Confirm/Refine Actions Dialog Box

This dialog box appears when you use start an interactive sync, or when you use a regular sync but conflicts are found. When using interactive sync, all files in all locations are displayed in the file list (in the picture to the right, the file list is #2); otherwise, the file list shows only those files with conflicts. You can control what files are shown using the combo box above the list (#1).

Each entry in the file list represents all the copies of that file. For example, if you are synchronizing locations A and B, each of which contain a file X, both versions of X are represented by one entry in the file list. Select a file in the file list to show the properties of the each copy of the file in the folder list (#6), and the type of conflict above (#4), if any. The file list has three columns:

• File: the file name, including the relative path from each location to the file.
• Status: This column shows the status of each copy of the file, and also indicates whether there is a conflict. For example, if you are synchronizing three folders, you might see "ON_!!" here. This can be broken as follows:
  • The "O" means that the first copy of the file is "Old", i.e. its date stamp is after the last sync date.
  • The "N" means that the second copy of the file is "New", i.e. its date stamp is after the last sync date.
  • The "_" means that the file does not exist at the third location.
  • The "!!" indicates there is a conflict. If you have set a given conflict type to be handled automatically, only one exclamation mark (!) is shown when it arises.

  As you may have gathered, the first letter in the status column corresponds to the file in the first folder in the folder list (#6), while the last letter corresponds to the file in the last folder.

• Action: This column indicates what action is set to be taken for the file. For example, "Copy #2 (newest)" indicates that qFileSync is to copy the file from the second folder into the other folders, and that it is the newest copy of the file. If the action is followed by "(no effect)", it means that for some reason the action will have no effect. For example, if qFileSync is told to copy the file from folder #2, but the other copy (or copies) of the file are read-only, and the option to overwrite read-only files is disabled, then the action will have no effect. There are many other ways an action can have no effect that I will not cover here. Note: In the interest of brevity, "(newest)" is omitted when "(no effect)" is present.

The five radio buttons (#5) control the basic action that should be taken for the file as follows:

• Undecided: do nothing, and prevent the synchronization from proceeding. If you click Continue with Sync when any files are marked Undecided, qFileSync will warn you that you have not yet chosen what to do.
• Do nothing: does nothing. The situation will be left the way it is. Be aware that when you do nothing, the conflict type could change on a subsequent synchronization as described on this page.
• Use the newest version of the file: Determines which source folder has the newest copy of the file, and copies that file over the others. If--and only if--there is no source copy, qFileSync will instead use the newest copy from a mirror or merge folder. When you choose this option, the folder from which to copy is selected in the folder list (#6).
• Use a specific copy of the file: Use this option to use a copy of the file other than the newest. You don't actually have to click this option, because if you select a file from the folder list (#6) that is not the newest, this option will be selected automatically.
• Delete all copies of the file: Deletes all copies of the file. Normally, however, qFileSync will not delete from Merge into folders unless the option labelled Protect files in "merge into" folder(s) is unchecked.

Additional options are found in area #7 in the picture. Only options that apply to the selected action are shown. The options that may be shown are

• Protect files in "merge into" folders: if checked, qFileSync will not delete files from merge-into folders, and it will only overwrite files with newer copies (not older copies).
• Allow overwrite of read-only/system files: if unchecked, qFileSync will not overwrite read-only and system files.
• Allow delete of read-only/system files: if unchecked, qFileSync will not delete read-only and system files.
• If destination file does not exist, create it: I figure this option is at least as self-explanatory as the last two.
• Re-copy: normally qFileSync will not copy a file if the destination has the same date and size as the source. If this option is checked, the copy is performed even in this case.

Click Reset to Default to re-calculate the action to perform for the selected file(s).

Click Refresh Selected Files to re-read the attributes of the selected files in all folders involved in the sync.

Beware Delayed Behaviour

When you click Continue with Sync, qFileSync behaves as though all the files are in the same state they were when it originally scanned them. For example, if a file existed when the Confirm dialog box appeared, it assumes that it still exists when you click Continue with Sync. If you change a file after the Confirm box appears, qFileSync does not take this into account when you continue the sync. Be careful what you do to files when the Confirm dialog box is up, or during the scanning phase before the box appears. qFileSync will only behave according to its knowledge of the files at the time it scanned their properties; it won't change the action to be taken, or the way it performs that action, afterward.

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