Server and Web Interface

DEVONthink Server does not run on or is related to Synology NAS (except of course if DEVONthink connected to the server is pointing to indexed files on the NAS but I don’t know how these indexed files appear to server users … others can comment). And yes, if you setup the network (and its security) DEVONthink Server can be accessible from outside your local network. For the latter, I must say do that carefully and with great skill.

As mentioned, the Server edition can sync (as can all editions of DEVONthink) but this has no bearing on the use of the NAS for the built-in webserver.

Also, your database can’t be directly accessed on other platforms via syncing. Our sync engine is not like iCloud or Dropbox, etc. It’s not doing single file syncing nor is it providing an accessible copy of your database for you to open or get into. It’s raw, chunked, and optionally encrypted sync data only useful to DEVONthink and DEVONthink To Go.

The Server edition has a built-in web server allowing you to broadcast a database on a network. This allows you to access specific databases in a web browser, including on other platforms. (See the Help referenced below regarding access over the Internet.) It has per-database, per-user permissions you can set to control access to the databases you have open.
More discussion of web sharing is covered in Help > Documentation > In & Out > Web sharing, Windows > Web Sharing, and Preferences > Server.

I have a small business, with 2 remote workers. I bought two extra seats. Is there a simple way of sharing a database with them?

I have done so many searches through these forums.

The simplest way is to use the Server edition and have your two remote workers access the database on your computer via the web. But the web version of DT3 is not nearly as feature-rich as the desktop version so that generally works only for occasional use.

The best solution for a small business - which will presumably have data backup needs too - is to install a Synology NAS Drive. You can use that both for regular backups of your database and also to host a Devonthink “Sync Store.” You can configure the Synology NAS as a WebDav server which will let your remote workers access the sync store. If you do this, each of the 3 users can continue to operate independently if the Synology or one or more of the other computers goes down. Once things come back up, everything will sync back together effortlessly.

@rkaplan thank you. “sync store” do you mean the NAS drive would back up my DevonThink database (its primary location would be on the hard drive of the computer) to its onboard hard drives? Then, the remove workers would also have their local databases backed up to my NAS drive? Is that what you mean by ‘sync store’?

If yes, then my server would run from my computers hard drive, the remote workers (they would have their own seats, and have the fuller feature DevonThink) would have the same database sync’d to their own hard drives via the server feature.

If yes, then the NAS drive would be a back up for my DevonThink database on my computer’s drive, as well as each remove workers DevonThink database on their computers drives. The server database would then be backed up 3 times (my computer as host, and 2 remote workers) on the NAS drive? Correct?

See chapter Synchronize of the documentation, there are various options to synchronize databases between your Macs and iOS devices.

No, that has been discussed so many times already: Sync is not backup. Sync makes sure that your devices all have the same data. Backup it to ensure that you do not lose data.

Imagine that you delete a record from database on machine 1

  • Sync makes it disappear on the synced database on machine 2
  • Backup (at least the one from before the deletion) is not affected: It still contains the record.

You can use a NAS for sync and for backup, though.

No. If you want to have synced databases, there’s not really a use for the server: Everybody has the same database as everyone else at all times, anyway. And of course, you’d back up a synced database only once (though best to different locations).

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My original question seems not yet resolved in my mind; clearly both you (@chrillek) and Christian @cgrunenberg have this information down pat.

“sync store” is a nebulous term; sync of course means synchronise between devices AND store means a place to buy or to store (storage) something. It is easy for novice users to believe this store implies storage (backup or save).

and

Yes, I want synced databases with my remote workers.
Yes, I can buy and set up a NAS server today (I am more than willing to do the work)
Yes, I can also buy the server edition of DevonThink as well. Yet you @chrillek stated there is no use for the server in this case we are describing.

I would pay someone to show a base setup of a Mac (with the most current OS) newly installed on a empty partition with Devonthink newly installed.

  1. Scenario One - with a Synology NAS freshly installed. For backup only.
  2. Scenario Two - with a Synology NAS freshly installed. For synced databases for remote seats of DevonThink Pro
  3. Scenario Three - with Devonthink Server Edition setup on the primary computer, and the seats set up (a person can refer to the setup stage above this list), as well as the settings so that the server and remotes work properly together.

If these three scenarios are made, without any other software on the partition, then a novice user could simply follow these steps. Over time, DevonThink would add videos for each major release of its own software as well as Mac OS major releases,

This is what I want! A synced database between 3 computers over the internet (primary license and 2 seats).

@chrillek Thank you for your effort and time in replying to me, and to many others.