MoneyWorks

If you want multiple people to access your accounts simultaneously, you'll use a MoneyWorks Datacentre server.

But what if you just want a couple of people to have access to your accounts document from different computers but not at the same time? For example, you might want your accountant to be able to open your file and run off some reports when you're not using the accounts yourself.

You can achieve this simply and cost-effectively by keeping your accounts document in a shared Dropbox folder. Every time you save or close, the file will be mirrored to other computers that share the folder. However, in this scenario, two people must not open the document at the same time. Otherwise you will end up with the dreaded Dropbox "(conflicted copy)" situation.

To help avoid this, MoneyWorks 8 and later will detect that a file is in a Dropbox shared folder and will create a semaphore file whenever you open it. This semaphore file will also be mirrored to other Dropbox users sharing the folder (provided they are connected to the internet). If they try to open your accounts document while the semaphore file is present, MoneyWorks will know that the document is in use elsewhere and will prevent it from being simultaneously used elsewhere.

Once again, if you want bulletproof shared access, that is what MoneyWorks Datacentre or MoneyWorks Now are for.