Syncdocs lets you upload Office files with and without conversion to Google Docs. You can always convert later, from inside Google Drive, if you wish. You can also change the convert setting inside Syncdocs, and it will apply this to new documents.

Conversion to Google format has advantages and disadvantages:

The main advantages of conversion are online collaboration and search.

The main disadvantage is loss of document fidelity. The Google conversion process is not 100%, and advanced document features can be lost. The Powerpoint conversion is excellent, the Word conversion is normally good, but the Excel import conversion is rudimentary. Google also enforces size limits on conversion, which is an issue with a 500kB limit for Word files.

What PCs does the client run on?

The Syncdocs client software runs on Microsoft Windows XP and up.

There is no native Mac or Linux version yet. Syncdocs works well under Mac OS X and Ubuntu Linux using the Wine or Crossover tools, though.

Which mobile devices are supported?

If your mobile phone, iPad, tablet computer or e-reader has a modern web browser, then you can use Google Docs and Drive on it.

What is the difference between Google Drive and Google Docs?

They are the same thing. In April 2012 Google renamed Google Docs to Google Drive.

File Viewing and Editing from Windows

How do I edit or view a local file on Google Drive?

There are two main ways of doing this from Windows Explorer:

1. You can copy it into your Syncdocs folder and it will get synced automatically.

The easiest way to do this is to drag and drop a file or folder onto you’re My Google Docs on your desktop:

or in most programs when you “Save As”, you’ll see the Syncdocs Favourite (not on Win XP)

2. You can right click on any file and click on “Open in Google Docs”. It will open in your browser.

(if you have selected Google as your default office suite or pdf viewer, then you just can double click on supported file types to open them directly in your browser)

Which method is best?

It depends on your own preferences.

Method 1 above is best for transferring many files and sub-folders, and keeping them organized in folders. For example if you want to transfer your “My Documents” folder on your PC to Google Drive.

Method 2 above is best for quick viewing, editing or uploading of single files. If the files are not already synced, it can lead to all these files being put in one folder, as explained below in the next question.

You can always re-organise you files by dragging and them to other folders in Google Drive or in Windows.

Which folder is used for files uploaded by method 2?

With method 2, if the file comes from outside your Syncdocs folder, then it is stored in Google Drive in the “DirectUploads” folder.

Changes you make on Google Drive are synced to the copy of the file in this “DirectUploads” folder, not the original document you clicked on. This duplication only happens if the file you click on is not already in your Syncdocs folders.

When you click on a file outside the Syncdocs folder, Syncdocs checks to see if you have already uploaded or modified it since your last sync. If the file is unchanged, then the synced copy on Google is used.

I can edit some files and only view others. Why?

This depends on your Syncdocs sync settings (convert or not) and on Google Doc’s supported filetypes and file sizes. For more details, see the “Conversion” section of this FAQ.

How do I use my old office suite to open files on my PC?

If you selected Google as your default office suite during Syncdocs installation, then if you double click on a word processor, spreadsheet or presentation file, it opens in Google.

To open these files locally, just right click on the file in Explorer and select “Open” or “Edit”.

If you want to permanently revert to using your previous office suite, then disable “Make Google Docs my default office suite” in the “General” tab in preferences. You will still have to option of opening the document in Google Docs by right clicking on it, and selecting “Open in Google Docs”.

Google Docs says document “not available” when I click on a file in Windows explorer

This is probably because you are logged in to your web browser under a different Google account to the one you used to log in to Google with Syncdocs.

Sync

How often does it sync?

Syncdocs syncs between 10 to 20 seconds after changes are detected on your local PC or on Google Drive.

Local PC changes are always detected within 10 to 20 seconds. If the Google server is busy, then it can sometimes take a few minutes to show your changes.

If Syncdocs is busy syncing when new changes occur, then these new changes will be added to the queue and synced.

I’ve edited a file on Google, but don’t see the changes locally instantaneously

Make sure that you’ve saved your file in Google Docs. After you save on Google, the changes can take up to ten minutes to appear on Google’s server for download. Depending on the file size and your network speed, it can take another 30 seconds for you to see these changes reflected locally.

Typically, uploaded or newly created files appear in 10-30 seconds. Edits or updates to existing files sometimes take longer to appear on the Google server, especially if the last save was automatic by Google Docs, and not done by the user.

Syncdocs sometimes re-syncs just after uploading

If you upload a lot of files, then after the sync Syncdocs says “Changes detected” and does a quick query sync to Google again. The cause of this is that Google’s conversion process sometimes lags Syncdocs, so new files are not seen immediately after upload.

A few seconds later, Google notifies Syncdocs that there are new files, but these are the files just uploaded or updated. Syncdocs sees this and does not copy anything.

Syncdocs is stuck in a loop – it keeps uploading!

Your PC clock is probably off compared to the Google clock, so Syncdocs sees “newer” files. Sync your PC clock with Internet time by double clicking on the clock on the Windows taskbar. Syncdocs tries to do this automatically at startup.

If you have many PC’s syncing to the same account at the same time, then try increasing the "Same Time Tolerance Window" in Syncdocs Advanced Preferences to a minute or two.

I can’t see my files on Google Drive

When you don't see the changes there are some common causes:

1. The files are actually uploaded, but Google is not showing them. Refresh the list on Google, or if that doesn't work, try searching for the file. Google can sometimes hide files on the list.

2. The Syncdocs account locally does not have access to these folders because of permissions. Try running Syncdocs as Administrator from the Start Menu shortcut called "Run as Admin".

3. If you, or another user you have shared the files to, have deleted the files, they will be in the recycle bin on Google and locally.

Can I sync multiple PC’s to the same Google Account using Syncdocs?

This works fine. We have tested syncing up to 8 PC's to one account.

Some tips for syncing multiple machines:
1. Make sure your PC's clocks are synced. Syncdocs uses file times during sync. Syncdocs tries to adjust your PC's clock with Internet time servers every few days, but cannot do this if you are not Admin on a Windows Vista or 7 PC.
2. If you can't sync times, increase to a few the "Same time tolerance window" shown below:

How do I move my entire Syncdocs folder to another location?

Here's how to move your entire sync folder.

1. Right click on the Syncdocs taskbar menu, and select Preferences.

2. In the basic tab, the main Syncdocs folder location is shown. Click on 'Change' and select the new folder you want.

3. Click on OK. Then quit Syncdocs.

4. Move (or copy) all your files from the old folder to the new folder.

5. Restart Syncdocs. It will see that the files are the same and not re-upload or download them.

Can I run Google’s Drive Client and Syncdocs at the same time?

This is not a good idea, as Google Drive has far fewer capabilities than Syncdocs. The best solution is to point your Google Drive folder as a Syncdocs folder.

Document Conversion

Should I convert to my Office files to Google Docs format?

Conversion to Google format has advantages and disadvantages:

The main advantages of conversion are online collaboration and search.

The main disadvantage is loss of document fidelity: The Google conversion process is not 100%, and advanced document features can be lost. The Google Powerpoint conversion seems excellent, the Word conversion is normally good, but the Excel import conversion is rudimentary. Google also enforces size limits on conversion, which is an issue with a 500kB limit for Word files.

Syncdocs lets you upload Office files with- and without conversion to Google Docs.

You can always convert later, from inside Google Docs, if you wish. (do this in Google Drive in File menu, “edit online” ) Note that converting from inside Google Docs will not put the converted file in the right folder, though, it goes in the top level folder. This issue has been reported to Google, and they are fixing it.

