Synkron is a cross-platform compatible application that allows you to synchronize files and folders in your computer. It works in Windows, Mac and Linux and it helps you keep your files and folders updated.
Installation
Head over to the Synkron site and download the installer. For Windows user who are not keen to compile from source, you can download the portable version from PortableApps.com. For Linux users, unzip the compressed file to your Home directory. Open a terminal and type the following:
Usage of Synkron
Once you have compiled the code, you should find an executable file in the Synkron folder where you can double click to run it. This is what you will see on the first run:
To get started, simply select the two folders that you want to sync and click the “Sync” button at the bottom.
Some of the options that you can configure include:
Add additional folders to the Sync process – you can synchronize multiple folders at the same time. Simply click the “+” button beside “Sync folders” to add additional folders. Setting master/slave relationship – you can configure a master/slave relationship for all the folders in the Synchronization loop. The default is “Master” for all folders, which means changes make in one folder will be propagated to the rest. Setting a folder to “Slave” means that any change you made in this folder will not be updated to the “Master” folder, and will, in fact, restored to the original state as in the Master folder.
If you click the “Advanced” button, you will see plenty of options that you can configure. including synchronizing hidden files and folders, do not sync empty folders, subdirectories, add items to blacklist, propagate deletion, follow symlink etc.
Multisync – Adding versatile sync option to the mix
The above scenario shows how you can sync two or more folders, but what if you want to sync two or more folders to a central location? This is where “MultiSync” comes in useful.
Click on the “Multisync” tab and you will be able to add multiple sources and a destination folder. Click the “MultiSync” button at the bottom and it will sync all the content in the selected folders to the destination folder.
Scheduler – Carry out sync automatically
It wouldn’t be that useful if you have to manually click the Sync button everytime you make a changes. Synkron comes with a Scheduler tool where you can get it to run the synchronization at predefined time or periodically at a regular interval.
You can add as many scheduler as you want, and configure which sync process to perform in each scheduler.
Conlcusion
Other than the features mentioned above, there are more features such as Restore, Blacklist and Filter that make Synkron a very useful application. Except for the installation process which can be rather troublesome (especially for those who get freaked out in the terminal), Synkron is very much an easy-to-use app and can get the job done quickly and easily. One thing that is not including in this app is the ability to launch itself during startup, but luckily, you can do that manually and it is pretty easy for all the different platforms.
