Can I make Insync *IGNORE* symlinks?

[pix]

I have InSync syncing my ~/Projects directory in to a Projects directory in Google Drive.

There are some files in there that don’t make sense to backup, like .git repos. I’m able to ignore these with the “ignore extension” (it would be more useful if it was a full pattern and not an extension, by the way).

For other files and directories like expanded archives or large data files (that can be obtained elsewhere in an emergency) I move them to a ~/nobackup/ directory and make a symlink to them from within ~/Projects. eg. ~/Projects/someproject/bigdatadir -> ~/nobackup/Projects/someproject/bigdatadir

The problem is that Insync seems to be following these links and I don’t want it to. I would like it to ignore symlinks.

In some cases, it is backing up a build directory of some software, and since there are symlinks to libraries in there, it is trying to sync libraries from /usr/local/lib… another behaviour I would like to avoid.

[Insync]

@pix Can you please tell us more about this. send us an email to support@insynchq.com

Thank you.

[Jonkwilliams]

I have a similar issue with symlinks inside Final Cut Pro X “Library” files (which are actually folders opened with the “Show package contents” command.) The symlinks point to large media files I’m backing separately from the libraries and it’s redundant to back them up again. And I want the uploaded library file to match the one here on my computer, i.e. populated with symlinks rather than the files they’re pointing to. I’ve found reference to this quirk elsewhere on the board and hope you’ll put your heads together and come up with a solution.

One thought I’ve had is to let Google Drive back up the FCPX libraries and Insync back up everything else. I guess that would work as long as the Google Drive Folder isn’t also being controlled by Insync? Thanks.

[birger.sp]

I have about a dozen of symlinks and I would like Insync to ignore all of them. Please implement a option to simply ignore all symlinks.

[mia]

Hi @birger.sp,

Insync ignores symlinks by default. But, when a user tries to sync a directory that has a symlink, it alerts you in-app. Here’s how to disable those notifications:

1. Click the three dots on the upper righthand corner
2. Click Settings
3. On the App Settings tab, uncheck Show warning prompts about unsynced symlinks.

Let me know if this addresses your situation. Thank you!

[birger.sp]

Thanks Mia, much appreciated!

[mia]

@birger.sp No problem! Happy to help.