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The Interface

The primary aspect of the ChronoSync interface is the Synchronizer Document window. This window contains the necessary elements needed to manage your data, allowing you to efficiently synchronize files and folders from one disk location to another.

The document window has a toolbar across the top that aides in the synchronization process. The toolbar is customizable so that you may create a convenient and easy to use workspace. On the right edge of the document window, an Options drawer appears. The choices available in this drawer invoke actions and enable modes. The document window's work area consists of three tab panels - Targets, Rules and Analyze. Each has it's own importance in the overall synchronization process.

In the upper right hand corner of the document window, just underneath the toolbar, you'll find the date the document was last synchronized. This date represents the date of the last successful synchronization.

All the tools necessary to manage the synchronization of targets are available on the Synchronizer Document Toolbar. Choose "Customize Toolbar..." from the "View" menu (or Right/Control-clicking) to select the items that you would like to have on the toolbar. A description of each item available is as follows:

Options - Toggles the display of the options drawer that appears on the right side of the Synchronizer Document window.
Schedule... - Once a document has been saved, this item allows you to schedule it for automated execution.
Scheduler - Displays the Scheduled Documents window.
Log - Opens the document's private log showing a history of synchronization events.
Synchronize - Synchronizes the selected targets.
Trial Synchronize - Displays which files would be synchronized if a synchronization were to be performed. You can then choose which specific files to synchronize.
Compare - Allows you to compare the selected files in each target by opening them in their respective application or a custom helper application.
Delete... - Deletes a selected file from either target.
New - Creates a new Synchronizer Document.
Open... - Displays file browser to locate and open a previously saved Synchronizer Document.
Save - Saves the current Synchronizer Document to disk.
Save As... - Saves an existing Synchronizer Document to disk, allowing the user to specify a name of the document.
Exclude - Quickly excludes the selected file or folder from the synchronization operation.
Include - Undoes an exclude operation.
Page Setup... - Sets up the page for printing.
Print - Prints a synchronization analysis report.

Note: ChronoSync takes full advantage of Tool Tips throughout the application. This is a very useful feature that provides information to you whenever you hold your mouse over certain controls on the Synchronizer Document window.

The settings in the Options drawer provide control over different properties of the Synchronizer Document depending on the current tab panel.

  Targets Tab Panel
Synchronizing Direction - Can choose to synchronize targets "Upstream", "Downstream", or "Bi-directional". This feature also allows for the synchronization of deleted files.

Local Target Kind - Specifies the kind of file system of the local target.

Remote Target Kind - Specifies the kind of file system of the remote target.
     
  Rules Tab Panel
Rule-base Mode -Can choose "Simple", "Intermediate", or "Advanced" rule modes. Each mode has a different level of flexibility and capability in the handling of rules.
     
  Analyze Tab Panel
Synchronizing Direction - Can choose to synchronize targets "Upstream", "Downstream", or "Bi-directional". This feature also allows for the synchronization of deleted files.

Special Handling - Special features can be specified to allow for a more advanced analysis of the synchronization.

You now have a basic idea of all the features that ChronoSync has to offer. Each feature was only briefly discussed. We encourage you to read the remainder of this manual so that you can understand ChronoSync in full and be able to use it to its full capacity.

Warning: ChronoSync is a very powerful application. When dealing with the management of data files, please use extra caution to ensure that you don't perform an action that will unintentionally overwrite or delete a file. Again, we encourage that you become very familiar with the different features of ChronoSync and its documentation. It is our intent for you to always have a pleasant experience while using ChronoSync.



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