Archivist Sync

Archivist Sync watches the folders you choose on your computer and sends their changes to your archive. It works one way only: it never changes, moves or deletes a file on your computer.

Installing it

In The Archivist, open Settings → Libraries → Sync folders from this computer. It shows the line for your system, with Copy.

macOS: open Terminal (press ⌘ Space, type Terminal, press Return), paste this line and press Return.

curl -fsSL https://the-archivist.cc/sync/install.sh | sh

Windows: open PowerShell (press the Windows key, type PowerShell, press Enter), paste this line and press Enter.

irm https://the-archivist.cc/sync/install.ps1 | iex

Linux: the same line as macOS, in a terminal.

The script needs no administrator password, and puts everything in your own folders. It checks the program it downloads against checksums from a signed release, and stops if they don’t match. Then it makes Archivist Sync start when you log in, adds a shortcut to its page, and opens that page in your browser.

Running the line again repairs or updates an installation and keeps its settings.

Or ask your AI assistant. Settings → Libraries also has a prompt you can give an assistant that can run commands on your computer, so it does the setup for you.

Connecting it

On its page, press Connect. A tab opens in The Archivist asking “Connect Archivist Sync on ?” with a code to check. Press Connect.

Archivist Sync can then add, update and remove documents in the folders it syncs from this computer. It can’t read or search your archive. You connect once per computer, however many folders you sync.

Choosing folders

Under Add a folder, choose Documents, Desktop or Choose a folder…. Before you press Start syncing, the page shows how many files it would sync and how many it would leave out.

Each folder gets its own name in your archive, such as archivist-sync-documents, which you can change before you start.

What it syncs

• Markdown and plain text;
• PDFs, Word and OpenDocument files, spreadsheets, CSV, HTML and XML. These are converted to text, and only the text is kept;
• files up to 10 MB each.

Hidden files and folders are left out, and so is your system’s clutter, such as .DS_Store and Thumbs.db. Everything left out is listed on the page.

When it syncs

• when it starts;
• about 2 minutes after you last change something in a folder;
• every 15 minutes, in case it missed a change;
• when you press Sync now.

If your computer is asleep or offline, it catches up when it can.

Deleting files

A file you delete from a synced folder is removed from your archive at the next sync.

If a sync would remove more than 20 documents and more than a quarter of a folder, Archivist Sync stops and asks first. That covers an unplugged drive, or a cloud drive that hasn’t downloaded yet. Its page, and Settings → Libraries, then say how many documents would be removed, with Remove them and Not now. A folder that’s gone altogether isn’t synced at all until it comes back.

Updating and uninstalling

It checks for updates once a day, and installs a new release only if it’s signed by the project’s release key.

To uninstall, press Uninstall on its page. That stops it, removes it and its settings, and disconnects it. What it synced stays in your archive.

The program is open source, at github.com/code-ministry-ltd/archivist-sync.