You can also change the convert setting inside Syncdocs, and it will apply this to new documents, or new edits.

Some of my Microsoft Office 2003 documents are now in Office 2007/2010 format

As of September 2012 Google dropped support for exporting to Microsoft Office 2003 file formats, so your .doc or .xls files may be converted to Office 2007/2010 .docx or .xlsx files on download.

Syncdocs handles this file version skew transparently. Your Office 2003format file is converted to Office 2007 on download. Syncdocs backs up your original Office files, in case formatting is lost in the conversion.

Your copy of Office 2007/2010 fully supports the Office 2003 file formats and Office 2013.

My files are sometimes converted, sometimes not

With the default settings, if Syncdocs can convert a document, it will. If the is file too big to convert to Google Docs, then it is just uploaded for viewing, not editing. The Google server’s document conversion can also fail sometimes. If conversion fails, Syncdocs uploads your original document for viewing only.

See here for more on Google’s document conversion capabilities for various file types.

Syncdocs is also intelligent, it attempts to keep the files in their original format, so if you converted a file to Google Docs format using the web-interface, it will stay that way, even if you have told Syncdocs not to convert.

You can control document conversion options preferences in the “Docs and Settings” tab of Preferences.

My document formatting looks bad on Google Docs

Unfortunately Google Docs and Spreadsheets does not always convert all the features of a document. For example, you may lose footnotes from a Word document, or charts from an Excel spreadsheet.

This conversion is a limitation of Google Docs, and Syncdocs cannot fix it. However, Syncdocs backs up your original document prior to conversion. These are typically stored in the “OriginalsBackup” folder in your Syncdocs data folder. To see this folder from Syncdocs, select “click to open original files backup folder” in “Docs and Files” tab in Preferences. You can open and edit your original documents here.

A good place to start with tips for better conversion is Google Docs’ guides.

File format preservation

Syncdocs tries to keep your files in the right file format. If you download a .txt text file, Syncdocs will keep it as a raw text file and not convert it to word processor format. Similarly, if a file is in Open Office format, Syncdocs can preserve it in this format, and not convert it to MS Office.

To disable format preservation, uncheck the option “Allow file extension to determine file format”, in the “Docs and Files” tab in Settings.

My Word document has colored underlined words (and comment bubbles) after syncing

This is because the changes made in Google Docs are awaiting your approval in Microsoft Word. The documents have just been merged.

If you do not wish to see this revision markup, you can turn it off globally in Syncdocs. You do this by unchecking “Show revision markup in MS Word” in the “General” tab in Syncdocs preferences.

To turn revision marking off (or on) on a specific document, do the following:

In Word 2007 and 2010, look at the “Review” tab, and Accept or Reject the changes you want. You can accept all changes, go back to the original, or select “Final” view instead of “Final Showing Markup” view to make this view just go away.

In Word 2003, you can use the review toolbar to accept or reject changes. You can also use this review toolbar to change to “Final” view instead of “Final Showing Markup.

My MS Word changes have disappeared after a merge

This is because revision marking is turned off and the Google changes have taken priority. Do the reverse of the above question, to show the colored underlined revision marking. You can then choose which changes to accept.

You can set to see changes by checking the option “Show revision markup in MS Word” in the General tab of Preferences.

Word says that the file is in use by another user when I try to merge

On Windows 7 and Vista, Microsoft Word or Syncdocs can be started “As Administrator” from the Start menu. If one program (but not both) is started as Administrator, then this is the other user. To fix this problem, either run both, or preferably, neither programs as Administrator.

Syncdocs Hangs and says “Doing Word Merge”

Syncdocs is waiting for you to answer a Word question, but you can’t see the question.

Word has popped up a message box asking you to merge, but it is behind a window on the screen. Click on Word on your taskbar to see this message box.

The file you are trying to merge is use by another user (see above question). Click on all the Word taskbar icons to find the right one.

Encrypted and password protected Office Documents

If you password protect a file for opening in Word, Excel or Powerpoint, you cannot convert it to Google Docs. Syncdocs will still upload the file, and you can sync it between PCs, but you can only edit it in Microsoft Office.

The Microsoft Office feature “password protect to make a document read only”, is ignored by Google Docs, and you can edit the file.

Powerpoint 2007/2010 .pptx and Adobe .swf

Google Docs now supports all Powerpoint (2003/2007/2010) formats. Adobe .swf is no longer supported.

Open Office Conversion

Syncdocs supports Open Office and ODF file import and export in Google Docs.

Open Office import conversion is good for Word processor files, but export and especially spreadsheet .ods export is basic. It is unclear whether Presentations are still supported.

You may be better off using the Microsoft Office formats in Syncdocs, and then using Open Office (or Libre Office) to open the Microsoft formats.

I uploaded a .txt file, put a picture in it in Google Docs, but do not see the picture in the local .txt file in notepad

See the “Format Preservation” section above. Syncdocs tries to keep files in their original format. It will attempt to download the file as a text file, a file format which does not handle embedded pictures. If you want to get the picture in the local version of the document, replace with .txt extension on Google docs with .rtf, .doc or .odt while editing the file on Google. This will download the file in a word processor format that may be viewed locally with pictures.

To globally disable the file extension determining the file type for all Google Docs, change the “Allow file extension to determine file format” setting in “Docs and Files” in Syncdocs preferences. You .txt file will then be synced in your preferred office suite word processor format (.doc or .odt).

My plain text files have three garbage characters (ï»¿) at the start

Google Docs deliberately puts these in on conversion. They indicate what sort of text file (UTF-8 byte order mark) it is. Most modern text editors will ignore them.

Some of my old documents do not have file extensions on Google

Google has two versions of its word processor. Documents uploaded with the old version do not keep their extensions. The change over occurred on Google in mid July 2010 (see here for more details).

You do not need to bother about this change, as Syncdocs transparently preserves your local file extensions whether your Google documents have them or not.

My Word documents have got bigger since I edited them on Google

If you upload a Word .doc document to Google Docs, edit it, and then download it, the file size can sometimes double. The main reason for this is because Google uses double byte international character sets, while your local Word doc used a single byte character set. There seems no way around this issue at this time.

I can no longer edit a file on Google Docs after editing it in Word. Why?

The file might have grown above threshold file size for editable documents on Google. So if you create a file on Google Docs, do some editing in Word that pushes it over the current limit (500kB) then update it, Google Docs will reject the file.

Syncdocs tries to keep the file in its old format, but if Google cannot convert the changes, it has to upload in a format (non-editable) Google will accept.

File Transfer

Duplicate Google Drive file names

Google allows you to have duplicate file names. For example, you can have two files called “My September report.doc” in the same folder. Giving files of the same type and in the same folder exactly the same names is confusing.

Syncdocs assumes that the most recent file of a set with exactly the same name is the one to sync. Older duplicate files are not synced, only the most recent.

Duplicate Google File Names on post-upload Conversion

Starting in late 2010, Google began providing the ability to convert documents after upload in Google Drive.

For example: If you uploaded a file called File.doc, but did not convert on upload. Then, at a later time you chose to convert it. Then Google Docs will create another copy with the same name, but in editable format.

If you run Google Cloud connect, you will see many of these duplicate names.

Syncdocs assumes that the most recent file of a set with exactly the same name is the one to sync. Older duplicate files are not synced, only the most recent one.

