The Outlook & Sync blog

Example 1: Only office documents should get synchronized.
Positive list for files:
*.xls
*.doc
*.ppt

Example 2: Backup files should not get synchronized.
Negativliste for files:
*.bak
*.backup
Copy of *

Example 3: Backup folders should not get synchronized.
Negative list for directories:
Backup8

Example 4: The backup folder in the logfile directory should not get synchronized.
Negative list for directories:
\logs\backup

Example 5: Only files in the root directory and in the folders “src” and “res” should get synchronized. These folders are at top level.
Positive list for folders:
\src
\res

Example 5: Only files in the root directory and in the folders “src” and “res” (and their subfolders) should get synchronized. These folders are at top level.
Positive list for folders:
\src
\src\*
\res
\res\*

Example 7: Only files in the subfolders “src” and “res” should get synchronized. Several directories with these names can exist in the directory tree:
Positive list for files: (yes, files)
\*\src\*
\*\res\*

Try it: Download Easy2Sync for Files

Changing the help system is a big thing, and, well, we missed one thing in the last release. The help was complete, but the F1 hotkey didn’t bring up the right context page for THAT dialog. It’s fixed now, you can find the update here:

http://www.easy2sync.de/en/produkte/easy2sync_down.php

A new version of Easy2Sync for Files is out. Version 1.20 brings some useful new details:

• Tasks can be deactivated with their context menu
• Two trigger folders can be configured now
• Last target directory (because of rotating backups) shown in tooltip
• Also %YEAR2%, %YEAR4% can be used for rotiating backups

Try the new version here: Download.

Easy2Sync for Files can exclude files from synchronization depending on positive and negative lists. These lists are very powerful, but if you don’t know how to handle them, you can also make powerful mistakes.

For each directory and each file Easy2Sync, can check rules to see if this directory or file should be synchronized. Despite their name, negative lists are less restrictive and most of the time a better choice.

A typical mistake is to expect intelligence from the software when applying your rules (especially if you’re using positive lists). Easy2Sync exactly follows your rules but it can’t ‘understand’ them.

Now what does that mean?

Often, you’ll man to synchronize a certain directory. This is normally configured corrected. But your rules may disallow the synchronization of the directory above. Result: Easy2Sync encounters the directory above and notices that the directory above may not be synchronized according to the rules. And thus it ignores the entire sub-tree, including the subdirectory for which you specified special rules.

Try it!

At first Easy2Sync was developed just to synchronize. Now you can also just copy or overwrite data.

The difference?

When synchronising, both computers have the same rights. Changes on one computer will be transferred to the other. In a sub-dialog of the first page of the task properties you can choose other modes.

In the copy mode, one computer is the slave (the target computer) and only receives the changes (of the source computer). If you change something on the target computer, Easy2Sync will undo this and delete your changes. Changes on the source computer however, will be copied to the target computer.

Overwriting is the same as copying, with one difference: In the overwrite mode Easy2sync will never ever delete any files. Even if you delete a file on the source computer, it will not be deleted on the target computer.

Moving is also quite similar to copying. With one difference: The file will be deleted from the source PC after copying it to the target PC. You can choose whether you want to move both files and directories or move only files and keep the directory structure on the source PC.

To flatten the structure means that the files aren’t simply copied from the source to the target PC, but the directory information will be lost. No matter in which subdirectory of the source PC the file was stored, but will be copied directly into the target directory (and not in any subdirectory). Just like a Copying mode this task type always works in the specified direction. If several files with the same name exist in different source directories, the newest one will win the conflict in the long run (maybe only after several synchronizations).

Want to try? Download.

Today’s the shortest tip ever: Did you now you can change the size of Easy2Sync’s main window? Simply drag the border or click on the maximize button. (This works with Easy2Sync for Files and Easy2Sync for Outlook.)

If you have many tasks, it’s time to get organized. If you haven’t already done so. Use the task collections to group several synchronization tasks into one task collection. And then enable the filter “Don’t show elements of task groups” in the view menu. And suddenly your file / e-mail synch became a lot easier. You’re seeing much less tasks now (don’t worry, they’re still there), but you can run all of them in one go with the task collection.

The same applies to deactivated tasks. You can deactivate a synch if you currently don’t need it any more, but still don’t want to delete it. So, simply deactivate the synchronization tasks and use the menu item in the view menu to hide tasks like these:

In Easy2Sync (for Files and for Outlook) you store the data for the syncs in “tasks”. If you have many tasks, then may need some tricks to organize them. The tabs are a great help here. They’re a row of texts and images just above the task list:

Depending on the selected tab, you’ll only see the tasks, that match the tab’s criteria.

