Upgrading from v1.5.7.37371 to v3? Symbolic Link Support? Other Issues?

#1

Greetings,

I’m running Insync v1.5.7.37371 on Windows 10 Pro x64. I’m interested in upgrading to the latest version of Insync (v3?).

Does Insync’s Windows 10 v3 support symbolic links?

What are the important pros and cons to upgrading Insync from v1.5.7.37371 to the latest Insync version? Features, lack of features, bug fixes, regressions, etc.

#2

Hi @Jeff_S :slight_smile:

Insync 3 does not support symbolic links.1.x, symlink support worked such that Insync syncs the target of the symlink — on the cloud, it’s as if the target folder is directly in the location of the symlink. This behavior is similarly achieved by using the Local Selective Sync function on Insync 3 (found on the upper right of the app UI).

Some pros on upgrading to Insync 3:

  • Faster initialization time
  • Faster scanning and syncing
  • 1-way sync available
  • OneDrive support
  • Dropbox support

Some cons:

  • 1-way sync feature requires a license upgrade
  • You have to set up your accounts again after upgrading (since 3.x’s code is completely different from 1.x)
#4

Thank you for your answers, @mia!

Some followup questions, please!

  1. Does the Local Selective Sync in v3 support both files and folders?

  2. Can you please point me to where I can learn more about Local Selective Sync in v3?

  3. You mentioned that in v3 we’ll need to setup our accounts again. That doesn’t sound bad at all. However, how does it work when we upgrade from v1.5 to v3 and we have our previously synced local folder structure that includes a folder structure, files, and symlinks. Should I expect that v3 will do a good job of matching our local folder structure to the Google cloud?

#5

Hi @Jeff_S! :slight_smile:

Here are my answers to your follow up questions:

  1. Local Selective Sync only supports folders at the moment. I would be happy to raise the per-file sync as a feature improvement. :slight_smile:

  2. Here you go: https://help.insynchq.com/en/articles/3220036-selective-sync. The Local Selective Sync (LSS) is right after the Cloud Selective Sync section - so you might need to scroll down a bit!

  3. You can reuse the old local folder from 1.5.7 and Insync will match those with what’s in the cloud. However, I would highly suggest that you first unsync anything under “Shared with me” before heading to Insync 3.x. Here’s why:

  • Insync 1.5 syncs My Drive and Shared with me files in one local folder, while Shared Drives are separate. Insync 3.x has a separate sync location for My Drive, Shared with me, and Shared Drives.
  • Since reusing an older folder means Insync file-matches the contents, there’s a risk that your synced Shared with me files from 1.5 may get uploaded under My Drive and therefore mess up the file structure.
  • Unsyncing Shared with me on 1.5 before switching to Insync 3 ensures that file-matching can be done more seamlessly. You can always sync Shared with me files again once file-matching is finished :slight_smile:
  • Additionally, the initial file-matching process is only done for My Drive files. You would need to specify the Shared with me and Shared Drive’s sync location after Insync is done with initial file-matching. Here’s the guide on local sync folders (now called “Base Folders”).

Another point to keep in mind when re-using an old folder: if you have symlinks in that folder, Insync 3.x will show a prompt saying such and such weren’t synced because they are symlinks. You can disable those prompts via Preferences.

Lastly, if you have any Ignore Rules, please copy and save them for safekeeping so it’ll be easy for you to restructure your rules after the initial setup on Insync 3. :slight_smile:

#6

Btw! By “copy and save for safekeeping” your Ignore Rules (if there are any), I meant to say save it on your computer as a note or a text file :slight_smile:

#7

Again, thank you @mia.

More followups questions, please: You said that v3 currently only supports selective syncing of folders, not individual files.

  1. Is it correct that v1.5 does support both? It looks like I can selectively sync individual files in v1.5 that I currently have installed.

  2. Can you please offer an estimate when you believe selective syncing for individual files will be available in v3?

1 Like
#8

Hi @Jeff_S :slight_smile:

  1. Yup - v3 supports selective syncing of folders via Local Selective Sync (LSS), but if you were to do Cloud Selective Sync (CSS), then you can definitely select individual files via the app UI, as described here. For 1.5 - individual local files can be synced to the cloud by right-clicking said file on Explorer > Insync > Sync.

  2. There is no ETA yet on the single file LSS on v3 but I would be happy to bring this up again to our engineers and consider it for our upcoming projects cycle. I’d be glad to inform you as soon as it’s in development :slight_smile: