Convert gdlinks as symbolic links

Feature requests
#1

This has been asked before for Windows, and essentially it would be great if it was possible to do the same on linux too. The idea is that when I create a shortcut on Google Drive on the web, Insync should create a symbolic link locally. It would make life much easier, especially with shared folders which now by default add a “shortcut”.

Thanks!

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#2

Hi @glciampaglia :slight_smile: Thank you for sending this feature request! Would this pertain to creating shortcuts for, say, files that were shared with you (ie Add Shortcut to My Drive feature)?

#3

Hi @mia, yes correct. Let me explain:

I sync my files in ~/Documents. When someone shares a folder with me I click on “Add Shortcut to My Drive” for easier retrieval when I’m on the Web interface. This creates a shortcut in my Google Drive. When this happens, Insync places a file with extension .gdlink in the location I chose on my filesystem. This is helpful to know when I’m on the filesystem, but there is not much else I can do with these .gdlink files.

Now, my request is the following:

Currently, In Insync, I choose to sync my shared folders in a “base” folder, ~/Insync/glciampagl@gmail.com/Google Drive - Shared with me. It would be great if Insync was capable of detecting that and created a linux symbolic link in place of the .gdlink file. That would let me hop directly to the synced location within the file manager, without having to do it manually or having to go through the web interface.

Hope this is more clear now.
Best,

-Giovanni

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#4

Hi @glciampaglia,

Thanks for providing more info on your setup! I’ll send this as a feature request.

In the meantime, are you able to access those synced shared folders via your file manager by clicking “open location” on the Insync app? Go to Shared with me > hover on synced folder > Open location.

That lets you hop to that shared folder in one click without opening it on the Drive web. :slight_smile: Let me know if this works for now?

#5

Hi @mia,

Thank you for your help! Yes, I am aware of Open location and I agree it is better than opening things in Drive web; in fact when I noticed that Insync keeps track of those locations I thought it should be possible (at least in principle!) to create symlinks directly in the filesystems. Then of course the developers may have a different opinion! :smile:

Anyway, thanks for your help! I really like Insync and it’s great to know it is constantly improving.

-Giovanni

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#6

Thank you for the kind words. I will raise this feedback and feature request nonetheless :slight_smile:

#7

Hi @mia is there a way for Insync to resolve .gdlink into a file or directory when doing sync?

#8

Hello! Not at the moment - the .gdlink redirects you to the cloud when you open it, because Insync does not support syncing cloud shortcuts/symlinks as actual files.

#9

I just saw your +1 on the feature request and have taken note of that. Thank you!

1 Like