The Analyze Tab Panel presents a hierarchal view of files contained in both targets. It presents the state of synchronization between the two targets. If a file is fully synchronized, a "check" icon is displayed in the status column separating the local and remote sides. If a file needs to be synchronized, an arrow is displayed indicating the direction in which the synchronization must occur. If a conflict exists between two files, a double-ended, red arrow is displayed. Lastly, when a file in either target doesn't exist, it's name is drawn in light gray (dimmed).
Since the targets may
contain a deep, nested hierarchy of files, there may be a great number of files
that are candidates for synchronization. The hierarchical view for each folder
can be expanded or collapsed to disclose or hide the contents of that folder.
This makes the display more manageable. To expand a folder's contents, click
the triangle icon that appears at the left of the folder name. This is known
as a disclosure triangle. When the triangle points to the right, the folder
is collapsed and it's contents aren't displayed. When it is pointing down, the
folder is expanded, and it's contents will appear (unless it is empty).
To expand every folder that exists beneath a collapsed folder entry, hold the
OPTION key down while expanding it's disclosure triangle. Conversely, to collapse
every folder in a hierarchy, hold the OPTION key down while collapsing the disclosure
triangle. Note: Depending how many files exist in a sub-hierarchy when globally
expanding a disclosure triangle, it may take a while for all those files to
appear. For example, if your "Documents" folder is in a target's hierarchy,
and it contains a total of 19,000 files and folders, OPTION-expanding its disclosure
triangle will require the analysis of all 19,000 files before you see anything
displayed on screen.
Note: The files and folders displayed in the Analyze Tab Panel represent
the current state of synchronization based on all the criteria you've specified.
This means that synchronizing direction, synchronizing options and rule base
settings are factored in to what is displayed. All files that are being considered
for synchronization are displayed. Thus if you've set up a complex rule base
to filter what files should be synchronized, use the Analyze Tab Panel to make
sure they appear. If they don't then something is amiss in your rule base.
While using the Analyze Tab Panel, a certain amount of useful interaction with
your targets can be performed. For instance, to obtain basic information on
any two files or folders in the hierarchy, simply click on their row in the
analysis hierarchy. This selects their entries and basic file information such
as name, size and modification dates are displayed at the bottom of the window.
This is useful for determining why a particular set of files is out of sync.
Once a set of files is selected, various operations can be performed upon them. The following functions, accessible via the "Actions" menu or a customized toolbar, operate on selected files:
Compare: This function simply opens the two files in their respective application. For example, if two TextEdit RTF files are selected, and "Compare" is invoked, TextEdit is launched and both files are opened in it. This allows you to compare their contents to each other and is useful for determining which file is the correct one when a conflict arises. ChronoSync allows you to define 'helper applications' that will be used to compare sets of files. Thus you can override what application is launched to perform the comparison. Refer to the Preferences section of this manual for instructions on designating helper applications.
Delete: Sometimes you may want to delete a file in one target to make sure that it gets synchronized with the other. Your may also want to simply delete both files since they are obsolete and no longer necessary. The "Delete" function will do this for you.
When invoked, the following sheet appears:
Note how you can safely choose what file should be deleted, or cancel the process completely. If you choose to delete a file, it will be permanently deleted from it's target, so be careful - there's no undo!
Exclude: Sometimes a file or folder exists in a target that just shouldn't be synchronized. Rather than move the file or folder out of the target's hierarchy, you can tell ChronoSync to ignore it. Just select it and choose "Exclude". A "Thumbs down" icon appears in the status column indicating that the file/folder is being excluded. Note that if you exclude a folder, it is no longer expandable (has no disclosure triangle). This is because it is being ignored!
Include: To include a file/or folder that has been previously excluded, just choose "Include". The file/folder will now be fully considered for synchronization.
In addition to the
above commands, ChronoSync supports Mac OS X system services. Any service that
takes filenames as input can be invoked from the Analyze Tab Panel. Simply select
a pair of files and choose "Services" from the application menu. Only those
services that can act upon your selection will be selectable.
Tip: A particularly useful service for developers is the FileMerge utility.
This will compare the two files you've selected and show the differences between
them - very useful for comparing differences when synchronizing source code!