The Desktop App allows you to set up connected folders. Connected folders are any folders stored on your computer that are kept in sync with specified folders in the cloud. Setting up connected folders is particularly useful for linking library folders such as your Desktop, Documents, Pictures, and Downloads folders with folders in the cloud, which provides increased performance when working with large files. Any changes between the folder on the hard drive or the corresponding folders in the cloud are kept in sync in real-time and allow access to files when offline.
From the start, Egnyte supported the ability to sync an online folder to a user’s desktop. One of the benefits of doing this is increased performance when working with large files, and it allows access to files when offline.
A Connected Folder does the same thing but in reverse. It’s a folder within a user’s existing file structure that is automatically synced to the Egnyte Cloud. You determine which folders are “Connected” (often Desktop, Downloads, and Documents folders), and you determine where in Egnyte they are synced to, but it’s typically the user’s private folder.
There are absolutely no changes made to the user’s existing file structure, and users don’t have to do anything different once a folder is designated as a Connected folder. They work as normal, and the folders are automatically synced to Egnyte.
Set up Connected Folders via command-line tool
Starting from version 3.3 of the Desktop App, you can add or remove connected folders using the command-line tool supplied with Windows or Mac.
To set up connected folders in Windows, open the Command line tool and paste in the provided code after making the necessary changes.
Here's an example of setting up a connected folder connecting C:\Users\%username%\Desktop with a folder called Desktop in the user’s Private folder using -a to specify the local paths and -r to specify the cloud paths. In our example, the drive label is Selkirk. If there is a space in your drive label, you'll need to encapsulate the label name in quotes:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Egnyte Connect\EgnyteClient.exe" -command connect_folder -l selkirk -a "C:\Users\%username%\Desktop" -r "/Private/::egnyte_username::/Desktop"
::egnyte_username:: can be used as a placeholder for the Egnyte username. This is useful when connecting a folder to a location inside the user’s Private folder.
Below is an example of disconnecting a folder using the -rm option:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Egnyte Connect\EgnyteClient.exe" -command connect_folder -l selkirk -rm "C:\Users\%username%\Desktop"
In Windows, %username% will resolve in the currently logged in users' space.
The Command-line tool in Windows will not confirm that the action was successful. Please go to the View Connected Folders section of this article to learn how to verify if a connected folder was added or removed successfully.
Learn more about the Command Line Interface tool for Mac here.
Here's an example of setting up connected folders to connect your Desktop and Documents folders to Desktop and Documents folders in your private folder. Replace 'drive_label' in the two commands below with your drive label (typically your egnyte domain name) and run them in the Mac terminal:
/Applications/Egnyte\ Connect.app/Contents/MacOS/EgnyteDriveCLI connected-folders add drive_label ~/Desktop /Private/::egnyte_username::/Desktop
/Applications/Egnyte\ Connect.app/Contents/MacOS/EgnyteDriveCLI connected-folders add drive_label ~/Documents /Private/::egnyte_username::/Documents
Below is an example of disconnecting a folder using the remove command:
/Applications/Egnyte\ Connect.app/Contents/MacOS/EgnyteDriveCLI connected-folders remove drive_label ~/Documents
In Mac, ~/ will resolve in the currently logged in users' space.
::egnyte_username:: can be used as a placeholder for the Egnyte username. This is useful when connecting a folder to a location inside the user’s Private folder.
View Connected Folders
To see what folders are connected for a specific drive, open the Advanced view.
Then, open the Connected Folders tab.
Set up Connected Folders via WebUI
Starting from version 3.11.0 of the Desktop App, you can add or remove connected folders to Egnyte cloud from the context menu.
This setting will need to be enabled by an admin in the WebUI for end-users to be allowed to connect local folders - Settings > Configuration > Applications > Desktop.
However, by default, the value is true when the "Allow users to sync folders for offline access" option is enabled for "Admins & Power Users."
For Windows set up, please refer to the article: Connected Folders setup from context menu in Desktop App for Windows
For Mac set up, please refer to the article: Connected Folders set up from context menu in Desktop App from Mac
Recommendations and Supported Configurations
- Connected folders can be set up through Mac Finder/Windows File Explorer or from the command-line tool. Any user can set this up on their own, or Admins can set it up through Mass Deployment.
- Only folders in internal hard drives or partitions should be used to set up connected folders. Folders in external hard drives, network shares, USBs, SD cards, or any other storage locations outside of internal hard drives are NOT supported.
- The local folder path must not end with a backslash (e.g., "C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\local\").
- If using connected folders to sync user's library folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.), we recommend connecting to a location within the user's Private folder in the cloud to ensure sufficient permissions exist to keep content in sync.
- Multiple local folders can be connected to the same folder in the cloud; however, it is not recommended.
- If you are currently using Desktop Sync to redirect users' library folders to the cloud, we recommend uninstalling Desktop Sync before installing and setting up connected folders on the Desktop App. This will prevent any unintended conflicts in two different sync engines synchronizing the same content.
- The automatic locking mechanism will not take effect when accessing content from the connected folder on the hard drive. However, automatic locking will still occur when accessing the same folder from inside the drive added by the Desktop App.
- You can use extension filtering rules and permissions to control what is synchronized from connected folders.
- There are absolutely no changes made to the existing file structure on the user's machine. Users don’t have to do anything different once a folder is designated as a Connected Folder. They work as normal, and the folders are automatically synced to Egnyte. If you move, rename, or delete a connected folder locally, the corresponding folder in the cloud is not deleted, but the link is broken.
Deleting files or sub-folders inside the connected folder will delete the corresponding files or sub-folders in the cloud.
- If you move, rename, or delete a connected folder in the cloud, the Desktop App will attempt to re-create the folder in the same location. If re-creating the folder is not possible (i.e., due to permissions), the link between the local folder and the cloud folder is broken, and content in the local folder will remain.
- Connected folders are not deleted from the machine when a remote wipe is triggered.
- You can still set up connected folders if the ability to sync content for offline access is turned off.
- The supported maximum number of files is up to 500,000 files in all connected folders for each local user on each instance of the Desktop App. There is no limit to how many connected folders can be set up.
Learn more about Connected Folders by watching a Quick Tip on Egnyte University: Connected Folders.