Display Unsynced items as links inside the chosen G-drive folder

Feature requests
#1

Hello,

Thanks for creating this awesome application !

These days Google is about to deprecate their old Google Drive app for windows, new app - “Backup and Sync” only replicates the folders structure to a chosen folder on user’s machine, and displays every item as a link. If for instance I have several PDF files in the cloud they are displayed as links, when I click any of them then file is streamed to my device, and is opened directly in a pdf-viewer without being saved. This feature makes a lot of sense for some use cases, and works great from a UX perspective (when one have good connection).
It would be nice to have something similar in the Insync app. One way it may be implemented in regards to UI is:
1 - Under “My Drive” tab where Google Drive content is displayed, when right-clicking the item, menu pops up where user can choose “Sync entire folder”. Add “Stream entire folder” option there.
2 - When “Stream folder” option is selected for a particular folder, this folder works exactly as in the Google’s new application.
This will enable user to sync some of the folder entirely, while having other content displayed as links which will add a lot of flexibility and provide better user experience.

Best regards
Roman

2 Likes
#2

Hi Roman!

Thank you for the kind words! :heart_eyes: We’ll make sure to take note of this request. :slight_smile:

#3

Yes, yes, yes. I cannot ask for this enough. Especially with school team drives that contain videos. I don’t want to have to save each individual file. This would make things so much easier.

#4

You can already do this using the “Files” view in the app, which complements File Explorer (or Finder). You can double-click on a file and it will automatically download and open a local app :slight_smile:

Let me know if it works for you.

1 Like
#5

Yes, functionality is almost similar. However user experience is quiet different. Having remote file structure mapped to a native file system provides better experience. I don’t know how hard it is to implement, but it would be nice to have it this way instead :).

#6

Yes, this please. Exactly like the functionality of “Google File Stream”.
Just install Insync, and BAM, all Gdrive files are visible in Explorer or Finder.
Then when a file is double-clicked, THEN only that file is synced / downloaded.

So indeed, do not put this functionality away in the Insync app, but directly under peoples noses in the file structure. Exactly like Google File Stream works now.
If you implement that, then I can uninstall Google File Stream, and use Insync for all my Google Accounts.
Thank you.

1 Like
#7

Thanks for reaching out, @Jos_Jonkeren! I’ll be sure to course this through our team. It may take some time to implement this though since our team’s still currently working on our next update. :slight_smile: Cheers!