

  1. Do not store your database .dtBase2 files in Dropbox; they will be corrupted
  2. You could use Sync to synchronize instances of your database(s) on both machines, using a sync store created on your Dropbox account with Sync preferences; or
  3. You could put your database on a thumb drive or external drive that you move from one machine to another – not much point in doing this, but just mentioning it because some readers do; or
  4. You could put your database(s) on a NAS – just be sure to only have one copy of DEVONthink running at a time; or
  5. If you are doing Mac file sharing between machines, you could access the .dtBase2 on machine A from DEVONthink running on machine B – personally, i find this unreliable and prefer the DEVONthink Sync approach on my local network; or
  6. Since you have DEVONthink Pro Office, if you merely wanted casual access from the other machine, you could use DEVONthink’s built-in Server an access your database(s) from the other machine (or iOS devices)

Thanks korn,
From your examples I think I would choose #6. The DTOP server idea sounds most like what I’m thinking. Are there any server set up strategies I should be aware of? Thanks in advance

There’s no “server strategy” needed. Set a database to be Shared in File > Database Properties > … then turn on the server in DEVONthink Pro Office’s Preferences > Server. You could even do it without changing any of the settings in this Preference pane.