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SyncTime Contact

If you want to report a problem or suggest a new feature, please write a comment on this page. Every feedback is welcome!

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Kommentare

789 responses to “SyncTime Contact”

  1. Jony Avatar
    Jony

    Hello,

    is it possible to add an option to sync to the destination and zip the files? It would be nice for me to have this Feature.

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      I think you may be looking for the Compress file modifier, which has just been added to the update that was published today. You can add file modifiers in the Destination tab of the sync settings.

      Reply
  2. Jean-Patrice Marmier Avatar
    Jean-Patrice Marmier

    Good morning,

    Where can I find the latest note regarding
    database name changes to avoid
    problems with other apps?
    Thank you for your response.

    Jean-Patrice Marmier

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      I assume the name change you refer to is the file extension of exported sync items. This is mentioned in the help article that is also linked in the popup that should have appeared when launching SyncTime after updating: Export and import sync items.

      Reply
  3. Björn Ehrhardt Avatar
    Björn Ehrhardt

    Hallo,

    ich benutze sehr gerne als Backup-Strategie die inkrementelle Sicherung. Allerdings gibt es hier leider nur die Möglichkeit, ältere Backups frühestens nach einem Monat zu löschen.
    Hier würde ich mich sehr freuen, wenn mann dies auch nach Stückzahl löschen lassen könnte.
    Die Ordner die ich syncronisiere sind sehr groß und entsprechend wird der Platz auf der Backup Platte schnell gefüllt.
    Wenn man hier nach 3, 5, 10 etc. Sicherungen, die Backups löschen könnte, wäre das klasse.

    Vielen Dank im Voraus.
    B. Ehrhardt

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Until now, I preferred to only have timeframes for keeping old backups because I think that’s the most convenient way for a user to judge how far back they can go to recover old files. Having a fixed number of backups, on the other hand, would require you to keep in mind how many backups you did and on what days to be able to calculate when the oldest backup was. I can imagine that knowing that each sync will automatically delete the oldest backup could get in the way of productivity, causing you to think each time if it’s worth doing a backup or not.

      I assumed that a volume for incremental backups would have enough space for many backups, but I would be happy to support your use case as well. Would your use case perhaps be supported by a shorter timeframe, like one week? I will add this in the next update and if you still think that you need another solution, I’ll be happy to discuss it.

      Reply
  4. S del George Avatar
    S del George

    Questions …
    1 – Can SyncTime synchronize just folders? (As opposed to just entire drives, individual files, etc.)
    2 – When sync’ing folders can the backup/destination enclosing folder be in a location with a different folder structure above it than the source folder’s enclosing folder?
    3 – Does SyncTime work with both MacOS Catalina and Ventura? And if so are different versions of the app needed for the older OS (Catalina)?
    Thanks

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      1) SyncTime synchronizes folder pairs. A folder could also be a drive root. If you need an additional feature, you’re welcome to tell me more about your scenario so that I can consider adding support for it in a future update.

      2) The folder structure above the selected source or destination can be anything.

      3) SyncTime currently runs on macOS 10.13 or newer, so it also includes 10.15 Catalina. There is only a single SyncTime version that runs on all supported macOS versions.

      Reply
  5. Chris G Avatar
    Chris G

    When attempting a 1-way sync of my Mac’s desktop to google drive, I encounter a warning (!) indicating that I need more HD space, even though the transfer is from my Mac to the google cloud. My Mac storage indicates that I have nearly a half terabyte of free space, but synctime suggests I need to free up almost 100 TB to run the sync. If I try to run and “Confirm changes”, synctime gets hung up “removing files”, but does not execute the sync.

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Could you please check on the App Store if you have the newest version of SyncTime? The issue that you reported sounds like one that was fixed with the latest update.

      Reply
  6. Timo Avatar
    Timo

    Hi
    Is this tool usable via Bluetooth / AirDrop between two Macbooks?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      If you can see the Bluetooth / AirDrop drives in the Finder and can copy files between your Mac and those drives, then SyncTime should work with them as well. If you’re unsure, I suggest that you give the free SyncTime Lite a try, which you can also download from the App Store.

      Reply
  7. Brian Moylan Avatar
    Brian Moylan

    Interesting… I just posted a comment here about 10 minutes ago about the scheduled sync not working as expected. The comment ws here… but now is gone for some reason. Anyway… more investigation… it appears the synced schedules cannot run unless synctime is running. Is that the case? Is there no way to have it run for the scheduled backup and then close? I used to use DejaVu and it worked that way. It could also wake the computer from sleep to perform the backup allowing me to run it in the middle of the night.

    One additional thing I noticed is, when I did run a sync wih the app open and the sync performed properly it still said “last sync: none” in the interface. These are 2 things that are kind of a problem for me.

