Wishlist: add Folder Sync functionality to Folder Compare (like BC2)

[johntdow]

Maybe somebody can explain to me why BC3 is better than BC2 for convenience when doing a folder sync. Folder Compare is far more useful than Folder Sync when viewing folders to understand them and decide what to do before launching an actual sync. For example, you can expand and collapse all folders. You can delete and rename files and folders before the sync. Also, with BC2 you can also select some folders or files among those that are visible and sync only those - that's easier than right click/exclude. So far I don't see what benefit was obtained by splitting out sync from compare.

I've just purchased BC3 to keep up with the times and am trying to learn how to use it to best advantage. I did a folder sync after selecting some folders in the preview, but even though it let me do that, it went ahead and did a sync on all of them anyway. So it deleted some folders I wished it hadn't. Why did it let me select folders and then ignore the selection when doing the sync? Bad user interface, shouldn't it warn that it's going to do all regardless? Or better yet, do what BC2 does and give the option to only sync selected folders.

Just my thoughts as I'm relearning how to use BC.

John

[Michael Bulgrien]

In a folder compare, you can choose from several "Synchronize" options in the right-click context menu. The Synchronize dialog has a "Just Selection" checkbox if you don't want to synchronize the entire list of visible files.

[johntdow]

My apologies. I know those synchronize options are available. I forgot to add that they don't meet my needs. Therefore I am forced to use folder sync. Again, sorry I didn't mention that.

John

[Aaron]

Hello John,

In what way do the Synchronize commands not meet your needs? The Update: Left or Mirror: Left commands with Just Selection will perfrom a sync on just the selection.

The new Sync Session type can be thought of as an interactive Preview Window that BC2 had. In BC2, you would click the Sync Arrow, and it would bring up the dialog with various options. In BC3, you can have an open Folder Compare, go to the Session menu -> Sync base folders. This opens the Sync Session and shows a preview of how the folders will sync. In BC2, if the Preview didn't match, you had to cancel out of the dialog, change settings, then try again. In BC3, you can simply change the settings on the fly, and the preview will then update.

The difference is that in BC3, the Folder Sync will sync all non-filtered files and cannot sync on the selection. For a selection based sync, you can use the Folder Compare's sync tools, as Michael suggests. These are not configurable, however, but since you are in a folder compare, a combination of Display Filters is usually enough to mirror any BC2 sync. How specifically were you using the BC2 sync?

[johntdow]

This is my custom sync, similar to update left to right:
if left newer - copy left to right
if right newer - leave alone
if only on left - copy to right
if only on right - delete (THIS IS WHAT'S DIFFERENT)
if diff - leave alone
if same - leave alone

Of course, before BC2 tells me what it's going to do, it gives me a summary. If I see that it's going to delete files, I can click the + to confirm that it should. With BC3 it always leaves orphans on the right and I have to explicitly delete them if I don't use a custom sync.

I'd be very happy if I there was a customizable sync in Folder Comparison.

Thanks

John

[Aaron]

Hello John,

We don't currently support a customizable sync in the Folder Comparison. You can easily reconfigure the Sync session to perform this under the Session Settings -> Sync tab.

To do this in the current version of BC3, use the Display Filters to show only Right Orphans (use the dropdown arrow or Toggles), then select the ones you want and delete them. Then perform your Update sync.

Further enhancing these tools is on our Customer Wishlist.

[johntdow]

I am sure future releases will have nice refinements. I still don't know why there's a Folder Sync that's separate from Folder Comparison. Sync is a cripped subset of Comparison. Why have both? Fold some or all of the Sync functionality into Comparison and you'll have an easier to use program.

Thanks

John

Hello John,

We don't currently support a customizable sync in the Folder Comparison. You can easily reconfigure the Sync session to perform this under the Session Settings -> Sync tab.

To do this in the current version of BC3, use the Display Filters to show only Right Orphans (use the dropdown arrow or Toggles), then select the ones you want and delete them. Then perform your Update sync.