Duplicate Google Drive folder names

As with duplicate file names, Google allows folders with exactly the same name. Syncdocs matches these duplicate folder names to one local folder.

I dragged a folder to into another on Google Drive, now I have duplicate folders

This is the way Google folders work. Dragging in Google Drive is copy, not move. This behavior may be different in the new Google interface.

One Google file in Multiple Google Folders

You can put a single file in multiple folders on Google. This is mirrored locally but putting a file in each folder. A change to either of these files locally can change the one file on Google.

A certain file won’t sync

The Google server may be rejecting this file. Typical causes we’ve seen are:

- your file has a virus

- you have an Excel .xlsx file with macros

- the server is busy, and it is rejecting this file for conversion.

Syncdocs keeps on syncing the same file

See above “A certain file won’t sync”. Syncdocs will retry this file a certain number of times if it is rejected by Google.

I made a drawing on Google, synced it, edited it on my PC and then synced it again. Now I can’t edit it online, only view it.

Unfortunately, Google does not yet allow you to edit uploaded drawings online. Your previous, editable, Google version of the drawing will be in the Google folder named “Bin” or “Trash”. You can only view the most recently uploaded version, not edit it.

Drawings are a recent Google Drive feature, and Google may allow editing of uploaded drawings in future. (check here) When they do, Syncdocs should fully support drawings.

I have newer local files overwritten by slightly older ones on Google Drive

The time on your PC may be slightly off. Check the time on your PC. You can do this by double clicking the clock time on the taskbar.

Syncdocs will attempt to keep your PC’s clock in sync with time-servers on your domain or with atomic clocks on timeservers on the Internet. However, if you are not a local administrator on your Windows 7 or Vista PC, then you may not have permission to change the time. You can increase the “Same time tolerance window” option in the “Advanced” settings tab to fix this problem. You can also run Syncdocs as administrator.

Windows XP users do not have this problem and Syncdocs will keep their PC clock accurate.

If your company runs a Windows Domain Server, then ask your IT dept to check the clock on this server.

I have a Premium Google Apps Account and very large files (5MB to 100MB) get uploaded to the root folder instead of their correct folder

This is a known issue with Google Drive. Google are aware of this issue and are looking into it.

In the meantime, a workaround is to create a normal free (non-Premium) account and upload large files to this. These accounts do not have this issue.

Some symbols in my Google filenames have disappeared on my PC

Google can handle more symbols in its file names than your Windows PC can. If your file or folder name on Google Drive contains any of these symbols: ? < > | \ / * : “ then they will be replaced with an underscore(‘_’) on your PC. For example, a Google Doc called file?name will be called file_name on your PC. The two files are still synced the same way as files with identical names.

Google files or folders named . and .. get called _ and _ _.

Non-Roman character sets

Syncdocs supports file and folder names in non-Roman alphabets like Simplified Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Eastern European, Japanese and Korean.

Syncdocs has destroyed my Folder hierarchy on Google – some files and folder are in the root!

This is caused by the way Google deletes folders, not by Syncdocs. If you delete a folder inside Google Drive using a web browser, its contents are (sometimes) moved to the root folder and not deleted. Google is aware of this bug.

I don’t see Google Drive as my G Drive

If you already have a drive mapped (normally a USB thumb drive) as G, then you need to assign another letter to the Syncdocs Drive.

File Sharing

Syncdocs lets me modify read-only shares

If someone shares a file with you without edit permissions, and you then edit it locally. Syncdocs will upload a copy. If the file was in a shared folder, the copy will also be shared.

In short – Syncdocs lets you edit read-only shared files locally, but resolves the conflict by duplicating the file and sharing the changes with the original sharer.

A shared file has been duplicated

See above.

A folder has been duplicated after renaming

The folder was likely shared with you as read only. Syncdocs will treat it the same as the shared file above.

Documents that were shared with me have been deleted

This is because the person sharing the document with you has revoked the share.

If someone shares a document or folder with you on Google Drive, this document or folder will be mirrored on your local PC. If they then “unshare” this document, then it will be deleted on your local PC. However, you can still access it by looking in the recycle bin on your PC.

Shared sub-folders that have the share revoked occasionally remain

Sub-folders of shared folders sometimes do not disappear on un-sharing. This is a known issue in Google Drive and Google may fix it. Syncdocs tries to work around this bug.

I locally deleted a folder that was shared. It has re-appeared. Answer 1

Sometimes, if you delete a local folder and this folder was one that was shared on Google Drive, the folder still appears on the Google list. Google is aware of this issue and may fix it.

I locally deleted a folder that was shared. It has re-appeared. Answer 2

You might have been shared the folder as “read-only”. This means you have no permissions to alter it on Google. Syncdocs will have shown an “access denied” error.

To ignore shared folders, “un-accept” the share on Google Drive, or unselect the relevant folder in Syncdocs Preferences shown below:

I locally deleted a folder that was shared. It has re-appeared. Answer 3

There can be various causes of this problem. Here are some things to check:
1. Have you disabled the syncing of deletions in renames. Look in the Preferences -> "Sync" tab to see.
2. Are these files that you delete in the same folder? You can check by deleting the file locally, and then seeing if it gets deleted online.
3. Sometimes, Syncdocs does not detect deletions made by another account. This is normally caused by Windows permission problems. Try the "Run as Administrator" shortcut in the Syncdocs start menu group.

What is “Public Share” Folder in My Google Docs

Anything you copy here is automatically shared.

I don’t want this “Public Share” folder! How do I turn it off?

Uncheck this option in your settings:

Storage Space Quota

How much space do I have?

Currently (September 2012) Google gives 5GB per free user account. If you need more than 1GB, extra storage costs about 2 cents per GB, per month.

Premium, Google Apps for Business and Educational accounts differ, depending on your Google account policies, so ask your system administrator. However, default is also 5GB per domain user.

For an exact answer for your current user account, click on the storage space shown when you right click on the Syncdocs taskbar menu.

Follow this link to manage your storage on Google.

How much space do I have left?

Right click on the Syncdocs taskbar icon. You will see a menu item showing you how much space you have. For example it may say “6.6% of 21 GB” used. If you click on it you can see more details of your space usage, like trash space used and ways of getting more space.

This will show you more details:

What file formats use up my Google space Quota?

Documents in Google Docs format don’t count towards your used space quota. In other words, if you can edit the document, it is not using up your quota. Documents in their native format, like Word or Excel files that you can view, but not edit, do use up your space quota. Most other file formats like mp3, jpg and zip do use up your space quota.

What sort of files can I sync?

As of 12 January 2010, all file formats are supported, not just documents, presentations and spreadsheets. Google Docs Product Manager, Vijay Bangaru announced this change.

Syncdocs can sync any sort of file if you wish, or only office type files (documents, spreadsheets and presentations). You can change this setting in preferences in the “Docs and Files” tab, under “Select file types to sync”.

Other limitations on files:

· The maximum supported file size is 1GB. You cannot sync files bigger than this.

· You need to obey Google’s policy on what you can upload (no illegal activities like hate speech, copyright infringement, spam etc.)

· Uploaded files are scanned for viruses by Google.

I need more space

Free accounts users can purchase more space directly from Google.

Google’s storage price is way cheaper than other online storage providers. It is currently $5.00 per year for 20GB, (2c per GB per month) with plans from 20GB to 16TB available.

Here is the current price of storage or you can check the link above for more details.

This additional storage can also be shared with other Google services like Gmail and Picassa.