* All: Well, just all tasks
* Favorites: All tasks that have been synchronized in the last 7
days, but not today.
* Today / Not today: Only tasks that (haven’t) been synchronized
today
* Not in sync: Tasks where the last sync wasn’t successful
* Icons: They symbolize a task type (copy, sync, overwrite, …. Only
tasks with this type are shown

These view filters will help to choose the right synchronization task for your e-mails, contacts, etc. or files. Want to see it live? Try the Freeware Edition of Easy2Sync for Files or Easy2Sync for Outlook.

Buzz off! That’s what some people may thing if Easy2Sync for Files is asking them questions. Because by default, the program asks questions in all cases that may be important to the user.

But help is just a keystroke away. If you don’t want these questions, simply press F12. Here are the options and here you can tweak and configure all the questions and dialogs:

• Questions for copying, overwriting, deleting, etc. can be turned off on the “Confirm” page
• The Synchronization Overview, the assistant and the summary can be turned off on the “Windows” page.
• Error messages for copy failures can be turned off on the “Automation” page.

Try it and synchronize your files!

Easy2Sync for Files can handle LOTS of data. And some people have created LOTS of tasks to handle their data. Did you know that you can put many tasks into a “task summary”. Click on the “task” menu to see it. Task summaries have several advantages:

• Less clutter. By default tasks that are member of a task summary will be hidden from the main list
• Easier start. Just start the task summary and all tasks will be synchronized
• Easier automatic start: Just organize the timer conditions for the task summary -and not for 20 individual tasks

By the way: You can do the same with Easy2Sync for Outlook.

Download Easy2Sync for Files.

Let’s use a less abstract example. You might specify the following configuration:
Task type: Copy 1 to 2
Base directory1: C:\MyData\
Base directory2: X:\MyBackup%1-5%\
When synchronizing the first time, X:\MyBackup1 will be used. When synchronizing the second time X:\MyBackup2 and so on. When the sixth synchronization is performed, Easy2Sync uses the first directory again.

Try it now with the Freeware Edition of Easy2Sync for Files.

With the options you can turn off all questions and dialogs. And there’s even one thing that can be done more convenient if you like. The start.

If you want to start the sync manually, you can create a shortcut to the task on your desktop. Just right-click the task in the main dialog to create such a shortcut. Double-clicking the shortcut will run the sync and synchronize your files.

Of course you can move the link to a different folder if you prefer, like the Windows start menu to run your sync task from there.

yes, a new version of the popular file sync tool is out.

It’s hard to make great things better, so we’re working on the details by now:

• A completely automatic sync on system shutdown
• An automatic backup of the configuration
• An exit button in the tray menu
• …

You can get the latest version here.

Rotating directories are used when you use one of the following placeholders in a path (preferably the target directory for the Copy / Overwrite operations):

• %HOUR%, %HOUR2%: Current hour, normal (0-23) / with leading 0 (00-23)
• %DAY%, %DAY2%: Current hour, normal (1-31) / with leading 0 (01-31)
• %WDAY_GER%, %WDAY_ENG%: Current weekday, German / English, complete word
• %WDAY_GER2%, %WDAY_ENG2%: Current weekday, German / English, 2 letters
• %MONTH%, %MONTH2%: Current month, normal (1-12) / with leading 0 (01-12)
• %MONTH_GER%, %MONTH_ENG%: Current month, German / English, complete word
• %MONTH_GER3%, %MONTH_ENG3%: Current month, German / English, 3 letters

Furthermore you can use a placeholder for time-independent rotation by using 2 characters, separated by a dash and enclosed by percent signs. Examples:
%1-3%
%A-F%
For each synchronization Easy2Sync “jumps” to the next value.

A so-called “rotating backup” creates copies in changing target directories. This way you always have several versions and thus more security.

You can use Easy2Sync to create rotating backups. But you should note a few things.

• All base directories that are used by the rotation must already exist. Easy2Sync will not create them. (Easy2Sync will of course create subdirectories as usual, but not the base directories.)
• Only the task types “Copy” and “Overwrite” are supported, but not the task type “Synchonize”.

Please note:
The warning level may change. For example, a normal file deletion can result in a warning for an asynchronous file delete. Since these warnings were designed for the task type “Synchronizing”, it is not really a problem and the correct actions will be performed anyway.

The reason for this behavior is the way that rotating backups were implemented. Easy2Sync stores the last known state for the every file, but does not keep an extra version for each rotating directory. If a file was deleted (in both directories) and then the rotation kicks in, it looks (from Easy2Sync’s perspective) as if the file suddenly reappeared. As stated above: This changes the warning level, but the correct action will be taken anyway.

Try it and download Easy2Sync for Files now.