Synchronize

The Synchronize tool lets you synchronize the contents of two folders. The folders involved can be any location that Opus can access - local drives, archives, network shares or even on an FTP site. You can specify the criteria used to determine whether a file should be copied or not, and you can choose whether synchronization is one-way or two-way. To access the Synchronize tool, select the Synchronize command from the Tools menu.

Sync - panel.png

The Synchronize tool is displayed in the Utility Panel at the bottom of the Lister. The fields at the top of the panel control the folders that are being synchronized. When the panel opens the Source and Destination folders will default to the locations in the current source and destination file displays. You can use the Browse (Browse.png) buttons for each field to select a different location, or type the path in manually.

The Lock (Dupe Files - Lock.png) buttons for each field let you lock the folder to the current location in the Lister. When the field is locked it will update automatically whenever you navigate to a new location - this lets you use the Lister for navigation without having to update the Source and Destination fields manually.

The Swap (Sync - swap.png) button swaps the values of the Source and Destination fields around.

 

The Options section of the panel defines the type of comparison and other options affecting the synchronize operation.

 

Synchronization is a two-stage process - comparison followed by synchronization. The comparison stage is when Opus compares the source and destination folders and works out what needs to be copied and/or deleted. After setting your desired options, click the Compare button in the top-right corner of the panel to begin the comparison. The procedure Opus follows when you do this is:

  1. If the Lister is not currently in dual-display mode, a second file display will be opened.
  2. The source and destination folders will be read into the source and destination file displays (if they're not already showing them).
  3. Both file displays will be put into checkbox mode (actually a special variant of checkbox mode that's only used for Synchronize and the Duplicate File Finder).
  4. If the Synchronize sub-folder contents option is on, both file displays will be put into Flat View (Grouped) mode, and Opus will read the contents of all sub-folders.
  5. The source and destination folders will be compared based on the options chosen. This step can take some time depending on the size of the folders involved.
  6. The files and folders selected for synchronization will be indicated as such with a series of glyphs in their checkboxes to indicate what action will be taken.
  7. If the Hide unaffected files option is on, any files not selected for synchronization will be removed from the display.
  8. The results of the comparison will be summarised in a dialog box.

 

Sync - compare1.png Sync - compare2.png

These images show two examples of the comparison results summary dialog. The one on the left was a comparison run on two folders in two-way copy mode - you can see that several files have been selected to be copied in each direction. The image on the right was the result of a one-way copy mode comparison on the same two folders. The same two files were selected to be copied from source to destination, but instead of three files being copied the other way, they are going to be deleted instead. This is because the copy is one-way only and the Delete files from destination that don't exist in the source option was enabled.

 

At this point, you can click the Synchronize button to begin the synchronization. If however you want to check the file list first to see exactly what's going to happen, or you want to make changes to the files selected for synchronization or to the comparison options, you can click the Close button to return to the Lister. You'll then see the following kind of display in the file list.

Sync - file list.png 

This screenshot corresponds to a one-way copy comparison from B:\Home Shots to C:\Test\Pictures. As you can see, the files that have been selected for comparison have been marked with a series of glyphs that indicate the recommended action: Sync - copy right.png (copy to the folder on the right), Sync - copy left.png (copy to the folder on the left) and Sync - delete.png (delete). For folders, the glyphs in grey (Sync - copy left grey.png Sync - copy right grey.png and Sync - delete grey.png) indicate that some but not all of the items within the folder have that state.

From the above screenshot you can see that in the destination, IMG2488.jpg and IMG2494.jpg did not exist, so these have been selected in the source to be copied. In the source, IMG2487.jpg, IMG2493.jpg and IMG2489.jpg did not exist, and so because the Delete files from destination that don't exist in the source option was enabled, these have been selected to be deleted. If we had used a two-way copy, they would have been selected to be copied to the source instead.

You can make changes to the synchronize action for a file or folder by simply clicking on its checkbox - Opus will cycle through the various actions available every time you click. If you are dealing with a large number of files, you may wish to remove from the display those that you have marked to not be synchronized. To do this, right-click the background of the file display and choose the Hide unaffected items command from the context menu. Any files that are not marked as either copy or delete will be removed from the display. You can redisplay the hidden files with the Reveal hidden items command.

 

The results summary dialog will also inform you of any errors encountered during the comparison stage. An error can arise if a file on one side of the comparison has the same name as a folder on the other side.

Sync - compare errors.png 

You can see that in this instance, the file IMG2488.jpg in the source folder clashed with a folder of the same name in the destination folder. If conflicts arise, the files and folders concerned will be skipped by the synchronization process - but if you want to investigate further and rectify the issue, you can click the Conflicts button at this point. This will return you to the Lister and highlight the conflicting items for you.

Sync - conflicts.png 

 

Once you've verified (and possibly modified) the synchronize actions, you can begin the synchronization by clicking the Synchronize button in the top-right corner of the panel. If you change any of the options at this point the Synchronize button will be disabled and you will need to re-run the comparison by clicking Compare again before you can proceed with the synchronization. Once the synchronization stage begins, it proceeds as more or less an automated operation. The progress dialog will step through the various parts of the synchronization (copy from source to destination, copy from destination to source, delete from destination) as the operation progresses.

 

As an alternative to the Synchronize tool, Opus provides another, simpler method for updating the contents of one folder from another. See the Copying Updated Files page for more information.