I would like to share a database with my wife. Right now, my own databases are all synced via iCloudKit between my MacBookPro and my iOS devices. Today I created a new database that I would like to share with my wife and their iOS devices and will be only used in DevonThink To Go.
As far as I understand I can’t use iCloudkit for syncing if I use different iCloud accounts. What are my best options to sync that databases on our devices?
Dropbox seems not usable because we have different accounts and the sync would be in an app specific directory.
iCloud Legacy - can I share the directory where database is located with the iCloud account of my wife?
WebDAV - I can use WebDav on my FastMail account and put the database there.
Would there be any caveats? My preferred method would be probably WebDAV via Fastmail. On your website (DEVONtechnologies | Sync Technology) I found the different options but there were no pros and cons listed. As I understand would be iCloudKit currently the fastest and probably safest method to sync. Are there limitations to know if I choose iCloud Legacy or WebDAV?
As far as I understand I can’t use iCloudkit for syncing if I use different iCloud accounts.
That is correct, and that prohibition includes the Legacy sync option as well.
We have no specific data on using Fastmail’s WebDAV, but it may be worth a try. You’d have to check with their support pages about the setup and URL to use, but one of our forum participants (@leebutler) had commented about using it for syncing.
Dropbox could be an option. The database would reside on either your or your wife’s Dropbox account. (You could even set up a dedicated Dropbox account for this, assuming you are fine with the free tier.)
Both DT and DTTG work directly with Dropbox, i.e. the Dropbox client app is not required on either your Mac or iOS device for this to work. (If you are using the Dropbox client on your Mac, you would not be syncing this special folder back to the Mac. This is a special packet sync folder that DT will create once you start syncing a database to Dropbox.)
Once logged in to the same Dropbox account in DT/DTTG with the same credentials, and once all instances of DT are pointed to the same sync store on Dropbox, is there a reason why this would not work? Perhaps I’m missing something obvious as it’s already very late here.
I’ve switched from using Dropbox to using CloudKit for DT syncing a while back but this still seems like a feasible solution. At one point I had DTTG on a device tied to my second Apple ID syncing via Dropbox that way.
I do use Fastmail WebDAV support for syncing DEVONthink data and it seems to be the fastest. I have not had any stability issues (knock on wood).
Just create a WebDAV/FTP password for your account to protect everything else on Fastmail and you are good to go with sharing with anyone else you give that password too.
Keep in mind that everything inside https://myfiles.fastmail.com is visible and editable to anyone with your account name and that WebDAV/FTP password…
I think you can use Fastmail website support to segregate the data if you need too, but I have not gone down that path.
A separate Dropbox account with a free tier could be a solution, but somehow I don’t want to go that route. I will try WebDAV with my Fastmail account first.
Just to point out that you would not necessarily have to use a separate Dropbox account. DEVONthink’s sync store on Dropbox can be encrypted and, moreover, you are giving DEVONthink access only to the packet sync folder, meaning that the other person will be unable to see any other content on Dropbox except for the database contents when and while using DT (provided, of course, that you set up DTTG and then do not share the Dropbox login information).
No, of course not, I meant configuring regular access to Dropbox for DT/DTTG using the sync options provided. I felt @dahanbn was worried that the other device will have full access to Dropbox if they share an account so I was pointing out that all instances of DT/DTTG will only access that same packet sync folder.
I have used Fastmail’s WEBDAV for several years now and it works well. I encrypt my databases. Syncing has worked well but with the desktop and mobile apps.
Honestly, I’m sorry, I don’t exactly remember, as I did it so long ago. But if I may use an educated guess. The folder in FastMail, In my case, says: “FastMail.dtCloud”. So, I am guessing it created it from the syncstore name I put in DEVONthink. The capitalization is the same and I don’t recollect being smart enough to add the “dtCloud” extension. Hoped this helps a little more.
I’ve also been using Fastmail WebDAV for many years with no problems. I looked at files on Fastmail and at the root I have a folder called Devonthink and the syncstore folder “name.dtCloud” is inside that directory. The url I use is https://myfiles.messagingengine.com/Devonthink. I guess I created the Devonthink folder manually many years ago.
