Insync

Do more with your cloud storage. https://insynchq.com

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Insync for Raspberry Pi test build now available

We have always said that we are the best Google Drive client around, and our features speak for themselves.

Multiple account support? Check.

Built in sharing from the file manager? Double check.

Offline access to Google Docs? Triple check.

Watch any folder? Linux support? Server installations? Business support? We're practically running out of checks here.

In line with our relentless quest to give you the best Google Drive experience possible, we're now offering a test build for our Raspberry Pi friends out there. This is one of our most requested features, and we hope it was worth the wait.

For the geeks out there (most probably you), this test build was built inside a virtual Raspbian using QEMU in Ubuntu 12.10 with ARM1176 as the CPU target.

Here's a step by step guide to getting the package and running it inside your Pi.

Download the correct package for your system. Builds for armhf and for armel are available. To determine what type your system is, run

readelf -A /proc/self/exe | grep Tag_ABI_VFP_args

If there's an output, it's armhf; otherwise, it's armel.

In this example, we're using the armhf build.

Run "tar -xjf insync-arm_1.0.24_i386.tar.bz2" to extract it. This will create an insync-portable directory.

To run Insync, go to the insync-portable directory and run "./insync-portable start".

Follow the shown help message to add an account.

Get the list of available commands by running "./insync-portable help".

Insync + Raspberry Pi opens a world of possibilities to our Pi enthusiasts, and we're excited to see what applications you can come up with.

[insynchq]

Do not convert Google Docs to Office

It took longer than expected but one of our highly requested feature is finally here: say hello to do not convert Google Docs.

Some users love Insync for its ability to convert Google Docs to Office/OpenOffice for true offline access but some users didn't want to convert as they primarily use Google Docs online. Well, you now have the best of both worlds :)

By default, Insync does not convert Google Docs to Office/OpenOffice as conversion at times produces native formatting issues. So to the users that have dropped local word processing apps to Google Docs, welcome to Insync!

[insynchq]

Introducing Insync for Linux headless app

After releasing Insync for Linux 1.0 last July, we have been looking for ways to show more love to our Linux users. As Linux is one of the most popular operating systems on servers, we felt it would be awesome if Insync can run on those computers as well. With the latest release of Insync for Linux, this is now realized.

Running Insync in headless mode is as simple as calling insync-headless start on the command line. This will run a version of Insync without dependencies to GUI components that is perfect for text only systems like servers and for systems without a full desktop environment.

All the functionality of regular Insync is also available in headless Insync through the insync-headless command. Through it, you can add an account, show the recent activities, pause/resume syncing, get new shares, move the Insync folder, etc. To learn more about the commands, run insync-headless -h or man insync-headless. (These are also available through the insync command.)

Here are some screenshots of the headless mode in action:

Starting the client

List of available commands

Adding an account

Getting account information

To make things even better we're also providing a separate insync-headless package that doesn't contain the support libraries for the GUI components. This package is 3x smaller than the regular Insync package which is a definite benefit for users saving their bandwidth and disk space.

We'd love for you to check it out. Just go to insynchq.com/linux and download the latest version today.

[insynchq]

Extra! Extra! Insync for Linux is now 1.0!

The wait is finally over! In beta for over a year with thousands of testers, Insync for Linux 1.0 is now available to all (thank you beta testers!).

We are Linux users ourselves so we felt your pain :)

Insync for Linux is the Linux equivalent of Insync for Windows and Insync for Mac. It shares features with the other clients like multiple account support, selective sync, offline access to Google Docs, symlink support, built-in sharing and file manager integration, among others.

It supports Debian, Fedora, Linux Mint, MEPIS, PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu. Insync also supports 8 desktop environments: Cinnamon, GNOME shell, KDE, LXDE, MATE, Openbox + fbpanel, Unity and Xfce and 5 file managers: Caja, Dolphin, Nautilus, Nemo and Thunar.

