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Remote access: pair the owner's laptop with the office

How it works

Tally's port has no password and no encryption, so it must never be reachable from the internet. Remote access keeps it inside the office. The copy of Tallycon in the office reads Tally and answers; the owner's laptop only sends questions and gets answers back, encrypted from end to end.

How remote access worksInside the office, Tallycon reads Tally over the office network. The office copy of Tallycon connects out to the Tallycon relay. The owner's laptop connects to the relay too. Everything between the office and the laptop is encrypted end to end; the relay passes on frames it cannot read. Tally's port never leaves the office. Your office network TallyPrime XML port stayson the network Tallycon office copy Read-only requests over the LAN Relay passes on framesit cannot read Laptop owner, anywhere connects out Encrypted end to end, office to laptop How remote access worksInside the office, Tallycon reads Tally over the office network. The office copy of Tallycon connects out to the Tallycon relay. The owner's laptop connects to the relay too. Everything between the office and the laptop is encrypted end to end; the relay passes on frames it cannot read. Tally's port never leaves the office. Your office network TallyPrime XML port stays inside read-only, LAN Tallycon office copy connects out Relay passes on framesit cannot read Laptop owner, anywhere Encrypted end to end
  • The office computer connects out to our relay, so the office router needs no open port.
  • The relay passes on messages it cannot read or alter.
  • The laptop can only make a fixed list of read requests, such as asking a question, picking a company or making a statement. It cannot send anything to Tally directly.
  • Questions from the laptop use the office's AI key and are recorded in the office's question log, with the laptop's name on each one.

In the office: turn it on

On the computer in the office that runs Tallycon and reads Tally:

  1. Open Settings, Remote access.
  2. Give the office a name, leave the relay address as it is, and choose Turn on remote access.
  3. Tick Start Tallycon with this computer (on a Mac, Start Tallycon when you log in), so the office can be reached after a restart without anyone opening Tallycon.

With remote access on, closing the window leaves Tallycon running in the tray (on a Mac, in the menu bar), and the computer does not go to sleep on its own; the screen can still turn off.

The office computer must stay on, with Tally open and the company loaded. If the office computer is off or asleep, the laptop says the office cannot be reached. If the office's Tallycon is running but Tally is closed there, the laptop shows the office as connected and Tally as not connected; open Tally at the office and questions work again.

We have not yet tried the tray and the start-with-this-computer setting on an installed Windows copy; if either does not behave as described here, tell us.

Pair a laptop

In the office, choose Pair a device. Tallycon shows a pairing code beginning TCP1-, with Copy code.

  • The code works once, for 15 minutes, and stops working after five wrong tries.
  • Whoever uses it first is paired. Send it to the owner on a channel you trust, such as a call or a message to their own phone, not a group.

On the owner's laptop:

  1. Install Tallycon (see Install Tallycon). It does not need Tally on the laptop.
  2. Open Settings, Remote access. Paste the code under Pairing code, name the laptop (the office sees this name), and choose Pair with office.
  3. The card shows Office and Connected. The Ask view now reads the office's Tally.

If the laptop also reads a Tally of its own, the card first shows "This computer reads its own Tally" with Pair with an office instead.

Using it from outside

Ask, switch companies, run the GST review and export exactly as in the office. Excel files, PDFs and statements are made in the office and saved on the laptop. Picking a company on the laptop does not change the company the office has open.

A few things stay in the office: Tally's address and settings, the AI key, and loading or removing a GSTR-2B file.

Patchy connections. On a phone hotspot or poor Wi-Fi the network can drop without warning. The laptop checks on the office every 20 seconds; after 45 seconds without a reply it treats the link as lost, ends any question that was waiting, and reconnects on its own. Ask that question again once the status bar shows the office as connected.

We have not yet measured remote access on a slow mobile connection. An answer with thousands of vouchers is compressed before it is sent.

See and remove paired laptops

The office's Remote access card lists every paired laptop with when it was paired and when it was last seen, or Connected now.

  • Remove cuts a laptop off at once, including a question it is asking. To use it again, pair it with a new code. Do this the same day a laptop is lost or a person leaves.
  • Turn off remote access stops answering but keeps the paired laptops, so turning it on again needs no new codes.
  • On the laptop, Disconnect from office ends the pairing from that side.

Not available yet

  • A phone app.
  • Approving each new laptop in the office beyond the one-time code.
  • One laptop paired with several offices at once; a laptop pairs with one office.