File Synchronization is an utility that, as its name implies, has
the ability to synchronize multiple pairs of folders or files. It has
been designed to be easy to use and quick to do the job. It was based
originally on the File Synchronization tool provided by Apple
with the old Mac OS, but has a few improvements and features to help
get
the job done quickly and efficiently.
Automatically mounts remote volumes in the background when needed.
Preview mode lets you
"see" what will happen.
Preview mode allows for managing files that need to be synchronized.
Optional logging of all
operations.
Multithreaded for smooth
operation even when copying hundreds of megabytes.
No document to open or
manage: all files and folders and their settings are
automatically saved and accessible through the main window.
Filters lets you ignore
some files and/or folders that you don't want to synchronize.
Automatic synchronization:
you select the interval and the pairs and File Synchronization will
synchronize them repeatedly according to the time interval.
Option to move orphaned
files to the trash instead of deleting them.
Option to keep orphaned
files that have been modified since the last synchronization.
Option to delete unwanted
files from the preview window.
Options to automatically
start synchronizing when the application is launched and quit after the synchronization
completes. Using a free application like CronniX, you can now schedule synchronization
sessions anytime and any way you want.
Hierarchical list views
that let you see the folder hierarchy of any element displayed in the main,
preview or error windows. You can open in the Finder any element in these
list views by double-clicking them.
Option to present an
alert dialog when a file is about to be deleted or moved to the trash.
Error reporting can offer
possible solutions to common problems and displays additional information
regarding any error occuring
2 license types to meet
your need: a single-user license, good for a user on any computer, and a computer
license, good for all users on that computer,
Automatically adjusts
for the Blue or Graphite appearance.
Localized in Czech, Dutch,
English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Norwegian and Russian. More languages
coming.
Very fast! One of the
fastest tool available. Some other tools claim that they use CRC-based techniques
to determine which file has changed. Even though checking CRC on files can
tell if they are or are not exactly the same, there is no way you can determine
which file is newer using this technique. You have to rely on the modification
date, which File Synchronization does pretty quickly.
The most affordable tool to synchronize. Why paying $30, $50 or $100 when you can have File Synchronization for only $15 ($18 on Kagi)?
30 days free evaluation
period, with no function disabled or crippled, as opposed to all other synchronization
utilities on OS X.
Based on Cocoa,
automatically gets new enhancements introduced with new version of Mac OS
X.
You're usually using
a laptop. You also have a desktop computer. Those are generally more powerful
and
larger screen than a laptop.
Then,
you have a bunch of personal, or "key" files, like your Entourage
environment, your web browser bookmarks, your budget in Quicken, etc.
You would like to use the desktop computer, but without those "key" files, it's
almost impossible. Using File Synchronization, this
problem is fixed: before opening a session on your desktop computer,
you
would just synchronize the files/folders that make sense to you. When
you're done with the desktop computer, just repeat the initial
synchronization. As an added bonus, you are actually performing a
backup.
You're working on a
large web site on your computer. When you're done with some modifications,
you would like to copy only the files
that
have been modified to your server. File Synchronization is the
perfect companion.
You're working in a
team that has a shared folders. You use File
Synchronization to get and put the latest versions of the documents
you're sharing with your team.
You run an array of web servers to provide load balancing and
fail-over. So, the html files need to be the same on each web server
and
when one file is updated, it needs to be copied to all the other web
servers. Manually this could be a bit of a pain, but with automatic
synchronization, this will be a breeze.
A Disk Copy disk image,
FileSynchronization.dmg
Alternative link: FileSynchronization.dmg
(right-click on the above 2 links, then select Save link target as...in
Netscape or Download link to disk in Internet
Explorer. Just click on the link with Safari. You
will have to right-click or control-click on the third link to be able to save
the file to your disk. After the download, you will also have to replace the
extension to the file from 'html' to 'dmg'. Sorry about that. I get absolutely
no help from Verizon on this)
The documentation (800 KB)
A Disk Copy disk image,
FileSyncDoc.dmg
Alternative link: FileSyncDoc.dmg
(right-click on the above 2 links, then select Save link target as...in
Netscape or Download link to disk in Internet
Explorer. Just click on the link with Safari. You
will have to right-click or control-click on the third link to be able to save
the file to your disk. After the download, you will also have to replace the
extension to the file from 'html' to 'dmg'. Sorry about that. I get absolutely
no help from Verizon on this)
Fixed a problem with the registration code generator.
Fixed a problem with the Preview window where File Synchronization
would wrongly report the size of certain files in gigabytes while it should
be in megabytes.
2/10/03 Version 1.1:
New automatic synchronization: you select the interval and the pairs and
File Synchronization will synchronize them repeatedly according to the time
interval
New option to move orphaned files to the trash instead of deleting them
New option to keep orphaned files that have been modified since the last
synchronization
You can now delete unwanted files from the preview window
The error reporting has been improved to offer possible solutions to common
problems and now displays additional information regarding any error occuring
There is now a new computer-wide license in addition of the single user
license: the computer-wide license lets you register File Synchronization
so that all users on that Macintosh can use it without having to register
The preference window has been revamped to be easier to use
You can now re-arrange the list of pairs by moving them up and down with
the new controls in the main window
Some rare problems with the drawers have been fixed
Some improvements to the interface have been done
2/23/03 Version 1.1.1:
Fixed a problem where the automatic synchronization wouldn't start after
the specified time interval, after launching File Synchronization
Fixed a problem where file sizes and specially folder sizes wouldn't be
properly reported in the preview window
Fixed a problem that would prevent File Synchronization to run
properly under Mac OS X, version 10.1.x
4/10/03 Version 1.2:
New hierarchical list views that let you see the folder hierarchy of any
element displayed in the main, preview or error windows. You can open in
the Finder any element in these list views by double-clicking them (Requires
Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar").
