{"id":5,"date":"2012-12-30T15:17:03","date_gmt":"2012-12-30T15:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/usync\/wordpress\/?page_id=5"},"modified":"2026-07-15T14:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:59:13","slug":"synctime","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/wordpress\/synctime\/","title":{"rendered":"SyncTime"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The easy-to-use and flexible sync solution.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Run a sync or create a backup with the click of a button, with automated schedules, from the Shortcuts app (requires macOS 13 or newer) or with AppleScript.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unlimited sync items.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can create as many sync items as you need and customize each one individually. It’s very easy to get started: click the + button in the toolbar at the top of the window, type a title, select a source and a destination folder, click Add and press Play!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Easy setup.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the standard configuration, a sync item consists of two folders: a source and a destination. You can choose any folder reachable in the Finder: it can be located on your Mac, an external drive or a remote server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternatively, you may select two regular files or add multiple sources and destinations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Full control.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By default, SyncTime shows a confirmation dialog<\/a> of the changes that will be applied. You can check the list of files, see their preview and remove entries that you wish to skip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When an error<\/a> occurs, a red badge pops up that allows you to quickly open the Activity Log window<\/a> and inspect the detailed error message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of managing the order of sync items manually, you can sort them by relevance<\/a> so that sync items requiring your attention automatically float to the top of the list.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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File filters.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Each sync item allows you to specify filters<\/a> to exclude or include specific files. You can match files with a name containing a specific word or regular expression, or whose modification date, age, or size is larger or smaller than a given value. Filters can be rearranged so that they only apply to the folder they’re in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Custom sync type.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can choose between three sync types<\/a>: one-way sync (mirror source to destination), two-way sync (merge source and destination) and one-way move (remove source files after a successful transfer).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The overwrite policy<\/a> determines when existing files on the destination are overwritten: by default a file is overwritten only if the source file was changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Optionally you can also remove files that are not on the source anymore and track moved files<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one-way syncs you can define one or more file modifiers<\/a> that selectively alter copied files, for example by compressing or renaming them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Versioning and verifying.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The backup strategy<\/a> allows you to keep old versions of your documents: move files that should be overwritten or removed to the trash, or to a custom backup folder, or, for maximum flexibility, build a full, incremental copy of the source by linking unchanged files, just like Time Machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incremental backups can be browsed from the Finder, but SyncTime also offers a built-in browser to conveniently jump between different versions of the selected file. If needed, incremental backups can also store the checksum of copied files so that you can verify<\/a> them later (requires macOS 10.15 or newer).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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And more.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If full automation is what you need, you can skip the confirmation dialog<\/a>, execute a custom script<\/a> when a sync starts or completes, or keep monitoring the source in background<\/a> so that the destination will remain up to date until you quit SyncTime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Groups and schedules.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sync groups<\/a> allow you to run several sync items either one after the other or concurrently with the click of a button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Custom schedules<\/a> allow you to keep your sync items and sync groups automatically up to date, either at specified dates and times or when the source and destination volumes are connected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Logging.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every file operation and error is listed in the Activity Log<\/a> window. Logs are kept for 7 days by default.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Quick and lightweight.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SyncTime is a lightweight app that you can access from the Dock and the menu bar by default, but it can also be shown only in one of them if you prefer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The status item allows to quickly start a specific sync item or a group and choose whether your Mac should execute a custom script<\/a>, such as going to sleep or shutting down, after all syncs have completed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Scripting.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Run a sync item or sync group from the Shortcuts app (requires macOS 13 or newer) or with AppleScript<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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By purchasing SyncTime, you also get access to Disk Graph<\/a> and Patchword<\/a> for free*. Select the banner at the top of the App Store page to learn more. (*Due to issues with the App Store: (1) the banner may disappear occasionally (please contact me if that’s the case), (2) the bundle may cost slightly more than SyncTime, depending on your country. There are no such issues when buying from this website directly.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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About<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I created SyncTime because I couldn’t find an app for my own backups that was flexible, easy to use and affordable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SyncTime strives to be compatible with the tools you’re already familiar with (the Finder) and doesn’t use any proprietary file format<\/a>. All produced files can be viewed in a text editor: sync settings, snapshots<\/a> and logs<\/a> are saved in JSON or TSV files. You can back them up<\/a> with SyncTime itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Connect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do you need help, want to report an issue, suggest a new feature or start a discussion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Help topics & FAQ<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
SyncTime on Discord<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
SyncTime on Reddit<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The easy-to-use and flexible sync solution. Run a sync or create a backup with the click of a button, with automated schedules, from the Shortcuts app (requires macOS 13 or newer) or with AppleScript. Unlimited sync items. You can create as many sync items as you need and customize each one individually. It’s very easy to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5122,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"app-home","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":277,"href":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5696,"href":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5\/revisions\/5696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desairem.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}