This option, checked as a default, enables full synchronisation between two folders. That is, the contents of both folders will be the same upon completion of the synchronisation. If this item is left unchecked, the destination folder is the only folder that is updated.
Update Existing Files Only
When synchronising two folders, only the files that are present in both those folders are synchronised — all other files are left unchanged.
Delete Obsolete Items
Any file that is in the destination folder, but not in the source folder, is deleted upon completion of the synchronisation. This option is rendered useless when the option “Also Backup in Reverse” is enabled — for obvious reasons.
Exclude Items…
Clicking this button brings up a window with more options. This set of options allows you to exclude certain files and folders from the synchronisation.
Add…
This button allows you to select a file whose type will be added to the list shown to the left of the “Add…” button. More file types can be added to this list by clicking the “Add…” button. Any file whose type matches one in the list will be excluded from the synchronisation.
Remove
This button, initially disabled, allows you to remove items that you have previously added to the list of types. Simply select an item to remove from the list, then click the “Remove” button.
Ignore Applications
This checkbox adds or removes applications from the exclusion list. This is the same as using the “Add…” button to choose an application as one of the excluded types.
Ignore Invisibles
Any file that is invisible in the Finder will be excluded from the synchronisation.
Ignore Aliases
This checkbox will exclude any alias from the synchronisation. When you are synchronising two folders, it is often not important to copy alias files since they tend to be specific to a particular volume.
Don’t Copy Items — Starting with
You may type any single character in this text field. If there is a character present in the text field, any file whose name begins with that character will be excluded from the synchronisation. If the text field is empty, this option will not apply.
Don’t Copy Items — Ending with
Similar to that above, any file whose name ends in the character present in the text field will be excluded from the synchronisation. If the text field is empty, this option will not apply.
Labels
Clicking this button will bring up a dialog which allows you to exclude items with a certain label from the backup. For example, you could define a label “Don’t Sync” to exclude just some files in a folder from the backup. This option is only available with system 7.0 and later.