When unwrapped, Insync for Linux has one extra feature that Windows and Mac versions don’t have (yet): “Add to Insync”. “Add to Insync” is a way to enable “watch any folder” outside of the Insync folder using symlinks but without the hassle of opening up CLI. It’s quite handy :)

Insync for Linux is available via installers and APT/Yum repositories.

Try Insync for Linux with a 15-day free trial, no credit card required.

[insynchq]

Insync extends Google Drive’s cloud storage for Businesses

Insync, an alternative Google Drive client with multiple account support for Windows, Mac and Linux has just announced the release of Insync Business.

Insync Business transforms a company’s Google Drive storage into a document management system. It comes with a dashboard with centralized billing, member management and storage analytics.

Screenshots

The dashboard’s gives administrators a bird’s eye view of company and employee storage usage.

Insync Business dashboard with storage analytics

  Members tab

  Assigning licenses

  MSI support

Insync Business supports MSI push install through GPO/Active Directory to efficiently get team members started with Insync on their Windows desktops. Detailed instructions on how to install Insync MSI via GPO/AD are available on the MSI tab in the business dashboard.

Pricing

Insync Business is only $10 per user / year (minimum of 5 users). Try Insync Business free for 15 days. No credit card required.

What’s next?

Insync Business is all about getting more out of your Google Drive storage and to that end, we think that adding “management-like” features are important. Examples include remote wipe, centrally excluding certain file types, etc.

Expect more of these types of features in the coming weeks and months.

[insynchq]

Build a website using Google Drive

You are already using Google Drive to store your stuff. Why not use it to create your website?

How do to it? Keep reading.

First, create a folder as a top folder. Then place all your assets (css, images, etc.) into the newly created folder.

In the example below, the top folder is called “the insync webpage” with css, images and js folders.

You will also need an index.html. If you do not start with an index.html file, then visitors to your site will see a directory listing of all of the files in that folder, rather than your home page.

Once all your folders and files are synced, right click your webpage folder and select Insync → Copy public link.

Insync “publishes” your content using the Google Drive publish API.

Paste the public URL to a browser and you’re done!

Here’s the one we did: http://bit.ly/127SJMY

To recap:

Prepare your assets.

Upload your assets on Drive via Insync.

Copy public link.

Don’t expect any more steps. You’re done.

If your registrar supports URL forwarding, you can forward your domain to the public URL. Would be nice to add DNS redirecting so you can add custom domains in the future.

[insynchq]

Insync adds "5 seconds and you’re done" file desktop sharing feature

Sometimes, you just want to share a picture or a PDF as a link and move on.

You don’t want to open a browser and go to the “too advanced” share window on Google Drive and spend a few minutes deciding on the options. You just want a link to a file you can share from your desktop, ideally via a right-click.

Fret no more.

Insync, an alternative Google Drive client for power and business users, in its all-knowing wisdom, has built this for you. While a picture is worth a thousand words, a 5 second video is worth a thousand seconds (see what I did there?).*

  How does it work?

We use the Google Drive Publish API which allows us to do 2 things:

Direct link -- to generate a direct link to the file and copy the link to your clipboard

No Google account required when accessing

As you can see in the video, you select a file or folder, right-click, select Insync → Copy public link and it generates a direct link (i.e. publishes) and voila!

Copy & paste away. It’s the “5 second” way to share your desktop files.

We know it’s going to bring a smile every time you use it :)

*This 5 second video will save you thousands of seconds. And it was actually timed.

[insynchq]

Say Hello to Insync 1.0

If Dropbox and Google Drive had a love child, it would be Insync 1.0.

Insync is a simple, beautiful and powerful Google Drive app that extends Drive functionality to the desktop (i.e. you use Insync with your Drive storage).

Insync takes the best parts of the Dropbox client and the best parts of Google Drive web and combines it into a simple desktop application with power features that get out of your way.

For example, Insync integrates sharing into the context menu of Windows Explorer / Finder / Nautilus (beta) and extends Drive’s sharing permissions functionality (edit, comment, view) with a built-in window so you don’t need to open a browser.

