Sync options

2 min read · updated 23 Jul 2026

Per job, under Edit → Sync.

Transfer mode

ModeBehaviour
New and changed filesThe default. Downloads files missing locally, or differing from the server copy.
New files onlyNever overwrites an existing local file, even if the server copy changed. Use this for archives you edit locally.
Full syncRe-downloads everything on every run, ignoring local state. For repairing a local copy you no longer trust — not for routine use.

Compare by

Applies to new and changed only.

OptionUse when
Size and timestampDefault. Either difference triggers a download.
Size onlyThe server's MDTM response is unreliable.
Timestamp onlyFiles are rewritten in place at the same size.

If the server reports neither a size nor a timestamp for a file, it's refreshed rather than assumed current — the safer assumption when there's nothing to compare.

Pruning: the one option that deletes

Delete local files that no longer exist on the server composes with all three transfer modes and turns the copy into a true mirror rather than an accumulating one.

BEFORE YOU ENABLE THIS: Confirm the remote path is correct and run the job at least once with pruning off. A mistyped path plus pruning is the combination that removes files you wanted.

Two safeguards are built in:

  • A folder is only ever pruned when its remote listing succeeded. A dropped connection cannot be mistaken for "the server has no files", so it cannot wipe your local copy.
  • Files matching an exclude pattern are never deleted, so local-only files inside a mirrored folder can be protected by excluding them.

How a file is judged out of date

A file is downloaded when any of these is true:

  1. It does not exist locally.
  2. The remote size differs from the local size.
  3. The remote modification time is more than 2 seconds newer than the local one.

After a successful download the local file's modification time is set to the remote one, so later runs compare like with like rather than re-fetching the same file forever.

INTERRUPTED TRANSFERS: Downloads land in a .part file and are only renamed into place once the size is verified and the server confirms the transfer. An interrupted run therefore never leaves a truncated file that looks complete — which matters when the file is going to air.

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