Educational, Premium and Google Apps users can ask their admin for more space quota.

I deleted some files on Google Drive, but I still have no more storage space

Files on Google Drive are not immediately wiped. Rather, they are sent to a recycle bin called “Bin” or “Trash” on Google Drive. These recycled files still use up your space quota. To get your space back you need to click on the “Trash” or “Bin” folder and then click “Empty Trash”. You will then have your space back for new files. It seems to take a few minutes after emptying the trash for the Google server to report the correct space available.

Finding Files and Documents on Google Drive and your PC

Hybrid Google Drive and Local PC Search

Syncdocs lets you search your Google Drive and synced folders easily. You can choose whether to open the local or Google copy of the file.

How to use hybrid search

1. Click on the “Search” menu

2. Enter what you’re looking for

You can search either for file names or full text contents

3. Click on the results

Click on the PC icon to open the file locally, or the Google icon to open the file online. To open the folder location on your PC, click on the location.

Deletions and Renames

How do I get my deleted files and folders back?

On your PC, look in your recycle bin, right click on the file and select “restore”. This file will be restored by to Google by Syncdocs. Syncdocs also backs up your original document in its backup directory.

In Google Drive you can undelete files by clicking on the left side menu item titled “Trash” or “Bin”.

How do I see previous versions?

You previous versions of documents on Google are available by right clicking on the file in the list, or if you are editing the file, you can click on File|Revisions. For non-editable filetypes, your previous file versions are in the Bin or Trash folder.

On your PC, old versions of all filetypes are deleted to the recycle bin.

On Windows 7 and Vista they may also be available by right clicking on the file in Explorer and selecting “Restore previous versions”.

How do I see my backup documents?

Because converting a document to Google Docs can sometimes lose advanced formatting settings (like Word equations), Syncdocs backs up your original document prior to conversion. These are normally stored in the “OriginalsBackup” folder in your Syncdocs data folder.

The default location will be “G:\OriginalsBackup”

To see this folder from Syncdocs, and click on “click to open original files backup folder” in “Docs and Files” tab in Preferences. You can open and edit your original documents here.

You can also view your originals file by right clicking on the taskbar icon and then clicking “Open Local Folder” and then opening your “OriginalsBackup” folder.

I started my PC and some files were deleted

Syncdocs is normally set to mirror changes on Google Drive on your local PC, even if these changes occurred while your PC wasn’t running. If you deleted files on Google Drive using a web browser, or another PC running Syncdocs, then the next time you start up, these changes (deletions) will be mirrored locally. If you want to get these files back, just un-delete them using the recycle bin, as explained above. These un-deletions can also be mirrored.

I deleted a file and it is still there

Is the file shared with you? You can’t delete shared files you don’t own. Files that others have shared with you cannot be deleted. You can delete them locally, but they will be restored on the next sync if you do not stop accepting the share using Google Drive.

The solution is to stop accepting this share in Google Drive.

Another possible cause of this is if you have duplicate file names on Google; Syncdocs will only delete one of these files, the most recent. The older file will then be synced back to your PC, and you will see this as the file re-appearing. Giving files in the same folder identical names is not recommended for this reason.

The solution is to delete this duplicate too, assuming you don’t want it.

I deleted a bunch of files online on Google and some re-appear

Google doesn’t always delete all the files. After deleting in the browser, hit F5 to refresh it and see if there are some that remain. Delete these again.

I deleted many files online on Google and some re-downloaded and then deleted

Google can take a while to delete all the files online on the Google server. During this time Syncdocs may sync some of these files, and then wipe them when the server wipes them.

I deleted a folder and its contents online and some files have appeared in the root folder

This is often caused by duplicate filenames in the same folder. If you have duplicate file names on Google; Syncdocs will only delete one of these files, the most recent.

The older file will then be synced back to your PC, and you will see this as the file re-appearing. Since the folder it was in has been deleted, Google moves it to the root folder. Giving files in the same folder identical names is not recommended for this reason.

Another cause of this a Google server bug. If you delete folders on Google, the server sometimes moves the folder contents to the root (top-level) folder. Syncdocs tries to fix this, but requires two sync cycles to bypass the server bug.

Generally, deleting files locally is faster and more reliable than using the Google web interface.

I unshared a big a folder and its contents online and some files have appeared in the root folder

See the above answer about deletions. It can take a while for the Google server to unshared all your data, in the meantime you might see some files in the root folder.

Files I deleted locally are have been restored

Was Syncdocs running when the files were deleted? Syncdocs works best when running continuously in the background. It will only monitor local deletions when it is running. If you close it, then delete files in the Syncdocs folder on your PC, and then run it again, it will restore these files.

You also can’t delete shared files you don’t own. Files that others have shared with you cannot be deleted. You can delete them locally, but they will be restored on the next sync if you do not stop accepting the share using Google Drive.

Another possible cause of this is if you have duplicate file names on Google; Syncdocs will only delete one of these files, the most recent. The older file will then be synced back to your PC.

Sub-folder deletions on Google don’t work

If you delete a folder on Google Drive using the web interface, then the folder contents are not deleted, but moved to the root (top level) folder by Google. This is unusual behavior, but is the way Google engineers designed it. Syncdocs mirrors this behavior of Google locally.

If you un-delete a folder on Google, then Syncdocs will restore its contents, too. That is, the relevant files will be moved from the root folder back into the un-deleted folder.

If you want a folder and its contents deleted on Google, then delete the folder locally. This will delete all the contents, and this change will be mirrored on Google by Syncdocs.

Concurrent file access while renaming a file

If you rename a file locally while someone on Google Drive is concurrently saving the same file, you will end up with two files, the old and new names. This happens rarely.

Concurrent file access while deleting a file

If you delete a file locally while someone of Google Drive is concurrently editing this file, the file will not be deleted on Google, and the new file on Google Drive will be synced back.

Concurrent folder deletions while uploading folder contents

If you wipe a folder tree and its contents while the folder and contents are busy being uploaded, Syncdocs will not wipe the already uploaded content on Google. This is to prevent possible data loss of changes may have been made online while the sync was in progress.

File Transfer Speed

Network utilization

Syncdocs is efficient in using network bandwidth. It tries to connect as fast as your Internet link allows. It is also well behaved so that other network applications perform smoothly.

Google’s servers or your ISP may also be throttled to a maximum speed to allow fairness between various users.

Bear in mind that the Google server might also take a few seconds to convert file formats on upload or download.

Why are downloads faster than uploads?

If you are on an ADSL broadband Internet connection, your Internet download speeds are typically about 10 times faster of your upload speeds. This is how ADSL is designed.

When I select “View in Google Drive”, viewing can be instantaneous or slow

When you click on a file, Syncdocs checks to see if you have already uploaded it or modified it since your last sync. If the file is unchanged, then the synced copy on Google is used this is fast. If the file is not already on Google Drive, the file first needs to be uploaded, and this can make viewing slow. The next time you view this file it will be faster, as it won’t need uploading.

Why can’t I upload and download at the same time – this would be faster

It is faster, however it is not 100% reliable on the Google Drive API. For this reason, concurrent uploading and downloading is currently disabled.

I have a broadband connection (580kbs) but Syncdocs only managed 72kbs. Why’s it so slow?

Syncdocs reports speeds in bytes per second, where broadband is quoted in bits per second.

There are 8 bits per byte, 580 bits /8 = 72.5 bytes so Syncdocs is using your bandwidth efficiently.