Further enhancing these tools is on our Customer Wishlist.

[Aaron]

The Sync Session is for one of the most common uses of the software. Many users do not need to limit to a selection for their sync, and simply want to load it up and hit a button. The Sync Session helps meet this need, and provides a large preview window to help the user see what they will commit.

In the BC2 Folder Compare, a sync caused a small dialog wizard to appear, which had a couple of steps to configure, then preview and commit. In BC3, we simply made that dialog its own session, which can be saved independently or loaded from a Folder Compare with a single command.

In BC2, Sync settings were also global for the commands. Now, they can be configured and saved per session, so each Sync you perform can be configured and saved for future use without affecting any other sync session.

These are some of the advantages of our new approach. However, we didn't include a configurable selection based sync in the Folder Compare initially, which is something your workflow would benefit from.

[johntdow]

Thank you for the explanation.

I sync many folders, but the sync is virtually always the same. That means one custom sync meets virtually all my needs. I launch BC from other software (a scripting language) which knows which folders are to be compared. Essentially, I'm looking before deciding whether to sync.

I always use the sync-to-right button so there is no dialog. I have previously configured sync-to-right to have the desired behavior.

My button is configured for "just selection". This way I can easily pick and choose. But usually I select all, then click the button (or hit the key I've configured it to use).

I understand that others have very different needs.

[Michael Bulgrien]

The Sync Session is for one of the most common uses of the software.

May I ask where this "one of the most common uses" assessment/statistic comes from? Just curious. I love BC3... but I can't say the same for the sync session type. I agree with the users in this thread that diminishing the ability "customize" a sync from a folder compare session was a step backwards for this awesome tool.

[Zoë]

May I ask where this "one of the most common uses" assessment/statistic comes from?

Well, it was posted by one of the support guys, so I'm guessing it comes from the number of support questions we get on it versus other features.

As for the current sync session being a step back from what BC2 had, I'd say that's arguable, but we're working on enhancements for 3.2 that will help it come into its own. We're adding features that the directory compare won't be able to support, and we're going to continue trying to make it as easy to do automated syncs as possible. The whole idea behind the design is to set up a sync once and let it work automatically from then on. If you want to tweak things by hand or only work on a selection you're not the target audience for that session type.

We're certainly open to suggestions that we make the sync in the folder compare more configurable like BC2's was, but we are not going to remove the new interface.

[Michael Bulgrien]

As for the current sync session being a step back from what BC2 had, I'd say that's arguable, but we're working on enhancements for 3.2 that will help it come into its own...If you want to tweak things by hand or only work on a selection you're not the target audience for that session type.

Thanks. I was not trying to infer that the current sync session is "a step back"... Just that the loss of functionality when syncronizing from a compare session is.

We're certainly open to suggestions that we make the sync in the folder compare more configurable like BC2's was, but we are not going to remove the new interface.

Thanks again... I am interested in a robust folder compare. I am not interested in removing the new interface... so it sounds like we are on the same page.

[Pete]

With BC3 it always leaves orphans on the right and I have to explicitly delete them if I don't use a custom sync.

I'd be very happy if I there was a customizable sync in Folder Comparison.

Not sure if it helps, but I believe you can go to the Home page and in "Edit Session Defaults > Folder Sync", any options you set there will be used when you start a sync from a Folder Compare session.

[Aaron]

Thanks, Pete.

This is true when you use the Folder Compare's Session menu to launch a new Sync Session using the "Sync base folders" option.

Michael is referring to the Sync tools in the Folder Compare's Action menu -> Synchronize (or toolbar Sync buttons). These are currently not configurable in BC3.1.

[Pete]

I use "Actions > Synchronize > Mirror to Right" and it deletes orphans on the right side (which seems to be something that johntdow wasn't aware of). I've mapped that to F10, and I press F9 to switch from showing only Orphans to showing Differences right before I press F10. FWIW.