Context menu

Share window

  There are other advanced features like multiple Google accounts, selective sync (folder and files), recent changes (newsfeed for your docs), shared to you (on-demand share syncing ala Dropbox shares), revert read-only files, symlink / junction / alias support, progress indicator, name your own folder, external + network drive support and many more.

Sharing with built-in permissions

  Revert a modified a read-only file

  Pricing

Insync comes in two flavors:

Pro edition is available for $9.99 (introductory pricing) one-time after a 15 day free trial and email support. 

Business edition is coming soon and includes an admin dashboard and centralized billing with priority email support.

All editions come with unlimited installations across Windows, Mac and Linux (beta). Here’s the pricing page.

We are also introducing a how-to guide and a referral program.

While this has been quite a journey for us thus far, this is just the beginning. Expect more innovative features in the coming weeks and months as we enable you to do more with your Google Drive storage.

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Symbolic link (and junction point) support now on Insync for Windows and Linux

Most wanted captured One of the most requested features on the Insync forums is symbolic link (“symlink”) support. We are symlink users ourselves and wanted this feature so we added it.

What are symbolic links (and junction points) and why does it make sense to have them? Symbolic link is a special type of file that contains a reference to another file (or directory) only instead of containing actual data it’s a reference to a file.Junction point (“junction”), on the other hand, is an NTFS-only specific term. Junctions are popular among Windows users as the “actual” symlinks arrived pretty late on Windows (Vista onwards). For an end user, the differences between junctions and symlinks on Windows are minute; but the most noticeable among them is the fact that junctions cannot point to a file or to a network folder while symlinks can.The most common use for symlinks is for creating multiple links for important files or folders without having to create duplicate copies. In other words, if you want easy access to some files or folders but do not want to move them from their current location, then symlinks are for you. With Insync symlink support, you can effectively “sync any folder” (or file) to Google Drive. It’s not a feature for everybody but for power users, it keeps current folder hierarchy preserved and that’s a big problem solved.How do I use symlinks in Insync?

Windows 8, 7 and Vista 1. Be sure to have Insync for Windows version 0.9.19.17363 (or higher) installed on your machine. 2. Open the Command Prompt and right click on it. 3. Click Run as Administrator (type in the password if prompted) and then use the following:

MKLINK /D Link Target ("/D" is for directory Symlink)

e.g. MKLINK /D "C:[email protected]" "D:Music"

This will create a symlink to your Music folder that will be synced through your Insync folder.

Windows XP 1. Be sure to have Insync for Windows version 0.9.19.17363 (or higher) installed on your machine. 2. Download Sysinternal's utility called Junction (or use any other trusted program such as linkd.exe from the windows resource tool kit) - http://download.sysinternals.com/files/Junction.zip 3. Unzip and extract junction.exe 4. Open the Command Prompt and switch to the directory where junction.exe is located and then use following:

JUNCTION Link Target

e.g. JUNCTION "C:[email protected]" "D:Music"

This will create a junction to the music folder that will be synced through your Insync folderNote: Junctions on XP (and “sometimes” on Vista, 7 and 8 too!) are tightly bound to their targets - deleting a junction the way you delete any other file or folder would delete all the content in the target too. Therefore to delete the junction locally, use the same utility with a different switch on the command line:

JUNCTION /d Link

e.g. JUNCTION /d "C:[email protected]"

When you delete a “junction” remotely on Google Drive Web, Insync will always delete the junction safely for you locally. So remote deletion is completely safe with Insync.

Linux 1. Be sure to have Insync for Linux Beta 14 (or higher) installed on your machine. 2. Go to your file manager and right-click on any file or folder that you want synced to Google Drive but don’t want to move or copy. 3. Hover over Add to Insync, then click the account where you want to sync the file or folder. This will create a symlink whose contents are synced to Google Drive.

Note: The list below shows the Linux desktops that have symlink support.