Syncdocs measures files in bytes, not bits, so kB for kilobytes, MB for megabytes etc.

Transfer Speed Factors

These factors determine speed:

1. Your internet speed, and how busy you are on it. If you are on an ADSL broadband link, your upload speeds are normally 1/10^th of download speeds.

2. Google’s servers – if you are converting many documents to Google format or uploading .pdf files, the conversion can be the limiting factor.

3. If you are transferring many small files, there is a 1-3 second overhead time per file.

4. Google or ISP throttling – this rarely occurs, but may limit you to around 100kB/s per client.

5. Whether the Google server you are connecting to supports compression. Syncdocs attempts to use compression by default to speed up network transfers.

Dropbox uploading is faster than Syncdocs. Why?

Before uploading your file, Dropbox checks to see it any other Dropbox user has uploaded this file before. If so, it does not upload your file again. This practice, known as “deduplication” is smart, but it trades off speed for security. Your files cannot be encrypted privately as the server needs to check if anyone else has the same file.

Syncdocs uploads are slower, but more secure: Syncdocs always uses encryption and uploads your file to your private Google store.

General Questions

What PC’s does the client run on?

The Syncdocs client software runs on Microsoft Windows XP and later.

The Syncdocs installer will automatically download the required .Net components if you do not already have them installed. If you have Windows XP prior to SP3 you may need the .Net 3.5 SP1 client, which the installer can download for you. This .Net version should be installed on your PC already if you are running Windows XP SP3, Vista SP1, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

The USB-stick portable version of Syncdocs only requires .Net 3.0

There is no native Mac or Linux version, yet. Syncdocs works well under Mac OS X and Ubuntu Linux using the Wine or Crossover tools, though.

Which mobile devices are supported?

Syncdocs does not run on mobile devices, but Google Drive does. Google Drive are supported on most modern web browsers and these mobile devices.

In summary, you can view a Google Document on almost any device with a web connection. To edit on a mobile device you need a smartphone like Apple’s iPhone or an Android based phone. Many Windows phones and Blackberries also work.

You can also edit on most tablet computers, like the Apple iPad, Android tablets, or even the Amazon Kindle 3. The editing experience on mobile devices with small screens and small or virtual keyboards is not as good as that on a PC or Mac.

Windows UAC says Syncdocs is changing the system time. Why?

Syncdocs uses the network time service on your Windows PC. This service connects to atomic clocks on the Internet called Time Servers to keep your PC’s time accurate. Accurate time is needed for reliable syncing with Google Drive.

Windows UAC is asking to run wyUpdate! What is wyUpdate?

wyUpdate is the utility we use to keep Syncdocs up-to-date. It is a small program that checks the version of Syncdocs, and applies updates if needed.

My files are not immediately available (404 Server Error) when I upload a many files

Google’s server can sometimes take a while (a few seconds to ten minutes) to convert your files. This sometimes happens when you upload many files at once. These files appear in your account, but are not found when you click on them. Google is aware of this issue. The only known solution is to wait a few minutes, or check on the Google Drive forums or for fixes.

I’ve uploaded a bunch of files, but don’t see them in Google Drive using my browser

Google Drive’ browser view is sometimes slow to refresh automatically. To see your files, click on “All items” on the left side of Google Drive window, or hit F5 or your browser refresh icon to refresh the list by reloading the web page.

If you upload a batch of big .pdf files this can take up to ten minutes for you to see all these files. Google’s servers are probably busy converting these files during this time.

If I upload big pdf files, they are sometimes duplicated

This is a known defect with Google Drive. They may fix it in time. Syncdocs is working on a way to bypass this bug.

I cannot download one specific Document from Google

On rare occasions, the Google Drive system corrupts a specific file. You cannot download it using Syncdocs, or export it using the Google web interface. The only known solution here is to open the file in the web interface, make an arbitrary change, like inserting a space character in the text, and saving it. Google will then save an uncorrupted version and you can download or sync this.

I cannot connect to Google Documents

Check that Google Documents is up by talking to your network administrator and checking the Google status dashboard.

If your network is OK, make sure Syncdocs has permission to access the Internet (check your firewall settings).

You can also try logging in using a web browser. The Google Documents server may very occasionally ask you to enter a “CAPTCHA” code to prove that you’re human.

If you connect to the web through a custom http proxy server, you can set it up under The “Proxy” tab in preferences. Syncdocs tries to auto-detect your system proxy server.

Known Syncdocs Issues

The displayed upload file count is wrong

If you only change one file, Syncdocs may sometimes say “uploading file 1 of 4”. These other files are actually folders or non-included or shared type files. If you change a file, then its parent folders are also checked for changes and possible sync. They are not synced if it is not necessary.

Syncdocs will only upload the file or files that have changed.

Drawings don’t sync if “sync all file types” is not checked in Preferences

Right now drawings are still a new feature on Google Drive. Currently you need to select “sync all file types” (the default setting) if you want them synced. This has been partly fixed by the new Google API in May 2011. Raster images (jpegs and png format) work fine, but vector graphics (png) support is still not good.

File Moves

If you move a file from one folder to another on your local PC, Syncdocs will replicate the move on Google Drive. However, it does this by deleting the file from the old folder and copying the file into the new folder. This takes more time than a raw move.

Google File Times are Wrong!

The time of the file displayed in Google is the time the file was modified or uploaded on their server.

Syncdocs Errors – and how to fix them

“403 Forbidden” Errors – Cause 1

This is caused when you have “convert to Google” set on and you are uploading a file that is not in the correct format for Google to convert. It is normally an .xls spreadsheet that is not in Excel format.

Fix this by either turning conversion off, or by checking this specific file, by trying to open it in Excel or Word.

“403 Forbidden” Errors – Cause 2

403 errors also occur for the reasons in this Google forum discussion .

It seems from that Google starts denying access if they think your account is being overused, or you have exceeded some sort of undocumented quota. There is no official Google documentation as to the cause.

If you leave Syncdocs, it will retry, and manage to sync the documents. Google normally resets the limit after an hour. This a slow way of doing it though.

If you are a Google Apps for Business customer, you might be able to talk to someone at Google who can remove the limit from your account.

“403 Forbidden” Errors – Cause 3

If you have many pictures on your Piccassa account and have run out of space on Piccassa, this can cause Google Drive also to run out of space. However, the Google server does not report an out of space error immediately, but first reports a 403 error.

"Authentication missing.”

This seems to occur with Free Apps accounts (not paid apps or free docs) that have recently been upgraded or changed. One solution is to wait 24 hours for the change to propagate across Google’s worldwide servers. Try logging in using a web browser.

Firewalls that block https traffic but not http traffic also may cause this.

Login Error 413 and Google authentication only partically successful

This problem is often caused by the firewall letting you connect to docs.google.com but not to other domains like spreadsheets.google.com, apps.google.com, auth.google.com. After connection, Google will often redirect you to your closest Google server farm, which is much faster, but has a name like e100-231…

Give Syncdocs permission to access the web using the https protocol on your firewall to resolve this error.

“SI writely” errors

If you haven’t logged in to your Google Drive account for a few weeks (or ever), then it may want you to verify yourself using a browser.

Try verifying your account by logging in using a web browser, perhaps entering a CAPCTHA, and then restarting Syncdocs. SyncDocs will continue working, when you get this error, but uploading of big files and non-Google filetypes might be disabled.

