XYplorer Beta Club

One feature I would find very helpful is having the ability to synchronize two folders. As a programmer, I keep backup folders of all my source code.

Thanks

G Wilkes

This feature is already on Don's roadmap (http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=830), albeit at the bottom.

gwilkes wrote:One feature I would find very helpful is having the ability to synchronize two folders.

Hi and welcome to the XY forums! As zer0 has pointed out, this is on the roadmap...I somewhat suspect that this feature may be dependant to or be related to dual-pane so thus is further down on the list.

In the meantime, the way I handle this when absolutely needed is to...use another product as I've mentioned before on this forum...it's the lite/free vers that has a "2" in it...if you get my drift.

gwilkes wrote:One feature I would find very helpful is having the ability to synchronize two folders. As a programmer, I keep backup folders of all my source code.

Hi! Well, XY has a backup function. I use it for my source code daily. If that's what you mean by synchronize then look up the help file for "backup" (and Backup Here, Backup To...).

gwilkes wrote:One feature I would find very helpful is having the ability to synchronize two folders.

YES! This would be extremely useful and would remove one of my major workflow interruptions: jumping between XYplorer and GoodSync for simple synchronization jobs.

The backup feature currently implemented is nice, but (as far as I can tell) it doesn't give the option to automatically remove files in the target folder when those files are missing in the source. Unless I'm missing something, it only copies (additive) new files but leaves old files in-place.

Here's an example use case: I work with an agency where teams of photographers dump files into a central repository. Over time, a librarian edits and moves these photos into subfolders. As a producer/content creator, I periodically copy these photos to local, also working with other documents and files in the repo. Because the files get moved by a librarian in-between my copy actions, my local stash quickly gets out-of-sync.

If I use XYplorer's Backup feature, I can quickly get the librarian's organization copied into the new folders. But now I'll have duplicates of all the files: in the unorganized locations/state, and in the new folders.

Sure, I can use a sync tool like GoodSync to keep things up-to-date, but it's a lot of setup work for each job and it's yet another workflow step. I'd rather be able to quickly, in any folder context, do an on-the-fly synchronization in XYplorer. Basically, just like XYplorer's Backup feature, but with an option to autodelete files in target that are missing from source.

It's planned.

Thank you! Great to hear.

Also, thank you for your swift, direct replies. You are an exemplary developer, and your willingness to openly discuss features with your customers is magnificent.

Since synchronization has been on the roadmap for about 6 years, any idea on a target for release?

I've got a scenario where I may want to look at a larger rollout of XYplorer if this feature were available.

What is a "larger rollout"? My German English does not cover this term.

Additional people with licenses to use for a working scenario.

It's planned? Oh yes! I can't wait, this is the only feature i miss in XY.

Any suggestions about the interface? How to select the two folders (and the direction: source > target)? Or simply active pane > inactive pane?

My suggestion would be that a Sync Folders tool would be available as a toolbar item. Once clicked, it would open a secondary interface (popup) with options such as
- direction of sync (and type: Two-way synchronize; one-way backup L>R; one-way backup R>L)
- whether to propagate deletions
- whether to backup deleted files somewhere
- if you wanted to get more fancy, could do (a) exclusion/inclusion filters, (b) ignore hidden/system files and folders, (c) some of your Backup features dealing with increments, date changes, etc.

I suggest that this feature would assume that the open panes (active and inactive) are the panes to be synced, although I suppose this could also be selectable in the secondary interface.

1) Actually I do not want to get too fancy. There is many specialized sync tools out there. I don't plan to replace them. I'd rather do an ultra-simple fool-proof dead-easy sync. Now, how could that look?
2) What is Two-way synchronize? Copy the newer versions to the other location?

Yes, I agree. So I would revise my suggestion to (EDITED):

Sync Folders tool would be available as a toolbar item and/or a dropdown somewhere. The options exposed to the user would be:
- Two-way synchronization
- One way backup with propagated deletions
- One-way backup without propagated deletions

Two-way sync is exactly as you say: The newer versions from both sides are copied to both sides, but nothing is deleted.
With one-way sync (effectively a backup), the user would expect that deletions would be propagated (unless they specifically didn't want that).

admin wrote:1) Actually I do not want to get too fancy. There is many specialized sync tools out there. I don't plan to replace them. I'd rather do an ultra-simple fool-proof dead-easy sync.

I must respectfully disagree here. Folder syncing is a critical task when it comes to file management and XYplorer is the only thing that comes to mind when I need to... manage files. Exception made to folder sync.

On the other hand the majority of user reviews I read regarding software programs refer a suite, whatever the field it covers, as a "jack of all trades, master of none" followed by cold comments. Over time I see XY getting lots of features which could be simply great if they reach their 2.0/3.0 state leaving me the impression it'll always be one step behind itself. Reading the forums back in the day I learned many, many, many ways XYplorer could excel if a certain feature gain the light of day, or in the case it'd be, it should get a better attention sometimes with apparently not much effort. Or will.

Sometimes implementation takes just momentum to be. Lucky.

Could. If. Would. Should.

So my humble suggestion is: as XYplorer already is a great piece to deal with, why not make a different approach towards specialization, instead of spreading forks and forks on many directions as it does for years now? I always wanted to share this thought of mine and see Sync as a perfect feature to start with, IMHO. Get the best features on the market, let the usual (generally awesome) forum brainstorming happen, improve everything with your geniality and bam!, no holes anymore. Not much.