I do 99% of my work on DT4 on my Mac. Once in a while, perhaps twice a year, I travel, and during those times I don’t have access to my Mac, but do have my MacBook. AI travel for a few weeks, then I return to my Mac for primary use. I have a license for 2 devices. How should I set things up to sync between the two machines?
First, you should read the DT Manual sections on Syncing between devices
I use an iCloud (Cloudkit) syncstore for on-the-go syncing (Mac and iPad)
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If you use both devices consecutively and not simultaneously, you may want to just copy and replace your library between your devices or keep it on external media. I don’t know the size of your library, but if you go the sync path, you will (a) need storage in the cloud to accumulate the unsynced data and (b) if you only sync it right before you travel, you may find yourself in a situation where you need to download a large amount of data from the cloud to keep up with your desktop Mac – and if you don’t finish it while at home, it may be difficult on the go. I use two devices interchangeably, so syncing is the way to go for me, but if I needed my second device only on rare occasions, when it turned out to be my main computer for a while, I would consider just copying, pasting and replacing my libraries.
You can also take the best of both worlds, such as copying your library to your MacBook before your journey and syncing it back with your main Mac upon your return (as you said 99% of your work is on your desktop Mac). This way you will have your library on your laptop without a noticeable delay, with 1% of work synced back to your computer later.
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Good approach for my current needs.
Why don’t you keep it very simple.
Bonjour sync quickest and simplist. Do what it advises in the DEVONthink Manual. You are using indexed files, so read carefully about that complication.
Supplement that with existing info already here. No need to dig further for other instructions.
Setup the two macs to sync with Bonjour while on your local network. Turn on the MacBook every so often and let it sync with the other Mac. First sync with the volume of data you have may take some time–after that just changes are synced.
Before the trip, sync the MacBook, travel, return and do the sync. Setting up a Bonjour sync is fully described in the DEVONthink Manual. Unless someone back at Global HQ on the other Mac, no need to sync using third party internet service while travelling.
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I concur with my esteemed colleague @rmschne 
I would make that part of my checkoff list before I travel: Sync Macs via Bonjour, also potentially mobile too.
When I returned home, I would again sync the Macs to update to desktop Mac.
The only thing I would make a priority is to make sure you’re traveling with a portable hard drive for backups on the go.
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I like the simplicity. And it avoids the risks of copying databases. I will need to do some checking about syncing when indexes of mac folders are involved. Thank you for the detailed response.
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Excellent point.
If you really want to geek out, I did this on a recent trip to Europe. I set up a tailscale network, and used my Cloudkit (iCloud) syncstore to have databases I was using on the road sync back to a Mac that was on (with the same databases open and running). Worked quite well.
Added bonus was setting up a raspberry pi at my house as an exit node, so while away I vectored all traffic through that poor raspberry pi. The addded advantage was that another raspberry pi on the same network has pihole installed on it and serves as a network wide ad blocker. End result is no ads while on the road. A bit of latency, sure, but nothing terrible.
Impressive, elegant and effective I’m sure, but too techie for me. Thanks for sharing so others can also view your concepts.
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Are you using Bonjour over Tailscale?
No. Stricly using CloudKit.
Then I don’t understand the role of tailgate in this context – iCloud works also in Europe, kind of.
You’re absolutely right, yes. An advantage of tailscale is that it is effectively a VPN and it encrypts traffic.