“Rejected File” or “Direct resumable upload failed”

The file or folder may be locked on Google or you do not have write permissions to the sub-folder.

Try logging in using a web browser and checking the file or folder.

Also give Syncdocs permission to access Google through your firewall and quit and restart Syncdocs.

Syncdocs stuck in a sync loop

Your PC clock is probably off compared to the Google clock, so Syncdocs sees “newer” files when the times are actually the same. Sync your PC clock with Internet time by double clicking on the clock on the Windows taskbar. Syncdocs tries to do this automatically at startup.

If you have many PC’s syncing to the same account at the same time, then try increasing the "Same Time Tolerance Window" in Syncdocs Advanced Preferences to a minute or two.

If Syncdocs crashed while syncing, the sync database might be corrupt, try reseting to default settings in the the Syncdocs Advanced Preferences tab.

Installation Error

This error is caused when Microsoft Windows is missing a file.

The file you need is vbscript.dll, which should already be in your Windows folder.
To fix the problem, run the following from the command line:
regsvr32.exe vbscript.dll

If the file has been deleted from Windows, you need to get it from your Windows installation CD or the Internet.

General Problems

Google Docs and Drive

Google Docs and Drive has much good online help and support forums. The best place to start is to click on the “Help” link on the top of any Google Drive or Docs page in your web browser.

While generally reliable, Google Drive is a work in progress and has some known problems, check here for known bugs.

Also check here for the status dashboard of the Google Drive service.

If you have paid Google for an Apps account, then Google will provide you with enhanced email and phone support.

Syncdocs

Check the forums, your supplier or contact us with a specific question. For most queries, the forums are a better (and faster) place to get help, as other users can benefit from your support answers, too.

The forums are a great place to discuss feature requests, too.

The service is down

The problem is most likely with your local Internet connection, check that first. Although Google Drive uptime is better than 99.5%, Google does occasionally experiences outages.

Installation/Uninstallation/Upgrades

Install walk-though

A step-by-step installation guide is here.

How to get more options on installation

The Syncdocs installer selects defaults most users will prefer. If you want to select ‘power user’ options, like the target install directory, or to install the product on your network, do an administrative install by typing:

msiexec /a syncdocs.msi

from a command prompt in the relevant directory.

See here for more information on advanced install options.

Multiple user installations

Syncdocs works find on terminal servers with multiple concurrent users. Do an administrative install (shown above) to install for multiple users.

Update Installs

You can install a new Syncdocs.msi, Syncdocs does an upgrade install and your old settings will be retained in the new version.

Updates

Syncdocs occasionally checks for upgrades to itself. You will be asked if you wish to upgrade if a newer version is available.

Removal

You can uninstall Syncdocs by clicking on “Add/Remove Programs” in XP’s control panel or “Programs and Features” in Windows 7. Find Syncdocs on the list and select uninstall.

USB Stick “portable” version

You can get the version that runs from a USB stick here. Note that user settings are tied to the PC it runs on for security.

Installation Permissions

If your group policy for your domain (machine policy DisableMSI set to 1) forbids installing software you cannot install or uninstall Syncdocs.

Try the USB stick portable version from the downloads page.

Compatibility with Other Software

Microsoft Office Suite

Microsoft Office file formats are supported as described in the ‘Document Conversion’ section of this FAQ.

The concurrent (live) editing of documents online and in Office is supported between Google Docs and Microsoft Word 2003, 2007 and 2010.

This is not yet supported in Excel or PowerPoint, only one way collaboration (edit in Excel, view on Google) to Google is supported.

Online revision histories are now fully supported for all file types.

Open Office and LibreOffice

The file formats to and from these Office suites are supported as described in the ‘Document Conversion’ section of this FAQ.

Concurrent editing of documents on these suites and in Google Docs is not yet supported. However, online revision histories are fully supported.

Dropbox

You can point the Syncdocs data folder to the same folder as you use for Dropbox data. Your files will be synced to Google Drive and Dropbox simultaneously.

On Windows 7 and Vista, Dropbox runs with Administrator privileges by default, while Syncdocs does not. So if both programs point to the same folder, you will need to run Syncdocs as Administrator, too.

You can run a Syncdocs as Administrator by right clicking on the desktop icon or Syncdocs.exe file and selecting “Run as Administrator”. Syncdocs will still sync if not run as Administrator, but will not detect new files or file renames created by Dropbox, so for full operation, run both as Administrator.

Linux and Mac

Syncdocs works under Linux and Mac OS X using Wine or Crossover. Syncdocs uses the .Net libraries, so it does not yet have a native Linux or Mac client. It works well on Linux and Mac OS X if the Crossover or great free Wine tools and .Net are installed first.

There are some differences to Syncdocs operation if run under Linux or Mac OS X:

1. the Syncdocs directory is “/home/usr/My Google Docs” by default.

2. There is no drive letter (“G: drive”) mapped to Google Drive.

3. The operating system integration is not present, so the right click “Open in Google Drive” menu is not present in the file explorer menu and, even if set, Syncdocs will not start automatically on system startup.

Otherwise, Syncdocs runs the same as it would in Windows.

Syncdocs running under Wine in Linux

Linux Tips

Steps to get it running:
1. Install Wine using the Ubuntu package manager. It installed Wine 3.0.1
2. Run a normal user terminal window.
Enter 'bash winetricks dotnet45'
3. Wait while .NET gets downloaded and installed.
4. Install the portable version of Syncdocs or the installer, Syncdocs.msi
5. Click OK to ignore the partial login warning (this is caused by the RSA crypto libraries on Wine, and is not crucial to Syncdocs. We will fix it in future.)

Linux distributions and Wine installations vary, if you’re having problems, try these links:

You need the .NET Wine glass files, which might not be in your version of Wine.

To get the files from Wine:

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=2586

You only need .NET 3.0 if you install the portable Syncdocs:

http://www.syncdocs.com/downloads/SyncdocsPortableInstaller.exe

You can unzip this .exe file, if needed.

TOR

Syncdocs works over the TOR network. You will need to set Syncdocs to use the local TOR proxy (normally 127.0.0.1:8118) in Preferences, Proxy. Using TOR can give enhanced privacy at the cost of speed. Note that email spammers also use TOR, so Google blocks some TOR exit nodes.

Security

How are my credentials kept safe?

We don't have access to your password. It is stored securely using Window's secure credential manager scheme on your own PC. Unless you are on some Windows domains, your password will never leave your PC.

If you are on a Windows domain, your domain administrator might also store all your desktop settings on the network domain controller, so you can move workstations. Your password is included in the workstation settings.

In other words, your password stays on PC or local network, Syncdocs servers never see it. Syncdocs never sends your password to anyone except Google’s servers.

How are my credentials communicated?

Your credentials are encrypted on the Internet, the same as if you were using a web-browser.

Syncdocs will only log into Google using SSL (TLS). This is a way of encrypting data on the Internet, used by banks, eBay etc.

How is my data kept safe?

The encryption is the same as in your web browser connection to Google Drive.

Typically, it is all encrypted using RC4 128 bit. The key exchange and is done using an RSA 1024 bit key, with SHA1 as message authentication. There is no non-https traffic from Syncdocs to Google Drive.

Local database storage is AES256 encrypted.

How are updates kept safe?

wyUpdate is the utility we use to keep Syncdocs up-to-date. It is a small program that checks the version of Syncdocs, and applies updates if needed. It only updates signed versions of updates.

I still don’t want to enter my password

That’s fine, get an application specific password as described in 2-Step verification below.

