Insync
insync is an alternative Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive client that is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux which allows you to sync a local folder or symlinked folders with your Google Drive or OneDrive. Whilst previous Beta versions used to be for free, the final release features a trial period after which a one-time payment per account is required.
Installation
Install the insyncAUR package. It contains the synchronization daemon, a systemd service file, and a command-line utility for configuration. It can be used and integrates nicely with different desktop environments such as KDE, Gnome, or Cinnamon.
Configuration
--set-files-path
flag is no longer necessary. The aforementioned flag has been removed from recent Insync releases.Insync can be started with the insync start
command and stopped with the insync quit
command. A shortcut for starting Insync should be available in the applications menu of your desktop environment.
Running as a systemd service
Enable insync@user.service
or the systemd user service insync.service
.
Cinnamon
When you start insync from the start menu it may not appear in the taskbar. For that, you need to add the taskbar applet by right-clicking on your panel.
Usage
The usage is self-explanatory. Copy files and folders from and to your local folder to sync it with your Google Drive.
Control via CLI
CLI support was dropped in the latest versions. However, users who need CLI support or want to use Insync headless can use Insync 1.5.7.
See Headless and CLI community support and How to control Insync via command line (CLI).
Troubleshooting
Slow sync process
The default systemd service file provided in insyncAUR uses the --synchronous-full
flag to make sqlite transactions safer and prevent database corruption. However, for some users this might considerably slow down the sync process. If you do not need full synchronisation, use a drop-in file to modify the variable:
GUI not starting and failing silently
When running insync start
, the status tray icon does not appear and insync does not start.
According to , this is due to . You will need to set the Qt4 theme to something other than GTK using .
This issue is sometimes observed when using the Nouveau driver for NVIDIA graphics cards, and can be resolved by using the proprietary NVIDIA drivers.
Running insync start --no-daemon
from the terminal logs output to stdout and prevents the process from being detached. This makes troubleshooting much simpler.