FolderSync

Chances are you need to work with some files or an entire project from home, and a different computer. This means you might want to keep a transfer folder with the latest updates on file, but manually copying items from one place to another can become frustrating. Luckily, there are various applications like FolderSync to help you greatly ease the process.

Since it requires no installation to function, the application can be used to synchronize a directory from a USB flash drive you carry it around on, with a folder on a different computer. However, for things to work out, you need to check whether the target PC is fitted with .NET Framework. You can rest assured that no modifications are made on registries.

Accommodation is a walk in the park thanks to the intuitive design. The main window is split into two identical panels, one representing the source folder, while the other the destination. Although you can’t drag folders over the main window to get them ready, the built-in browse dialogs don’t cause cause trouble.

To minimize effort, the application gives you the possibility to create, and save pairs of folders, so they can easily be synchronized at the press of a button, without having to go through the hassle of picking folders every time. This makes work a lot more convenient, especially since the application is portable.

Unfortunately, the sync process itself might not be exactly what you expected to find. In other words, files of interest still need to be manually moved from one location to the other, with no possibility to set up an automated process to do so. This can become difficult when dealing with a lot of files, especially because of the lack of a preview pane.

Bottom line is that file management is not difficult when done with default Windows tools, but rather lengthy. However, all that FolderSync manages to accomplish is to provide a better view of the two target folders, and to make moving files in between a little faster. The lack of a built-in scheduler has a considerable impact on practicality.