Using the Liferay Sync Desktop Client

When Liferay Sync is running, its icon appears in your task bar (Windows) or menu bar (Mac). Clicking this icon opens a menu that lets you work with and manage Liferay Sync.

Figure 1: The Liferay Sync menu in the Windows task bar and Mac menu bar gives you quick access to Sync.

Figure 1: The Liferay Sync menu in the Windows task bar and Mac menu bar gives you quick access to Sync.

The top of this menu shows your Sync status. If all your selected Sites are synced, then your status is Synced.

Below your Sync status, the menu lists three shortcuts for accessing your files:

Open Sync Folder: Select a Site to open its local Sync folder.

View Website: Select a Site to view the page in Liferay DXP that contains its Documents and Media app.

Recent Files: Lists recently created and modified files in the repositories you can access.

Note that if you sync with two or more Liferay DXP instances, Sync shows each at the top of the menu instead of your Sync status. Mouse over each instance to reveal a submenu with that instance’s Sync status and file shortcuts.

Figure 2: When you sync with more than one Liferay DXP instance, Sync shows submenus for each.

Figure 2: When you sync with more than one Liferay DXP instance, Sync shows submenus for each.

Finally, regardless of how many Liferay DXP instances you sync with, the menu lists the following three options:

Preferences: Open Sync’s preferences.

Help: Open Sync’s documentation.

Quit: Shut down Sync on your machine.

Next, you’ll learn how to use Sync’s preferences to control how Sync functions on your machine.

Using Sync Preferences

You can use Sync’s preferences to add/remove Liferay DXP instances to sync with, edit connection settings, and control Sync’s basic behavior. Open Sync’s preferences by clicking the Sync icon in the task bar (Windows) or menu bar (Mac OS) and selecting Preferences. A preference screen for your instance accounts displays. This is the Accounts tab in Preferences.

Figure 3: The Preferences menus Accounts tab lets you manage syncing with Sites per account.

Figure 3: The Preferences menu's *Accounts* tab lets you manage syncing with Sites per account.

The Accounts tab contains the following options:

Accounts: The accounts you sync with. When you select an account, the Sites you have permission to sync with are shown on the right under Syncing Sites. You can use the plus, minus, and pencil icons at the bottom of the account list to add, delete, or edit an account, respectively. You should use caution when deleting an account from your Sync client, as doing so also deletes any local files and folders for that account. Adding an account takes you through the same set of steps you used to set up the Sync client. Click here for instructions on this.

Syncing Sites: The Sites you have permission to sync with for the selected account. The Sites you currently sync with are shown under Selected Sites. Other Sites available for syncing are shown under Unselected Sites. To change the Sites you sync with, click the Manage Sites button. The window that appears lets you select and/or unselect Sites to sync with. This window is identical to the one that appeared when you first configured the client. Click here and see step two for instructions on using it. Use caution when de-selecting Sites. De-selecting a Site deletes its folder on your machine.

Location: The selected account’s local Sync folder location. Click the Change button to change this folder’s location.

The Preferences menu’s General tab contains settings for the Sync client’s general behavior. It lists the following options:

Launch Liferay Sync on startup: Starts Sync automatically each time your machine starts.

Show desktop notifications: Shows a small notification in the corner of your screen when a synced file changes.

Automatically check for updates: Automatically check for new client versions. You can click the Check Now button to check for updates manually.

Figure 4: The Preferences menus General tab contains settings for Syncs general behavior.

Figure 4: The Preferences menu's *General* tab contains settings for Sync's general behavior.

Finally, the Preferences menu’s Network tab controls how Sync transfers data with your Liferay DXP servers. It contains the following options:

Download Rate: To limit the rate at which Sync downloads data, select Limit to and then specify the rate.

Upload Rate: To limit the rate at which Sync uploads data, select Limit to and then specify the rate.

Enable LAN Syncing: Whether to download updates from other desktop clients on the same local network before downloading from the server. This can help reduce server load and increase data transfer speeds. Note that LAN syncing only works when enabled in the Liferay DXP instance by the administrator, and in other clients.

Figure 5: The Preferences menus Network tab contains settings for Syncs data transfer behavior.

Figure 5: The Preferences menu's *Network* tab contains settings for Sync's data transfer behavior.

Note that your Liferay DXP administrator can also limit the download/upload rate. In this case, Liferay DXP’s settings take precedent. For example, if you set a 5.0 MB/s download rate in the client but Liferay DXP’s download limit is 2.0 MB/s, the latter takes precedence. Also, the client’s rate applies across all its accounts. For example, if the client connects to three accounts and its download rate is 5.0 MB/s, then the sum of the download rate for all three accounts never exceeds 5.0 MB/s.

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