Debian-based Distros:

- Unity + Nautilus - Cinnamon + Nemo

- Xfce + Thunar

Fedora-based Distros:

- Gnome shell + Nautilus - Cinnamon + Nautilus

Mac OS X Symlinks (and aliases) currently aren’t 100% supported on Mac OS X. It only syncs upon Insync startup -- it doesn’t keep watching the folder (or file). Full support is coming in 1.x.

[insynchq]

Insync arrives on Windows Phone

Introducing Insync for Windows Phone

All Windows Modern UI fans and Windows Phone owners are in for a treat as Insync brings Google Drive/ Docs support to Windows Phone users. Windows Phones power users now have access to features like multiple account support, offline folders and files, shareable link creation, photo uploading (with compression), streaming music and videos and much more. Jam-packed app

We went all out and packed Insync for Windows Phone with features you can find in our desktop client while also optimizing them to the Windows Modern UI. A picture speaks a thousand words so here goes…

Easily switch between Google accounts with multiple account support.

View documents, files or images with or without internet connection.

Upload multiple photos simultaneously.

  Share folders and files with editable permissions.

Choose from a number of options to share files. Instant shareable link creation.

Take it for a spin now

Insync for Windows Phone is now available for a one-time fee of $4.99. Download it at the Windows Phone Store.

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Insync for Gmail Beta 2 is now up and running!

Detach yourself from attachment hell

Attachments are necessary but are painful to manage. They clutter your hard drive with unrecognizable file names like: “project-work (2).doc”. Sooner or later you lose track of versions. Later on, to sync it to your cloud storage, you have to download each version from Gmail and upload it again. It’s a painful process that we have become numb to. We’re on your side - and like you, our quest to attain attachment nirvana continues.

So, we’re happy to announce the general release of Insync for Gmail Beta 2!

New user experience

After releasing the first beta 4 months ago, we received your feedback and updated the app to a Chrome extension (and deprecated the @label system). And the result? 

We came up with a more powerful way of syncing and backing up your attachments. There is absolutely nothing to learn -- sign up with your Gmail (or Google Apps) account and add your Google Drive or Dropbox account. 

Insync then adds an Insync link beside the usual Gmail attachment links. Click and select the account and folder. That’s it. 

Top bar

Like Insync for desktop, we add an Insync status on Gmail’s top bar. You get the file syncing status as well as a recent history of past synced attachments.

Manage Services allows you to add more (or remove) Google Drive or Dropbox accounts.

“Hidden” features 

Auto-versioning -- attachments with the same filename from different email threads are synced as new versions so you always have the latest version.

Search -- the email subject is added as search metadata and made searchable on Google Drive web (not avail on Dropbox). Last modified date -- the email’s date is synced as the attachment’s last modified date in Google Drive (not avail on Dropbox).

Be an early adopter

It’s still hot off the press so go ahead and try it -- we know you’ve got a lot of unsynced Gmail attachments. The good news is it’s free in beta. You can get it here!

[insynchq]

Mate Desktop and XFCE Support

Insync for Linux Beta11 was just released in the forums and includes support for Mate Desktop and XFCE. Status emblem updates and context menu support work with both Caja1.4 and Thunar1.5. We have released the Caja and Thunar plugins as open source Python scripts.

https://forums.insynchq.com/discussion/1616/insync-for-linux-beta-11-0-9-28

[insynchq]

Insync Public DBus API

Insync on Linux can be remotely controlled from another process using DBus. This is how the standalone applets talk to Insync. Using this API you call passing a command string, and get back data in json format. The Dbus domain is “insync.rpc” and the path is “/”.

Command Line Example:      gdbus call -e -d insync.rpc -o / -m insync.rpc.call GET-STATE

DBus API

“PAUSE”

pause insync

“RESUME”

resume insync

“GET-STATE”

returns: recent changes, actions, errors, account info, paused

“ADD-ACCOUNT”

triggers the add account sequence

“EXIT”

exit insync

“OPEN-INSYNC-FOLDER”

open the insync root folder

[insynchq]

Insync: Google Drive Linux Client App hits Beta 9!

