Synology Drive Client

Synology Drive Client is the desktop utility that provides file syncing and personal computer backup services on multiple client computers to a centralized server, Synology Drive Server.

Download and install the Synology Drive Client utility from the following locations:

Contents

Before You Start

Starting Synology Drive Client

To launch the Synology Drive Client setup wizard:

  1. Run Synology Drive Client on your computer:
  2. Click on Start Now and select Sync Task or Backup Task to get started.

Configuring Sync Tasks

Create sync tasks to sync files between Synology Drive and your local computer to enhance productivity and file accessibility.

To create a sync task:

  1. Enter the IP address or QuickConnect ID, username, and password of your Synology NAS. For domain users, use your domain name or username. For LDAP users, use "username@Base_DN". You can also connect via IPv6 or proxy service. Click on Next.
  2. Select Sync Task and click on Next.
  3. Check the path of the local and remote folders you want to sync. Click on Change to select different folders for syncing.
  4. Select Enable On-demand Sync to reduce computer capacity consumption and overhead on the server. The On-demand Sync function is currently available on Windows 10 version 1809, macOS 12.3, and above versions.
  5. Click on Advanced to further modify the following sync settings:
  6. Click on Done.

Note:

To add a new sync task:

  1. Go to Sync Tasks and click on Create.
  2. Follow the instructions of the setup wizard.

Managing sync tasks

You can manage your sync tasks with the buttons located at the top of the main page.

To manage sync tasks:

  1. Select the sync task you want to manage.
  2. Click on Pause, Resume, or Delete to pause, resume, or delete the task.
  3. Inside your sync folder, you can also right-click on any subfolder, select Synology Drive, and click on Stop syncing this folder or Resume syncing this folder.

Note:

To change sync rules:

  1. Select the sync task you want to manage and click on Sync Rules.
  2. You can reconfigure the sync rules in the Folder, File Filter, and Sync Mode tabs.

Syncing and managing files

After Synology Drive Client is set up on all of your computers, you can start syncing files with your connected Synology NAS and other computers.

To access your files, do any of the following:

To sync your files, do any of the following:

To pause or resume the sync process, click on the Synology Drive Client icon in the system tray, and then choose Pause or Resume.

To enable syncing Shared with me, do any of the following:

Note:

To download previous versions of a synced file:

  1. Right-click on the file and choose Synology Drive > Browse previous versions.
  2. Find the version you want to download and click on Download.
  3. Enter the filename and choose the destination to save the file.

To create a file sharing link:

  1. Right-click on the file you want to share, and choose Synology Drive > Get link.
  2. If you have manager permission for the item, you can customize the sharing permission of the link or specific DSM users. Click on Apply. The link will be copied to your clipboard.

Understanding the file status

Icon overlays

Icon overlays appear at the lower-left corner of the files or folders in your local Synology Drive folder, indicating its status. Unselect Show icon overlay for file status in Global Settings > Display if you do not want to see them.

Icon Description
Your file or folder has been successfully synced and is up to date, or it is yet to be processed.
Your file or folder has been filtered out and has not been synced. Possible reasons include: a system default filter, sync rules filter, server profile settings, or ACL permissions. You can unselect Show icon overlay for unsynced files in Global Settings > Display if you do not want to see this icon.
Syncing is currently in progress.
You have read-only permission to the synced file or folder.

Status indicator for On-demand Sync tasks

For tasks that have enabled On-demand Sync, the files' sync statuses are indicated by the icons in the following tables.

For Windows:

Icon Description
Your file or folder is available when online and does not take up disk capacity. You can open and download a local copy to the computer, or right-click on the file, select Synology Drive > Pin local copy permanently to maintain a local copy.
Your file or folder has been downloaded to the local computer and can be viewed offline. You can right-click on the file or folder, select Synology Drive > Free up space to manually delete the local file or folder and release the space. However, when your computer is low on disk capacity, these local copies will be automatically deleted to release space. The icon will change to the cloud icon and these files or folders are still available when online.
Your file has been permanently pinned to the local computer and can be viewed offline. When your computer is low on disk capacity, these permanently pinned copies will not be automatically deleted to release space.

