Sync over the internet

Hello
I have both direct and local syncing down. But how do I sync over the internet between my home and office both on different networks. I do use Splashtop Business, would that come into play for me?

Thanks

Best

Kim

I have used Devonthink for may years. It is a great product for local storage

However after many years I have come to the conclusion that the best solution for sync over the Internet is to use Evernote !

The best option is to Sync to a WebDAV server or a cloud service with WebDAV capabilities, or to Dropbox.

Sync over VPN may (or may not) work, but it is neither specifically supported nor advocated.

And this is useful for DEVONthink, how?
PS: We have many Users who happily and reliably use Sync daily. (Speaking personally, I am one of them.)

Why not use Dropbox? DEVONthink offers 256-bit encryption and it seems to work pretty seamlessly.

HI FROBGOBLIN

I do use DB, but when I purchased DTO in 2010, there was a big issue about using Devon DB and DB… Something about metadata getting messed up, or leaving the DB open on two computers, I can’t remember what the issue was back then. Does DTO and DB play well together now?

Thanks

Best

Joe

Yes, but only with our Sync plugin (see Preferences > Sync).
And note, you still must not put your DEVONthink databases in a Dropbox (or other cloud-synced) folder or you could irreparably damage them.

Thanks Jim

So I did find the “add dropbox account” in preferences sync. I have my devon DB’s in the documents folder, labeled Devon, on both my home and work computer. I assume it is important that both computers have Devon Databases in the same location, and NOT in a Dropbox folder". Is this correct? I could not find instructions on setting up a sync with dropbox in the manual, maybe I missed it.

Thanks

Best

Joe

No problem. Could you do me a small favor and start a Support Ticket before you get going too far. (I have something I’m working on.) Thanks.

You may very well have “many” users using sync successfully. But as far as i can tell, it’s STILL not ready for primetime. I thought I’d give it another try over the last couple of weeks and have come to the conclusion that it’s not worth the constant errors and incredibly slow Dropbox syncing.
Let’s face it, it’s a mess. And Devontech doesn’t seem to want to address the problem seriously - every time the discussion gets uncomfortable for them, they just suggest we submit a support ticket.

Do you prefer the unfiltered and perhaps misinformed opinion of a general discussion forum to solve your specific issues, or the dedicated support of DEVONtechnologies’ staff – which includes deeply knowledgeable technicians, with access to the developers and owners of the company? For free, by the way – as often as you need them. Pretty good deal, IMO.

What I prefer is an honest, open discussion of the very serious limitations of the sync technology; preferably one led by the developers themselves. Then, instead of hoping they have it fixed every few months (or years!) and then testing it until it breaks down again, we can find an alternative approach and stick to it until the problems are definitively fixed.
That’s what I prefer.
Bottom line: at the moment, it’s not reliable - no matter what support valiantly tries to do to fix it.
The bandaids aren’t helping.

And these would be?

My point exactly.

As long as you keep acting as if you don’t know what the problems are, it’s going to be tough for genuine supporters of the software to trust that they’ll get fixed. Perhaps a “Customer Relations Specialist” should understand this.
But to answer your question. For instance (one among many over the years): I have one very small (127mb, 243 docs) database that locked up Devonthink for hours last night as it slowly copied thousands of individual documents to Dropbox on a very fast connection. It’s not supposed to be this way. I understand that Dropbox is tricky with “packages”, but other software deals with that issue.
I’m not being snarky for the fun of it; quite frankly I have better things to do than whine here.
It’s a shame: Devonthink is overall a great product and I’ve used it for ages. I don’t have many complaints. I don’t even understand why some people dislike the U.I. – which seems fine to me, if a little long in the tooth. But as it stands, the sync is unreliable.
And these forums used to have a lot more genuine, honest support and a lot less P.R. in them.

A completely rewritten sync is in the pipeline and currently tested. It’s faster, more reliable/flexible/compatible, easier to use. And iOS compatible.

Glad to hear it. Thanks for the honest reply, Christian. Much appreciated. :smiley: