Folder Sync: First impressions

**Pete** · 12-Mar-2008, 05:06 PM

For the Start Sync button, it would be fine with me if it were on the Sessions toolbar in the middle of the bar and the same size as the Home button.

I wouldn't miss the contents of the "Left Folder" and "Right Folder" fields because I could look at the titlebar to see which session I'm using.

**Pete** · 12-Mar-2008, 06:19 PM

While the Folder Sync window might be nice for new users, I personally would rather use the Folder Compare window for this purpose (like in BC2). Two main reasons:

1) The Folder Compare window is much more powerful (e.g. the context menu offers more commands and I can press the filter buttons to Show All, Show Mismatches, Show Orphans, etc).

2) Having both the Folder Compare and the Folder Sync means that I'll have to maintain two different set of session settings for every set of base folders that I use. Not ideal IMO.

This could be solved if the Folder Compare session settings also had a Sync tab and I could start a sync of everything regardless of the current selection.

Otherwise I think it's a step backward from BC2 because the Folder Compare window has become less powerful and the Folder Sync window is not powerful enough.

**Zoë** · 12-Mar-2008, 06:36 PM

The folder compare's "Session" menu has a "Sync in new view" command that will open the sync window with a clone of the current session's settings. The folder compare also adds a "Synchronize" submenu to the "Actions" and right-click menus with Update/Mirror commands. It works differently than BC2, and more like the BC3 commands, where it affects the current selection and follows display and file filters, but it should do everything you want it to.

**Michael Bulgrien** · 13-Mar-2008, 01:42 AM

Originally posted by Pete

I wish there were a way to collapse all of the stuff above the file listing

I agree that there is a lot of wasted screen space here. Why not design it more like this:

Move the File Filters and the "Swap Sides", "Rules" & "Sync" buttons to the toolbar
Move the Sync Type dropdown between the left and right folder name comboboxes
Implement the Next / Previous buttons instead of Accept / Cancel

**Michael Bulgrien** · 13-Mar-2008, 10:03 AM

Actually, I was thinking about this a little more. Why have a separate "Start Sync" button at all. Get rid of the sync type listview. Replace it with a Vista-style split button (a button with a drop arrow on the right edge). You can use the drop arrow to change the selected Sync method...or simply click the button portion to start the Sync.

I think it would improve the look of the screen by reserving the "combobox" look for the Left and Right folder dropdowns.

I also think it would make sense from a use perspective (clicking the button starts the sync and eliminates the need for another button control to provide that functionality.)

**ron** · 13-Mar-2008, 03:59 PM

I kind of like the big button

Gives me the indication that something big will happen if I press it!

If you edit any of the settings (left/right path etc) then backspace to undo your changes, the Cancel button is greyed out once the settings match their original values. The list below remains greyed out too. Pressing Escape will get you what cancel would have though.

**Pete** · 13-Mar-2008, 06:19 PM

Okay, the menu command "Session > Sync Base Folders in New View" nicely solves the problem for me. That is exactly what I was hoping for.

The only problem is that the command isn't using my session defaults for Folder Sync.

**Zoë** · 13-Mar-2008, 07:07 PM

Which settings is it not using that you want it to? The command clones the settings for the session you're launching it from, which, since you said you didn't want to have your settings in two places, is what I expected you'd want.

**Pete** · 14-Mar-2008, 03:28 PM

The problem is that the session settings for Folder Compare don't have a Sync tab like Folder Sync sessions have. So there's not an automatic way for me to specify that I always want a Folder Compare session to use "Mirror to Right" for example. It always wants to use "Update Both" and I have to change it manually each time. In addition I'd like to set a default for "If file on right is newer" (for example).

So I'd like either a Sync tab for Folder Compare sessions or for all Folder Compare sessions to use the session defaults of Folder Sync.

**Erik** · 20-Mar-2008, 04:29 PM

In the next release (449), Sync Base Folders In New View will use the session defaults of the Folder Sync.

**Pete** · 10-Apr-2008, 11:12 AM

Okay, "Sync Base Folders in New View" now uses the defaults of Folder Sync and works as advertised. Thanks.

I would have noticed that it was fixed sooner but I haven't received a notification email that there was a new beta available since March 12th and thus didn't know that there have been several releases since then. I see that there is a link in Cirrus to indicate a new version but I'm still using BC2 so I didn't see that link. I guess I'll manually check this website once a week or something.

**Tim** · 10-Apr-2008, 11:33 AM

As I mentioned in the March 12th email, I stopped sending release notifications and encouraged everyone to test the auto "check for updates" feature.

Select Tools | Options and be sure the "Check for updates..." is enabled. Then, watch for a "New version available" link appearing at the top-right corner of your sessions.

**dr_barnowl** · 21-Apr-2008, 06:46 AM

My first gripe ; the "Swap sides" button only flips the sides of the current tab ; when the app was SDI, this wasn't so bad, but I can see it becoming confusing in a multi-tab application. So alongside the suggestion above to move the "Swap sides" button to the main toolbar, I also propose that it swaps sides globally for all tabs in that session.

**ron** · 21-Apr-2008, 09:46 AM

I would not vote for swapping all tabs at once to be the default behavior.

Folder Sync: First impressions

Folder Sync: First impressions

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