Paratext is well known for its ability to synchronize data among multiple team members both online and offline. It was designed for use in areas with low bandwidth or no Internet, and so most teams are aware of its ability to synchronize data on a flashdrive. Very few people, however, know about another very useful collaboration option, even though it appears prominently in the Send/Receive dialog box each time you use it.
That option is Chorus Hub. It makes it possible to do Send/Receive over a local network, without using the Internet. Chorus Hub is a small program that you install on one (and only one) of the computers in your team. After you download and install it, it runs in the background and makes itself visible to the other Paratext computers on the network.
In the image above, notice that a computer with the name MARC-PC is running Chorus Hub. The other Paratext computers scan the network, find the Chorus Hub on Marc’s computer, and offer it as a choice for Send/Receive. In a translation office with poor Internet, all you need is a WiFi access point that is plugged in and running. Even if it is not connected to the Internet, it is the connection point that allows all the computers to share data using Send/Receive in a fraction of the time it would take over a slow Internet connection. If you are paying for bandwidth, it will also save money to do a Send/Receive locally, and sending to the Internet occasionally as a backup and for outside team members.
If you use Paratext Live for working together on a text simultaneously, a Chorus Hub can greatly improve performance when working in the same room as a team. And for normal office days, you can schedule Send/Receive to be done every hour over Chorus Hub using the schedule button. If you have questions about any of these features, you can look them up in the Paratext help menu.
Chorus Hub is developed by SIL for use in synchronizing lexical or Scripture data and can be found at https://software.sil.org/chorushub/