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You can run 2Fin on as many machines as you like. What follows is how to keep them in step, and one thing to avoid that will otherwise cost you a ledger.

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The idea in one line

Share the source your devices import from. Never share the database. Each device keeps its own copy of your books. They all read the same source — a spreadsheet in your own Drive, or a folder your existing sync tool already handles. Nothing passes through 2Fin, because nothing needs to.
Do not put the 2Fin database in Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud or OneDrive.Those tools copy whole files on their own schedule. The database expects exclusive control of its journal while it writes, and a file copied out from under it mid-write is a damaged file. Two machines opening the same synced database is the single most reliable way to lose a ledger.This is not specific to 2Fin — it is true of every SQLite application, and it is why the instructions below share a spreadsheet rather than a database.

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Set it up

1

Put one source where every device can reach it

A Google Sheet in your own Drive is the simplest choice: it is already synced, already versioned, and you can open it without 2Fin involved.A folder that Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive or Syncthing already keeps in step works just as well — put your bank’s CSV exports in it.
2

Connect that source on each device

On every machine, open Connectors and connect the same sheet, or import from the same folder. Each device keeps its own local database and reads from the shared source.
3

Let re-imports look after themselves

Importing the same rows twice is safe. Every row is fingerprinted from its account, date, amount and description, so a repeat is recognised rather than duplicated.If a row disappears from the source it is flagged for you to look at, never deleted — you may simply have tidied your own spreadsheet, and losing history because a row moved is not acceptable.
4

Optionally, let a bank connection fill the source

Where a bank-data service covers your country, it can write rows into that sheet on its own. Your devices then follow without you exporting anything.The connection belongs to you: you set it up, and you revoke it at your provider, not here.

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Moving a whole book to a new machine

Sharing a source keeps devices current. It does not carry across the categories, rules and edits that live only in one database. For that, use an encrypted backup:
  1. Export an encrypted backup from the machine that has the history.
  2. Move the file however you like — it is encrypted with a passphrase you set.
  3. Import it on the new machine.
Use this when replacing a laptop. Use the shared source for day-to-day.

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Where the data actually lives

Your data folder

The desktop app keeps everything — database, receipts, attachments — in one folder. Open Settings → Where your data lives to see the real path and open it in your file manager.The folder can be relocated if you want it somewhere specific. Relocating is supported; putting it in a sync folder is the thing to avoid, for the reason in the warning above.

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Sending data onward

The same records can flow out to tools you already use — Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, Notion or Airtable — on your instruction. Useful when a dashboard, a client report or an existing workflow needs the numbers. You choose the destination and can disconnect it at any time.

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Frequently asked

Yes. Both read the same source and each keeps its own copy. There is no locking between them, because they are not sharing a database — only the rows they both import from.
Nothing breaks. Each is writing to its own local database, and fingerprinting means both arrive at the same result.
No. Bringing records in from a spreadsheet or a CSV, keeping the database on your own machine, and pointing several devices at one source are all part of using 2Fin. Paid plans unlock what 2Fin does with those records, never access to the records themselves.
Your records stay readable and export keeps working. The database is a file in a folder you chose; the source is a spreadsheet in your own account. Both remain yours.