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Comments on the website are not published right away, so it’s normal that after reloading the page you don’t see the comment anymore. This is explained briefly at the top of this page.

      It is correct that syncs cannot run if SyncTime is not running. You can install a custom script that quits the app if you want, and if that’s really what you want to do I can help you with that, but then you would have to manually start the app again in order to run the next syncs, or add SyncTime as a login item that launches the app when you start the Mac. If you want to have SyncTime running “in background”, you could hide the Dock icon so that only the status bar icon remains visible, similarly to Time Machine.

      I’m not aware that apps installed from the App Store can wake the Mac up if it is sleeping, but you can keep the Mac awake if that’s what you want.

      Reply
  8. Brian Moylan Avatar
    Brian Moylan

    Just purchased synctime to use wit a new mac mini. I sucessfully setup a sync and it works when I run it manually. But when I set a schedule it does not happen. For example last night at 11:00pm I set the sync to run at 7:00am. When I checked at 7:30 it said “last sync none” and “next sync tomorrow at 7:00am”. The activate check mark was on. The computer was asleep at 7:00am and no changes had been made to the files since the manual sync. Am I missing something?

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      If there are some errors during the sync, the “Last sync” display is not updated. As long as there are errors, the sync is not considered complete. Please try clicking on the error badge to see what the problem is.

      Reply
  9. Henry Lausch Avatar
    Henry Lausch

    I have evaluated SyncTime by using the Lite version. After creating a group and running a few syncs I was sold and purchased the app. What is the process for now removing the Lite version. Simple drag to the Trash, or something more?

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Depending on the sync settings, some sync items may create extra files that will not be deleted if you simply move the app to the trash. There’s no way for an app to detect when it’s being uninstalled, so any extra files have to be deleted manually. As a shortcut, you can ensure that they are deleted if you delete the sync items in the app itself. Another thing you can do to save some space is opening the Activity logs window and removing all log entries. When you use the app regularly, old log entries are removed automatically.

      Reply
  10. Limier Avatar
    Limier

    Dear dev,
    I’m evaluating SyncTime Lite. Although I love this simple interface and functions, every time I try to edit Filters/Filename by Regular expression, crushes happen on both macOS Big Sur and Monterey systems.
    regards,

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      You’re right, editing a regular expression filter results in a crash. I just published an update that should correct it.

      Reply
  11. Moritz Avatar
    Moritz

    Hi there,
    I noticed that the software needs a confirmation after running the first sync? If I do not confirm the sync is not being completed…

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      You’re right, there’s a confirmation window by default when running a sync. Are you maybe asking if there’s a way to skip it? You can find that option in the sync settings Advanced tab.

      Reply
  12. Joshua Avatar
    Joshua

    I have attempted to backup my extensive audiobook collection, from a dying hard drive to another one. After an entire day, due to the space (1.41TB) it has finished but it is giving me sync errors.
    I have checked both folders and both have the same number of folders/files, and are the exact same size, so I am unsure why it is still giving me sync errors.

    I also used CCC (carbon copy cloner) to double check nothing was missed, and it said everything transferred, I want to make 100% sure before deleting the original to resolve the errors on the drive, and free up some much needed space. Is there anything else I can do, to make sure that everything has been successfully transferred?

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      The older SyncTime versions caused these kinds of errors under some circumstances. Perhaps updating to the newest version will solve them.

      Reply
  13. Roberto Avatar
    Roberto

    Hi,

    I’m trying to implement the backup strategy with the trash, but there’s an error (“backup doesn’t have a trash” or something like that, I’m using it in Italian…). I’m using a SMB folder on a Windows Server machine as destination. Any suggestions? Thanks.

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      If when trashing a file in the Finder you’re asked if you want to immediately delete it, it’s because it cannot be moved to the trash. That’s also why SyncTime shows that warning. If you want the same behaviour as the Finder, then you would have to keep the default backup strategy which simply deletes old files.

      Reply
  14. Philip Avatar
    Philip

    “Thank you for your comment. Do you have a specific reason for wanting to hide the most recent changes listed in the status bar menu, or just find them distracting? You‘re welcome to contact me on the website and describe your situation. I will consider adding an export menu item to the status bar menu (in the meantime, you can just select the sync items that you want to export and drag them to a Finder window). Thank you for your time.”

    In reply; for me it’s just information I don’t need. I exclusively use the menu to run a specific sync or group sync. and so I find anything else in the menu distracting I guess. Like I said in my review I could see an error sync log in the drop down menu being helpful, but a list of recent synced items less so cause I already know what files are in the folders and going to be moved, synced, and backed up into their designated places.

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      You‘re right that one usually knows what files are being synced, so in this case it‘s superfluous to have them listed in the status bar menu as well. It was actually another user who requested this feature so that they would be able to check if files were being synced in background, when there is no confirmation dialog shown. I‘ll think about how I can improve this.