For macOS:

Icon Description
Your file or folder is available when online and does not take up disk capacity. You can open and download a local copy to the computer, or right-click on the file, select Download to download a local copy. You can also right-click on the file, select the Pin local copy permanently option with Synology Drive icon to maintain a local copy.
Your file or folder cannot be uploaded to Synology Drive server. There might be an error with syncing or connecting to the server.
Your file is being downloaded or waiting to be downloaded. The icon indicates the progress.
No icon Your file or folder has been downloaded to the local computer and can be viewed offline. You can right-click on the file or folder, select the Free Up Space option with Synology Drive icon to manually delete the local file or folder and release the space. However, when your computer is low on disk capacity, these local copies will be automatically deleted to release space. The icon will change to the cloud icon and these files or folders are still available when online.
Your file has been permanently pinned to the local computer and can be viewed offline. When your computer is low on disk capacity, these permanently pinned copies will not be automatically deleted to release space.

Configuring Backup Tasks

Create backup tasks to back up your files from multiple client computers to Synology Drive server to protect computer data.

To create a backup task:

  1. Enter the IP address or QuickConnect ID, username, and password of your Synology NAS. For domain users, use your domain name or username. For LDAP users, use "username@Base_DN". You can also connect via IPv6 or proxy service. Click on Next.
  2. Select Backup Task and click on Next.
  3. Select the local folders that you want to back up.
  4. After configuring your backup settings, source and destination folder paths, click onNext.
  5. Select a backup mode for the backup task and then click on Next.
  6. Check the backup settings summary and click on Done.

Note:

Managing backup tasks

Double-click on the Synology Drive Client icon in the system tray and go to the Backup Task page.

To automatically back up your files, do any of the following:

Note:

To manage your backup:

  1. Click on Pause to pause your running backup task or scheduled backup task.
  2. Click on Resume to resume your backup.

To modify the folder you want to backup:

  1. Click on Backup Settings > Backup Source.
  2. Select the folders you want to back up, and unselect those you don't want to back up.
  3. Click on Apply.

To change backup rules:

  1. Click on Backup Settings > Backup Source.
  2. Click on Backup Rules button, and make changes to your settings.
  3. Click on Apply.

To change backup mode:

  1. Click on Backup Settings > Backup Mode.
  2. Make changes to your settings.
  3. Click on Apply.

To edit the backup task connection:

  1. Click on Backup Settings > Connection.
  2. Make changes to the server connection or username and password.
  3. Click on Apply.

Note:

To delete a backup task:

Note:

Managing backed up files and historical versions

Synology Drive saves historical versions of each modified file according to the settings in Synology Drive Admin Console. Every time you modify a file, a backup version is created, just in case you want to revert to an older version. On the client computer, double-click on the Synology Drive Client icon in the system tray and go to the Backup Task page. Here you can browse historical versions of backed up data as well as restore files from a specific point in time.

To download previous versions of a backed up file:

  1. Click on Restore.
  2. You can view the history of files by selecting a specific date and time from the Time drop-down menu.
  3. Select a file you want to download, and then click on Download.
  4. You can also click on Browse previous versions to view all historical versions of the file at once and then click on Download to download the selected version.

To restore a backed up file or folder to a specific time:

  1. Click on Restore.
  2. You can view the history of files by selecting a specific date and time from the Time drop-down menu.
  3. Select a file you want to restore, then click on Restore. The file will be restored to its directory on the computer.

To download or restore a deleted file or folder:

  1. Click on Restore.
  2. Check the box next to Show deleted files. After choosing this option, all deleted files will be shown in the file chooser below.
  3. You can download or restore a deleted file or folder using the same steps as regular files.

To check the download or restore progress:

  1. Click on Restore.
  2. Click on the task icon at the upper-right corner.
  3. Both download and restore task progress will be shown in the task list.

Note:

To access your backed up files on your Synology NAS, do any of the following:

  1. Sign in to Synology Drive web portal with your credentials and click on Computer Backup in the left panel.
  2. Files backed up from your computers will be saved here.

Note:

Application Management and Settings

You can make changes to general settings and view event status in Synology Drive Client.

Logs

To view logs:

  1. Double-click on the Synology Drive Client icon in the system tray.
  2. Go to the Logs page. Filter events using the All events drop-down menu.

Notifications

To view notifications:

  1. Double-click on the Synology Drive Client icon in the system tray.
  2. Go to the Notifications page to view notifications of sync and backup events.

Global Settings

You can modify general application, notification, display and proxy settings on the Global Settings page.

To edit your settings:

  1. Double-click on the Synology Drive Client icon in the system tray and go to Global Settings.
  2. Under the General tab, you can modify the following:
  3. Click on Apply.