Do you support 2-Step Verification?

Yes, Syncdocs supports two-step authentication, for all accounts.

See this post for detailed setup instructions, or see the next point for brief instructions.

How do I get 2-Step Verification working with Syncdocs?

You need an “application specific” password.

Here’s how to get it working:

1. You will need an “application-specific” password from Google.
Go here for to get one:
http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=1056283&topic=1056286

2. In Syncdocs Preferences, in the Account tab, in the password field, enter the password code Google gave you in step 1.

Do you support Single Sign On (SSO)?

Yes. Syncdocs also now supports the Google OAuth 2 protocol. This means that you can authenticate/de-authenticate Syncdocs using the standard Google permissions console.

Syncdocs will also now support single-sign-on (SSO) solutions like OneLogin and SSOEasy.

How do I setup SSO?

During installation, simply click on the link shown below, rather than entering your credentials into Syncdocs:

How to switch to OAuth

In the Syncdocs Preferences, Account tab, click on the checkbox shown below:

You can automate it for your users during setup, too.

How do I revoke Syncdocs Access

Click on “Revoke” in the Google Account Console next to Syncdocs. See this post for detailed setup and revoke instructions.

More information

The Syncdocs Privacy Policy policy gives more details, as do the terms.

I changed my Google password online, now Syncdocs doesn’t work

You also need to change your Syncdocs local password.

To change your Syncdocs password:
1. right click on the Syncdocs Taskbar icon.
2. Select "Preferences"
3. Enter your new password in the area shown.

Advanced

Windows NTFS – Security

If there are files or sub-folders in your local Syncdocs folder that you do not have access to, Syncdocs will warn you, but ignore them.

Windows NTFS – Junction Folders and Symbolic links

NTFS allows the user to make links and shortcuts to other folders inside folders. A typical example of this is “My Music” inside “My Documents”. “My Music” may be on a separate volume.

Old versions of Syncdocs before version 1.16 did not follow these links. Specifically, it does not follow directory symbolic links, junction links or shortcuts, while hard links are followed.

You can upgrade to the latest Syncdocs to follow these links. Or the advanced user can disable this behavior by setting FollowReparsePoints to true:

If you want Syncdocs to follow junction links:

exit Syncdocs
edit file c:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Syncdocs\username@gmail.com\appsettings.xml
set <FollowReparsePoints> to "true"
restart Syncdocs

The links should then be checked for loops.

Syncdocs will not detect renames or deletions that occur in files in these links.

Ignoring Files or Extensions

Syncdocs has the ability to ignore certain files. The feature has no user interface right now, but if you're up to editing xml, exit Syncdocs first and then open this file:

c:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Syncdocs\user@gmail.com

and edit the section "FileAndFolderNamesToIgnore"

restart Syncdocs

Files or folder names in this list will be ignored.

<FileAndFolderNamesToIgnore>
<string>thumbs.db</string>
<string>.dropbox.cache</string>
</FileAndFolderNamesToIgnore>

it can also ignore certain extensions:

Extensions are case sensitive.

What is 1e100.net?

It is the global Google server farm. Syncdocs may be redirected here from docs.google.com, so it will need firewall access to this domain.

According to Google:

“1e100.net is a Google-owned domain name used to identify the servers in our network.

Following standard industry practice, we make sure each IP address has a corresponding hostname. In October 2009, we started using a single domain name to identify our servers across all Google products, rather than use different product domains such as youtube.com, blogger.com, and google.com. We did this for two reasons: first, to keep things simpler, and second, to proactively improve security by protecting against potential threats such as cross-site scripting attacks.

Most typical Internet users will never see 1e100.net, but we picked a Googley name for it just in case (1e100 is scientific notation for 1 googol).”

Advanced Firewall setup

Check your firewall rules to make sure you can connect to the following hosts and ports:

www.google.com:443/HTTPS
accounts.google.com:443/HTTPS
clients3.google.com:443/HTTPS
drive.google.com:443/HTTPS
docs.google.com:443/HTTPS
www.googleapis.com:443/HTTPS
ssl.gstatic.com:443/HTTPS
*.syncdocs.com:443/HTTPS
*.authsync.com:443/HTTPS
*.appspot.com:443/HTTPS
*.docs.google.com:443/HTTPS
*.drive.google.com:443/HTTPS
*.googleusercontent.com:443/HTTPS
*.1e100.net:443/HTTPS

Command line options

Run once only

If you wish to run Syncdocs only once, for backup purposes, say once a day, you can add an item to the Windows scheduler.

The Syncdocs command line option to run once is –OnlyRunSyncOnce

This option is not case sensitive.

Standard shell error reporting is supported, exit code 0 means no problems, 1 a serious error.

Specifying another user

You can specify another user for Syncdocs with the –u or –user option.

The syntax is:

syncdocs.exe –u my_other_account@gmail.com

This will start Syncdocs with this user’s Syncdocs credentials and settings, the same as switching users in the Preferences menu.

If the user specified does not exist, then Syncdocs will ask the user for their details. If Syncdocs is already running, accounts will not be switched.

This can be useful for deployment.

If you use multiple accounts, you can create desktop shortcuts for each account using this command line.

Portable Options

Running with the –portable option tells Syncdocs to store its settings and Google Drive in the same folder as the syncdocs.exe. This is used for running Syncdocs from a memory stick, so you can carry Syncdocs and your Google Drive around with you.

Enhanced Portable Security

Running with the–wipevault option wipes your credentials from the Windows security vault when Syncdocs finishes.

Syncdocs does not store your Google Drive password on the memory stick. It stores it in the secure Windows password vault on the PC. To tell Syncdocs to wipe your password from the PC when you’re done, run this option. Note that the extra security means extra hassle – you’ll have to re-enter your password each time.

Live command line options

The options below work fastest when Syncdocs is already running and synced. If Syncdocs is not running, it will take a few (5-60) seconds to log in first, before processing your command.

Creating new files

To create a new document on Google Docs:

syncdocs.exe create doc

In general the syntax is:

syncdocs.exe create [doc|sheet|presentation|email|calendar]

to create the new type you wish in a web browser on Google Docs.

Uploading existing files

To upload an existing file (of any type) from your PC to Google Drive:

syncdocs.exe upload “C:\path\filename.ext”

If exactly the same file (based on contents, file name and time) is already on Google Drive, then the file is not uploaded again. If the file is uploaded, it is uploaded to the “Direct Uploads” collection on Google.

Uploading folders

You can upload entire folder trees in the same way:

syncdocs.exe upload “C:\path\folder\”

Note the trailing slash “folder\”. Syncdocs will upload the whole folder tree on the next sync, if it is not already on Google. The folder is synced to your Google Drive folder root, not DirectUploads like files.

To view a file

Similar to uploading a file, to view a file in Google Drive using the default web browser:

syncdocs.exe view “C:\path\filename.ext”

Google supports viewing:

· Office 2007/2010 .docx, .xlsx, pptx

· Office 95-2003 .doc, xls, ppt, pps

· Open/Libre Office/Open Document Format .odt, ods

· Apple pages.

· .pdf, .xps

· most image formats: .jpg, .bmp, .png

· vector images: .ai, .dxf, .svg

· postscript: .ps, .eps

· fonts: .ttf

see here for a full list

If exactly the same file is already on Google Drive, then the online version is used. If the file is uploaded, it is uploaded to the “Direct Uploads” collection on Google.

