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P_V_'s avatar
P_V_
Explorer | Level 4
29 days ago

How can I make my password-saving app save its database to Dropbox and sync it to other devices?

I have a password program on my pc that saves the data base file to Documents\My Safes when it closes.

Do I have to direct the program to save to the DBox folder instead of the...\My Safes folder if I wish to have the file automatically synced with Drop Box each time it is updated?

Secondly, is it possible to have the file that is on DBox sync to the one on the PC if I change the Dbox file from my phone?

4 Replies

  • Hello P_V_,

    You could try using the Dropbox Backup feature to sync the files which are located outside of your Dropbox folder. But otherwise, yes, you would need to move your password database into Dropbox in order for Dropbox to sync it across devices.

    Are you planning to have multiple computers accessing this password database? If so, be careful that the password software is capable of handling synchronization issues which might arise. For example, if you change a password on two computers while they are offline, then when they both come online, there will be two new versions of the password database, which must be handled. 1Password is an example of a password manager that is capable of handling these sorts of synchronization issues.

    If you update the file on your phone, it is possible to have that change sync back to your PC, although that will depend on how you are modifying the file on your phone. Can you provide some more information about your phone and how you'd be modifying the file? As long as it's saved back to Dropbox in the same folder, it will sync from your phone back to your PC.

  • P_V_'s avatar
    P_V_
    Explorer | Level 4

    Nate_C,

    Thank you for your answer.

    I wish to update the password database from my desktop and my Google Pixel 7 android phone.  When I am not at home and need to change or update the database I now have to note down the changes and transfer them to the database on my desktop when I get home.  What would be preferable would be to have changes to the database made in either device, update the copy of the database that is on Dropbox and have that be copied to the other device's database the next time I open the password program.  As it stands now I must copy the database from my pc into dropbox and then download to my phone from dropbox or use a syncing program to reach the database on dropbox from my phone.

    What I would like is a 2 way street from device to device, via Dropbox as a middleman.  That way the database would be kept up to date on both devices, regardless of which device the change was made on.

    I see by your last paragraph that you think that this is possible.  As I said above I have an Android OS on a Google Pixel 7 phone.  The changes I would make to the database file would be adding and subtracting user names, passwords, and entries (groups etc).  It's basically a .txt file but with a different suffix.

    The app or program is PWSafe.  I have it on both the PC and the phone.  The companion app on the phone is Passwdsafe Sync.  As far as I can tell it takes care of the syncing between the phone and dropbox.  I'm not 100% sure that it transfers changes to the database that I make on the phone back to dropbox.

    From my reading here it seems that syncing between the pc and dropbox only applies to folders and not individual files.  So I guess that means that I must place the entire folder containing the data base from the pc into the dropbox folder.

    • Mark's avatar
      Mark
      Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
      P_V_ wrote:

      So I guess that means that I must place the entire folder containing the data base from the pc into the dropbox folder.

      You can sync files BUT the files must be inside of Dropbox. 

      AND the Android app must be able to open and sync said file as well. 

      Being totally honest here, as the data in the file is so special (ie. you dont want it corrupted!) I'd ask on the PWSafe forums/website for help about how to do this. 

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