Note:

To edit notification settings:

  1. Double-click on the Synology Drive Client icon in the system tray and go to Global Settings.
  2. Under the Notifications tab, you can change the setting for Show desktop notifications for file events.
  3. Click on Apply.

To edit display settings:

  1. Double-click on the Synology Drive Client icon in the system tray and go to Global Settings.
  2. Under the Display tab, you can modify the below options:
  3. Click on Apply.

Note:

To configure proxy settings:

  1. Double-click on the Synology Drive Client icon in the system tray and go to Global Settings.
  2. Under the Proxy tab, you can select Auto-detect to use proxy settings provided by the operating system.
  3. You can also manually specify your own proxy server IP and port.
  4. Click on Apply.

Note:

To enable SSL data transmission encryption:

Note:

To monitor personal usage in Team Folders:

  1. Double-click on the Synology Drive Client icon in the system tray and go to Global Settings.
  2. Under the Usage tab, you will find your personal storage usage of each team folder or My Drive. The total capacity is only shown if the quota limit has been set for the user. Please note, the usage calculation is not available for ext4 file system.

Removing Synology Drive Client

To remove Synology Drive Client on macOS:

  1. Go to Finder > Application and right-click on the Synology Drive Client application, then select Package Contents.
  2. Go to Contents > SharedSupport.
  3. Copy and paste Remove Synology Drive Client onto your desktop.
  4. Double-click on Remove Synology Drive Client to uninstall the Synology Drive desktop application.

Sync Task Rules and Backup Task Rules

Rules shared by Sync Tasks and Backup Task (Unless otherwise specified)
Sync or Backup Tasks are not supported if the file and drive types are:
  • macOS alias
  • Windows/macOS mounted drives
  • Windows shortcuts
  • Windows symbolic links
  • Hidden files or folders
  • Windows folders with these attributes:
    • OFFLINE
    • REPARSE_POINT
    • SYSTEM
    • TEMPORARY
  • The file type is any of the following: tmp, temp, swp, lnk
  • The file name starts with a tilde (~)
  • The file name is or contains any of the following:
    • @eadir
    • .SynologyWorkingDirectory
    • #recycle
    • desktop.ini
    • .DS_STORE
    • Icon\r
    • thumbs.db
    • $Recycle.Bin
    • @sharebin
    • System Volume Information
    • Program Files
    • Program Files (x86)
    • ProgramData
    • #snapshot
    • @tmp (Backup Task only)
    • tmp (Backup Task only)
    • temp (Backup Task only)
On Windows, Sync or Backup Tasks are not supported if:
  • The path of the folder/file contains the following characters: * : ? \ / " < > |
  • The name or path of the folder/file is longer than 247 characters
  • File type is a shortcut or symbolic link
  • Files or folders with these attributes:
    • OFFLINE
    • REPARSE_POINT
    • SYSTEM
    • TEMPORARY
On macOS, Sync or Backup Tasks are not supported if:
  • The path of the folder/file contains the following characters: \ /
  • The path of the folder/file is longer than 768 characters
  • The file name is longer than 255 characters
  • The file type is any of the following:
    • Icon
    • Socket
    • Device node
    • FIFO
On Linux, Sync or Backup Tasks are not supported if:
  • The path of the folder/file contains the following characters: \ /
  • The path of the folder/file is longer than 2,048 characters
  • The file name is longer than 255 characters
  • The file type is any of the following:
    • Socket
    • Device node
    • FIFO
Other rules that restrict Sync or Backup Tasks:
  • If local folder contains a mount point, files inside the mount point might not be synced or backed up because Synology Drive cannot detect file changes inside a mount point.
  • Network drives and removable devices (such as USB drives or SD cards) are not supported on Synology Drive.
  • Sync Tasks only:
    • When setting file names you don't want to sync, please note that on Windows a capitalized and lower case file names are considered to be the same file (e.g., A.txt and a.txt), but on Linux and macOS systems they can be used as different file names.
    • .pst files are not supported because they are not guaranteed to be portable.
    • If local folder contains a mount point, files inside the mount point might not be synced because Synology Drive cannot detect file changes inside a mount point.
    • For Linux: Changes made to a file with multiple hard links may not be immediately synced to the other links. Additionally, Synology Drive may experience a delay in detecting newly created linked files, leading to a delay in uploading the hard links.