To open a file for editing

Similar to viewing a file, you can open a file for editing, if the file format can be edited and your current settings allow conversion to Google Docs.

syncdocs.exe open “C:\path\filename.docx”

Only formats supported for editing will be opened (most MS Office and Open files and text files, see Conversion section of FAQ for more).

If the file cannot be opened, it will be opened for viewing.

To share

Similar to uploading a file, to share a file in Google Drive

syncdocs.exe share “C:\path\filename.ext”

If exactly the same file is already on Google Drive, then the online version is used. If the file is uploaded, it is uploaded to the “Public Share” or “Direct Uploads” collection on Google, depending on whether it is shared publically, or just to specific users and groups.

You can share entire folder trees in the same way:

syncdocs.exe share “C:\path\folder\”

Note the trailing slash “folder\”. Syncdocs will upload the whole folder tree on the next sync, if it is not already on Google.

Automated Setup of Google Drive using Syncdocs

The Syncdocs installation wizard asks the user for various settings about their PC and Google Drive account during setup.

If you are deploying Syncdocs for your users, you can do a fully automated installation without your users having to set up anything. No wizard is shown.

It is also easy pre-configure all the settings for your users.

Installation steps

An automated installation script typically has these steps:
1. Installing the Syncdocs.msi package on the target PC
2. (Optional) Setting advanced features in the appsettings.xml file
3. Running Syncdocs with installation parameters set on the command line.

So a simple batch file to install Syncdocs will be:

msiexec /I Syncdocs.msi /QB-
syncdocs.exe -user my_user_name@gmail.com -oauth -syncfolder C:\GDrive -IacceptTerms

The first line installs Syncdocs without asking the user for any options in the setup wizard.
The second line starts Syncdocs, specifying the username, security method (OAuth), the main sync folder to use and the acceptance of the licence terms.

More details on command line options

Specifying User and Password

-user username@domain.com specifies the user

-password secret specifies the user’s Google password as “secret”

-oauth specifies that OAuth should be used instead of the password.
OAuth will pop up a browser window asking the user to log in to their Google Account to give Syncdocs the Google Drive and Docs access. This way Syncdocs is only given the rights it needs and the Google account password does not need to be disclosed in the command line.

Note that -user is optional when -oauth is used, as Syncdocs will get this data from Google.

Agreeing to the licence terms

-IAcceptTerms To agree to the licence terms on behalf of your users, so they are not shown a dialogue asking them to.

To specify the main sync folder

-syncfolder option will set this. This will set the main sync folder to what you specify.
for example:

-syncfolder “C:\Users\My Google Drive”
or
-syncfolder “%USERPROFILE%\Some Google Files”

To add other folders (links)

To sync folders outside the main sync folder, add them via the Syncdocs menu, or specify the folders in file.

To create the links, you’ll need two things: a file with the folder names for the links and the -addpaths command:
-addpaths “C:\Install Files\links_file.txt”

links_file.txt is a standard text file with the folders you wish to link to on each line. For example it can contain these lines:
c:\Python
"c:\Users\User Name\Scanner\Images"
\\ServerName\ShareName\FolderName
%USERPROFILE%\GDrive

this will create links to these folders in your main sync path, equivalent to adding them via the menus.

Notes:

Make sure you specify the full path of this file, “C:\Install Files\links_file.txt” not just “links_file.txt”.
Adding links to folders that are already symlinks or junction points is not recommended.
Do not use a trailing slash after the folder name.
Links folders that don’t exist will just be skipped, but the user will be shown a warning.

Putting it together

Simple examples for automated Google Drive installation

Here are some example install scripts.
msiexec /I Syncdocs.msi /QB-

Install using OAuth, main folder is “d:\tmp\test one 2 3″, add the additional folders in “d:\tmp\links\links_file.txt”
Syncdocs.exe -oauth -syncfolder "D:\tmp\test one 2 3" -addpaths "d:\tmp\links\links_file.txt" -IacceptTerms

As above, but using a specified password. This will result in a completely prompt-free install for the user.
Syncdocs.exe -user my_user_name@gmail.com -password secr3t -syncfolder "D:\tmp\test one 2 3" -addpaths "d:\tmp\links\links_file.txt" -IacceptTerms

Advanced Syncdocs Settings

Not everything can be specified by the command line. The Syncdocs config, appsettings.xml , contains many more settings.

For example, to set Syncdocs as the default office suite on the system, during step 2 above in the installation, replace the line

<DefaultOfficeSuite>false</DefaultOfficeSuite>
with
<DefaultOfficeSuite>true</DefaultOfficeSuite>

Automated install tools like Altiris, or a simple find and replace on the appsettings.xml file can change these settings.

You may also with to copy a pre-configured appsettings.xml file during step 2 of the installation.

Notes

A sample install script is shown below.
This sample and a sample uninstall script and config file are available here.
Make sure that the user has access to destination folder.
You need Syncdocs version 4.27 or above.
Syncdocs is a .NET app. If it is the first time a .NET app like Syncdocs has been run on the PC, it may take a few seconds for Windows to initialise it.
Environment variables are supported on the command line and in the links file.
Syncdocs needs access to the Internet in order to work. You may need to setup a fire wall rule via “NETSH advfirewall firewall add rule name …” in order for it to work.

A sample Google Drive install script

rem Batch File to demonstrate installing Syncdocs
rem The script has 3 stages:
rem 1. Install the msi package without any user intervention
rem 2. Optional. Copy the config files with any pre-configured settings
rem 3. Set user, password, agree to TOS and run Syncdocs

rem Stage 1
rem Run the installer in quite mode.
msiexec /I Syncdocs.msi /QB-
rem For “all users” on the PC: msiexec /I Syncdocs.msi /QB- ALLUSERS=1
rem Syncdocs is now installed on the PC, but not set-up. If no previous setup
rem is available, then it will ask the user for account settings etc when
rem first run, unless it is pre-configured by copying the appsettings.xml
rem file as shown below:

rem Stage 2 – optional copy advanced settings file
rem If you want to pre-configure settings for user1, fill in the xml fields
rem you want in appsettings.xml and then copy appsettings.xml for user1,
rem for example:
xcopy \\server\share\syncdocs\user1\appsettings.xml %APPDATA%\Syncdocs\user1@gmail.com\
rem For Windows XP, use “%APPDATA%” instead of %APPDATA%
rem Use a text or xml find-and-replace util or AutoIT or Altiris to set
rem the values in the appsettings.xml file to your desire

rem Stage 3
rem Now run Syncdocs
rem For Windows 7/Vista/Server 2008, the path is %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Syncdocs\Syncdocs.exe
rem For XP this will be “%ProgramFiles%”\Syncdocs\Syncdocs.exe
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Syncdocs\Syncdocs.exe -user my_user_name@gmail.com -password secr3t -syncfolder “D:\tmp\test one 2 3″ -addpaths “d:\tmp\links\links_file.txt” -IacceptTerms

rem If you wish to use OAuth (Google authentication) to give Syncdocs permissions
rem then use -oauth instead of -password:
rem %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Syncdocs\Syncdocs.exe -oauth -IacceptTerms

rem Troubleshooting
rem   In stage 1, make sure you have uninstalled the old version first.
rem   If you see the setup prompt after stage 3, then some settings in
rem    appsettings.xml are not valid for this PC (typically paths that do not exist).
rem    or you are installing and older .msi file, Syncdocs version 4.27 or above is
rem    required.