Hey everyone!

We are glad to announce the release of beta 9 of our Linux client. You might already see the announcement if you’ve been lurking on our forum. The latest release (Linux Beta 9) resolves the MS Office formats and glibc error for debian users. Anyway, below are some of the changes you should expect:

fixed symlinks not live syncing (before you had to restart Insync for changes to be detected)

Nautilus context menu will not show outside of the Insync folder.

Applets now have a pause/resume button to start/stop Insync from downloading and uploading.

Gdocs are now downloaded in Open Document Format

Built with Debian, fixes glibc error for Debian users.

Download Insync for Linux Beta 9 Here

Enjoy! 

[insynchq]

Our Insync for Linux Beta 4 is here!

Hi Everyone!

Last July, we rolled out our Insync for Linux and we are very glad that most of the feedback we got was positive. We’re very thankful for all the forum users who helped us test the past betas of our Linux client. Today, we are very excited to announce beta 4 of Insync for Linux! 

Looking at all the different DEB and RPM packages in the Beta4 forum post, you are already thinking - when are these guys going to get around to setting up a PPA to “apt-get” from?  Its coming soon, we are working on it now.

Thanks to Mark of nwlinux.com.You can now install Insync using apt-get. 

Add the following source to /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://insync.nwlinux.us /

Install command: sudo apt-get install insync-beta-ubuntu

It was only tested uding Ubuntu 12.04 only.

Insync Applet - Linuxmint - Cinnamon Desktop

Our goal is to provide support for all the popular desktops: Unity, Gnome3, Cinnamon, KDE and XFCE.  Running “insync” with no arguments defaults to the Unity desktop, this requires AppIndicator (an Ubuntu standard) so it will work all the Ubuntu variants like: Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc.  To use Insync with Gnome3 or Cinnamon, install the Javascript applet, and run “insync --gnome”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Options

insync --gnome

Run insync with Gdbus server that connects to either Javascript applet for Gnome or Cinnamon.

insync --kde

Run insync in KDE mode.

insync --kde --plasmoid

Run insync in KDE mode and display recent file updates in the Insync Plasmoid.

This allows you to see badge (emblem) updates on recently changed files.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advanced Options

insync --use-gevent-inotify

Run insync with Inotify gevent loop. This is most likely slower than the new default threaded loop. 

insync --allow-dot-files

Run insync and sync files that start with the “.” character.  (useful for github hidden files, etc.)

Insync Applet - Fedora - Gnome 3.2 Desktop

Download Insync Linux Beta 4

Happy Insync experience Linux users! If you have any questions regarding our linux client or need help getting started, please visit our forum or contact us anytime at [email protected]

[insynchq]

How to sync Gmail Attachments on Google Drive and Dropbox using Insync

Don’t you wish to save and sync all your Gmail attachments in one place? Last July 27, 2012, Insync announced one of their cool features - Insync for Gmail that allows you to sync, organize and send all email attachments to Google Drive or Dropbox with the use of labels.  Anyway, below is the procedure that can help you on how to sync all your email attachments:

1. You need to login via http://insynchq.com/gmail using your Gmail account you’re trying to connect with Insync

2. After successfully login in, you will be redirected to Insync for Gmail web interface wherein you can add Drive and/or Dropbox as services.

3. Once you add Drive and/or Dropbox, Insync for Gmail will ask for your confirmation to allow access for that account.

4. Then you will be redirected to the page wherein you’re going to set Drive and/or Dropbox as a label. After that, you will see the connected services.

5. Check out your Gmail account, and you will now see the label that you’ve set (@Drive or @Dropbox). You can now try to use it. Just set the labels to email with attachments that you wish to sync with Drive or Dropbox.

Just as simple as that, no need to download and install anything. Remember that it is free during beta. Happy syncing and backing up your gmail attachments!  

For inquiries, bugs that you encounter and any other concerns, just drop at our forum or simply email us at [email protected]  so we can attend to you immediately.