The wonders of DEVOnthink and DEVONthink To Go

DEVONthink To Go
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Not a complaint - far from it! But I’m just marvelling at the sync functionality of DEVONthink.

Occasionally, and probably my fault, my DEVONthink Global database on my iPad in DEVONthink To Go gets a bit out of step with the mother database on my iMac.

So what do I do?

I delete the DEVONthink To Go app and all its data. Then, I clean the mother database on my iMac. I run sync on the iMac to create a fresh “backup.” I verify it and optimise it.

Install DEVONthink To Go again and set up syncing again with iCloud.

Sit and watch it painstakingly load the mother database from scratch, recreate all the groups to match the mother database and the individual documents, and reindex the whole database. Even if it gets interrupted, it picks up where it stopped.

Software as it should be - simple and elegant!

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cue @BLUEFROG’s “you shouldn’t have to do all that” response in 3, 2, 1,…

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If you’ve deleted the DTTG database, and “cleaned” the iMac database, where are you syncing from?

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From iCloud . . .

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You shouldn’t have to do that (nodding to @SlickSlack :wink: ) and indeed it’s unproductive.

  • As is documented and discussed often, you should first be looking at DEVONthink’s Window > Log or the sync icon in the bottom toolbar of DEVONthink To Go.

  • Also mentioned many times, our sync is not a backup, if you believe you’re creating Mac backups in DEVONthink To Go or othert sync location.

  • And my oft-asked question: Why are you using a remote sync option?

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By “remote sync,” do you mean syncing to iCloud or Dropbox? Why not do that?

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Because Bonjour is a technically simpler and also faster alternative. You will find more info on that by searching in the forum, for example.

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This should be self-correcting, though? Certainly in my experience DTTG resynchronizes itself very promptly and with no action required on my part.

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See our latest tutorial, Understanding Sync, in DEVONthink’s Help menu and the links in the concluding slide.

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Thanks - comments noted. As for the question about using a remote sync, when I’m travelling with my iPad, it’s useful to catch up with the iMac.

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Is someone else working with your Mac while you’re away? :thinking:

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No, but I may not have opened DTTG on my iPad for a while so it may need to catch up.

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With Bonjour, you’d have to open it once before leaving.

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With Bonjour Sync, is it possible to sync DevonThink To Go between an iPad and iPhone? Or does Bonjour Sync require a Mac to act as server?

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There is no “server”, although many think of the one device on the local network with “accept incoming” on as the “server”.

For me it is my iMac, but I believe you could use an iOS device as that one device. Not sure I would, though.

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As well as this (and many other discussions on the forums)…

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You only enable the Bonjour server on one of your devices
I confirm that Bonjour can be enabled on an iPad
I prefer to use my Mac Mini desktop for Bonjour; it’s always active

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This is usually a fail for me; I use Devonthink on my Mac Mini, then leave home without updating my iPad

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And indeed, these things are covered in the resources I pointed out. The information is (and has been) available for a long time.

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It’s just like putting on your pants. After you’ve left the house without them a few times, you tend to make it a habit to put them on before you leave :wink: :stuck_out_tongue:

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