The application now displays paths and filenames like they are shown in
the Finder, and no longer like they are shown in the Terminal (no more mysterious
'Volumes' folder) (Requires Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar").
New options to automatically start synchronizing when the application
is launched and quit after the synchronization completes.
New option to present an alert dialog when a file is about to be deleted
or moved to the trash.
Additional solutions to problems offered in the error window.
There was a problem where if you would click any File Synchronization
menu while the error window was opened, the application would crash upon
closing the error window. This problem has been fixed.
The buttons to move pairs up and down the list have been moved to the
more appropriate toolbar.
The application is now localized in English, French, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian
and Russian. More languages coming.
Completely reworked registration process, with new dialogs built from
scratch to streamline the registration process.
4/12/03 Version 1.2.1:
New context-sensitive help system.
Fixed a minor bug where if you would change a folder for a pair, the hierarchical
view wouldn't update until you would quit and relaunch the application.
The Dutch localization has been updated.
9/18/03 Version 1.2.2:
New preferences to set the rows height in the table of the main window.
Now, when you press the Stop button
in the sync progression dialog when the application is in automatic mode,
the synchronization will stop and the application won't quit anymore.
Fixed a bug where holding down a key wouldn't stop the application from
quitting in automatic mode.
The German, Korean and Czech localizations have been added. File Synchronization is now localized in Czech,
Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Russian and Korean.
More languages coming.
10/27/03 Version 1.2.3:
Added full support for new enhancements in the interface for Mac OS X
10.3 (Panther).
Fixed some minor cosmetic bugs in the interface for Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther).
The Danish localization has been added. File Synchronization is now localized in Czech,
Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Russian and
Korean. More languages coming.
11/5/03 Version 1.2.4:
Fixed a problem where if a computer-wide registration number was entered
to register the application, File Synchronization would crash.
1/30/04 Version 1.3:
New filters to ignore certain types of files or folders that you don't
want to synchronize but that are part of enclosing folders that you do
synchronize.
You can now synchronize directly from the preview window without having
to scan the folders again.
It is now possible to delete multiple items from the preview window
with a single click on one of the deletion button.
6/14/05 Version 1.3.1:
Fixes a rare problem where doing a second synchronization without a
preview would result in a very short analysis and no synchronization would
occur.
Added label next to the filter button in the drawer to indicate how
many filters are active for the selected pair.
Additional logging options.
Redesigned error dialog.
5/21/06 Version 1.4:
Now mounts remote disks in the background, allowing the application to continue responding to the user while the disks are being mounted.
Displays path of folders on remote disks that haven't been mounted yet.
Allows managing conflicting files in the preview window, which are files that have been modified in both synchronized folder since the last synchronization.
Fixes a bug with filters that prevented them from working properly. To make sure that filters are valid, it is suggested that you review them and make appropriate corrections if they don't appear as you initially created them. Corrupted filters could potentially crash File Synchronization if they are not corrected.
A Create Folder button has been added to the open dialog when selecting files or folders to synchronize.
Universal binary for Intel-based Macintosh.
3/6/07 Version 1.4.1:
Adds a new preference to set the mounting of remote volumes in background or not. Accessing a remote volume in background means that the application is still responsive to the user even if a remote volume is currently being mounted. This is a workaround for a rare problem that can occur when the password to access the remote volume hasn't been saved in the keychain. In some circumstances, the authentication dialog appears but the content is not displayed and the application has to be forced to quit. If you have experienced this problem, you can whether manually access the remote volume, this time making sure that your password will be saved. Then, navigate the remote volume to find the folder you want to synchronize and drag it over the same folder in the synchronization pair. This will update the information needed by File Synchronization to automatically access that folder. If this is not possible, you can set turn off the Mount remote volumes in background so that the application will "block" to let the authentication dialog appears and access the remote volume.
Fixes a display problem in the open dialog when set in list mode.
Fixes the French translation and some strange characters appearing in some dialogs.
3/20/07 Version 1.4.2:
Fixes the problem that prevents registering the computer-wide license.
Improves the dutch and danish localizations.
10/22/07 Version 1.4.3:
Fixes a problem preventing the application from launching under Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). This update is therefore required for any user wishing to update to Leopard.
Fixes some cosmetic problems under Leopard.
Fixes other miscellaneous minor bugs.
11/13/08 Version 1.4.4:
Fixes a problem with filters by name where a folder would still be scanned for modified files even though it should have been ignored. Can increase performance tremendously in some cases.
Fixes a problem with the error dialog where some information were missing for some localizations.
Adds the total size of files to be copied and deleted in the Preview window.
Fixes some cosmetic problems with hierarchical views resizing incorrectly in all windows that use them.
A new major rewrite has been started a few weeks ago. This new version will be easier to use and will support the synchronization of more than just folders and files.
Thanks to the testers that tried this version and all previous versions: François Cochin, Loris Coutin, Nicolas Gruson, Jacquet Gwenaël, Grégoire Jouvenat, Mark Licata, Andrew McCallum, Dubrau Vivien, Per Sjofors, James S. Clark IV, Mark Dieter, Dan Knight, Jan Segert, Winston McKelvie, Steve Elman, David Poole, David Clark, Mark D. Chapman, Erik Ness, Alan Larson, Reinard Schmitz, Peter Drake, Jeffrey Collins, David J. Millward and Sunil Punnoose.
Very special thanks to the people that did the various translations: Rudolf
Bock for Czech; Mogens Thyregod for Danish; Alexander Henket for Dutch; Hervé
Bismuth for French; Christian Putze for German; John Ko for Korean; Runar Fergus
for Norwegian; Germano Gasparini for Italian and Sasha Patay for Russian.
