Sync Configuration

To set up a Sync, choose a source and a destination from the folders within your site, on a Remote Server or Agent, on a Child Site, or shared through Connected Sites. Identify any other Sync, Automation, or remote process that uses those files. Coordinate their work so a source is complete before pickup and remains available until every required consumer has finished. Use separate paths or non-overlapping file patterns for independent work; see Concurrent Access for examples of conflicts and handoffs.

Who Can Create Syncs

Only Site Administrators and Workspace Administrators can create and manage Syncs.

Site Administrators can list, view, create, edit, delete, run, and dry run every Sync on the site. Workspace Administrators can perform the same actions for Syncs in their Workspace.

Folder Admin permission alone does not grant access to these Sync operations. A Folder Admin can start configured Syncs through a Run Sync (v1) Automation, which has separate permissions.

Changing a Sync's source or destination controls which files are transferred and where they are delivered. Treat Sync administration as data access within the administrator's permitted scope, even when the person maintains transfers without opening files in the Web App. Workspace administration lets you delegate a team's integrations together with access to that team's files.

Name and Description

The Name of your sync appears in the web interface wherever the sync is referenced, such as in Sync Logs, External Logs, Run Sync Automations, and Outbound Connections Logs.

The Description stores a human-readable summary of important information. Use it to capture what procedures to follow if a Remote Server is offline, who to contact, why the sync was configured, or what transfer volume to expect.

Source Folder

The source folder is where files are synchronized from.

The source folder can be a folder in the current site (including a Remote Server Mount folder), a folder on a Remote Server, a folder on an Agent, or a Workspace. Site Administrators can sync from any Workspace as the source; other users can only sync from Workspaces they have access to. Syncs created by a Site Administrator in a parent site can use a Child Site for the source folder.

The Host folders shared through Connected Sites can be used as a source through _/Sites/<host-site-id>. The Host Partner must permit reading each source file. If After Copying is set to delete, it must also permit deleting those files.

Site Administrators can also choose Malware Quarantine as the source when your site has files that Malware Scanning has quarantined. It opens a read-only file view that starts at the quarantine folder, and you can select the whole folder or a single subfolder.

Syncing a copy out is how you get a quarantined file to a security team, preserve it as evidence, or recover a legitimate file caught by mistake. Nothing else in Files.com releases a file from quarantine.

Destination Folder

The destination folder is where files are synchronized to from the source folder.

The destination folder can be a folder in the current site (including a Remote Server Mount folder), a folder on a Remote Server, a folder on an Agent, or a Workspace. Site Administrators can sync to any Workspace as the destination; other users can only sync to Workspaces where they have write access. Syncs created by a Site Administrator in a parent site can target a Child Site for the destination folder.

Malware Quarantine is not available as a destination, because nothing can write into the quarantine folder.

The Host folders shared through Connected Sites can be used as a destination through _/Sites/<host-site-id>. The Host Partner's permissions must allow the writes. The Host's Folder Settings govern the destination, including any processing on a Remote Server Mount there; the Guest's file-processing settings do not carry into it.

Through _/Sites/<child-site-id>, the Child's Folder Settings govern arrivals and the Parent's processing settings do not carry across. Archive Only Mode applies from both Sites, and each Site's administrator lock bypass relaxes only its own locks. A Sync whose folder is within a Files.com Remote Server mount also follows the mounting Site's folder locks and Archive Only Mode alongside the other Site's rules. Access Across Sites and Storage compares these arrangements.

Remote Server Permissions

For a Remote Server, grant the connection's account the permissions needed for its side of the Sync. A source needs list and read permission; a destination needs list and write permission, including replacement when existing files differ. Apply those permissions to the selected folder and any included subfolders. The source does not need write permission merely to supply files.

List permission is required on both sides so that Sync can compare the folders and determine which files need to be transferred.

Sync normally writes over the file already at the destination. When the remote server supports this, replacing a file needs no delete permission.

With After Copying set to delete, the source account also needs delete permission. The Sync removes each source file after a successful transfer or when it finds a file with the same name and size already at the destination. Source deletion therefore needs this permission even when the run does not transfer the file.

Delete permission is needed on the destination in two cases. An SFTP server that refuses to replace a file in place sends Sync back to deleting the old file and writing a new one. When an FTP upload finishes at the wrong size, Files.com deletes the partial file rather than leaving it on the server.

File and Folder Names

Syncs require names to satisfy both Files.com's naming rules and the destination's restrictions. A name accepted on one side can be rejected on the other. Review file naming and case collisions before selecting a source with names that differ only by case.

Before enabling the Sync, choose which files it selects, review replacement, source cleanup, and destination processing, and configure its trigger. Review the same choices when adjusting an existing Sync.