      Reply
  15. Kwasi Glover Avatar
    Kwasi Glover

    Just bought this app in Apple store, however, I can’t seem to get the Dock symbol/app stop showing allowing it only on the Menu Tool Bar.
    How do I go about getting rid of the dock icon while it still runs in the background and only stay on the Menu Tool Bar?

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      You can find the option to toggle the Dock icon in the status bar menu. If in doubt, you can also find a FAQ about this: How can I hide the Dock icon or status item?

      Reply
  16. Juan Pablo Claude Avatar
    Juan Pablo Claude

    Hello! I just bought the SyncTime App yesterday and I am loving it so far. But I noticed something that could be a nice feature. I am backing up some directories that have some files with permissions that prevent the app from scanning or copying. I am fine with that, but it flags the sync as unsuccessful. Because the list of errors is long, and it does not give me a full path, I cannot exclude the files manually in a convenient way. It would be great if the user was given the option to convert errors into exclusions. Just a button to exclude all the problematic files from the Sync Item.

    Thank you for a nice app!

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Have you tried selecting the error in the Activity Logs window? The full path is then shown in the text area below and you can also click on it to show the file in the Finder. What you suggest is an interesting idea. I would just like to avoid that users begin blindly excluding all files that give errors, when maybe adding the parent directory or creating a generic filter that matches all those files would be a better solution.

      Reply
  17. Axel Van Thielen Avatar
    Axel Van Thielen

    Hi there,

    Never had an issue with this app, but after a clean install of MacOS 12.6.8 and reinstalling the app from the App Store it always seems to crash when selecting the “Destinations” tap (even after the version history suggests it should be fixed).

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      You’re right, there was indeed another issue with the Destination tab on macOS 11 and 12 that slipped under my radar. I’ve just published another update that fixes that one as well (it may take a few minutes or hours before it is visible in your App Store). Sorry for the trouble. I truly appreciate you reporting this patiently.

      Reply
  18. Björn Avatar
    Björn

    Due to bootable backups, I also installed Chronosync 10.3.4. However, I quickly discovered that both programs use the same file extensions, which causes problems with Chronosync. Chronosync can not open its own created tasks.
    The support wrote me the following:
    Björn,
    This was a problem in the past, but I thought it was resolved. Both we and the SyncTime developer made changes to prevent this problem.
    Do you have the latest version of SyncTime installed?
    Have you reported the problem to the SyncTime developer?
    I am able to open your Sync Task document on my system, so the Sync Task is not corrupt.
    Your only other option is to remove SyncTime.
    Regards,
    tom.

    Apparently there were already some other requests for this, as you can see from the answer of Chronosync.
    Is there a solution for this?

    Only one would have to rename his file extension or?

    Thanks for a quick answer and solution.

    Björn

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      I can confirm that the current version of ChronoSync has some issues when SyncTime is installed at the same time, as both define a file type with the .sync extension. The same issue already happened some time ago and it was due to the way macOS decides which app should open a specific file type. We implemented a simple change that solved the issue at the time, but now apparently it’s happening again. We’ll be working together again to try to figure out what the problem is this time. I would just like to precise that, even though it looks like SyncTime is the bad actor here since it prevents the other one from opening files, SyncTime doesn’t do anything to willingly cause this situation and I would be more than happy if both could coexist. It just seems that macOS randomly picks SyncTime as the “owner” of the .sync file extension.

      Reply
  19. Hendrik Hellmers Avatar
    Hendrik Hellmers

    Unfortunately crashes constantly.
    I tested the free Sync Time Lite and was very happy with it, so today I decided to buy the full version. But every time I want to go to “Ziele”/Objectives the App crashes. I don’t know why. I’m using a M1 MacBook Air with Mac OS 12.6.

    I tried to go back to SyncTime lite, but now this one crashes too.

    I’m unhappy, because I paid 10 € and now it crashes. Please try to fix this

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Apple is currently reviewing the update that fixes this issue. You should be able to update soon: the review process usually lasts only a few hours. Thank you for reporting this and sorry for the inconvenience.

      Reply
  20. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    I’d like to request the ability to rename files before copying to the destination. For example, the ability to replace one character with another in the file name like replacing “/” with “-“. My use case is syncing to a cloud-synced folder that has file name limitations not inherent to the OS. Thanks!

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Being able to map a filename on the source to a filename on the destination is an interesting use case. At this moment, I cannot promise anything yet and I will need some weeks to see if and how such a feature could be implemented. I imagine that filename mapping would mostly make sense for one-way syncs, because when syncing back in a two-way sync there could be filename clashes when trying to invert the filename mapping.

      Reply
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