Today marks the two year anniversary of the debut of Desktop Sync. The release of Sync allowed users to quickly and easily integrate ShareFile into their daily workflow. We found that Sync was able to fulfill a variety of needs – allowing accountants to seamlessly upload tax documents to their client folders and ensuring that sales reps in the field always have the most up-to-date figures. The best part of all – it’s fully automated!

Since that time, we have made many improvements to the tool and introduced a number of enhanced versions. In March of 2011 we released Enterprise Sync, which offered improved capabilities for IT management and large-scale deployment. Some of these features include:

• Compatibility with server and network environments

• Ability for an administrator to create and manage sync jobs for multiple user accounts

• Options to constantly run Sync jobs or schedule jobs to run at designated times

• Detailed logging on each sync job

Enterprise Sync saves IT a great deal of time, particularly with setup and configuration. Rather than needing to deploy Desktop Sync to each individual machine and configure every user, Enterprise Sync allows management from a central location in a much more reliable fashion. This tool also replaces many time-consuming projects such as automated FTP and command line integration.

The next evolution of our Sync offerings came in May of 2012, when we released our native Sync client.  To provide the best experience possible, we started from the ground up with a native client optimized for each specific operating system. This allowed us to introduce a number of exciting features, including:

• Real-time synchronization of files

• File Overlays and ShareFile context menu in Windows Explorer/Finder

• Real-time updates in the system tray/icon bar

• AD/SAML Integration

So far the response to this new Sync tool has been terrific. Our development efforts have continued, focusing in particular on first-time user experience, virtualized environment optimization and promoting ease of use. Currently this tool is only available for enterprise customers, but we hope to provide it to all users in the near future.

If you would like more information or training on any of our Sync tools, please let us know! Our account managers and support staff would love to take some time to discuss your options and provide the best solution to benefit you.

If you aren’t using Sync yet, I would encourage you to give it a look – you may very well find that Sync can fit your needs perfectly!

Using a cloud-based service can help eliminate the possibility of losing your documents. But what about the time it takes to upload all of your files to the cloud?

ShareFile helps simplify this process with our Desktop Sync tool! This tool allows you to set up an automatic synchronization from your local computer to your ShareFile account (and vice versa). Now all you have to do is set up a Sync job and, every 5 minutes, any updated files will automatically be sent to your ShareFile account—now you have a secure backup of all of your files that you can access anywhere! Cool, right? We know!

So, today I’m asking again: Are you syncing? If not, start now! Free up that desktop clutter and save yourself from future headaches!

As I was looking at all of the employees when this picture was taken (just barely over 40) in all of their cool Sync T-shirts, I couldn’t help but think of how much we’ve grown since in a year.  Just one year later we have over 110 employees and growing rapidly!

Since the launch of Sync, we have seen a high adoption rate among users. In case you aren’t familiar with the tool, it allows you to synchronize folders within your ShareFile account with folders on your computer for easy, automatic updates and backup of your data. Users of the Sync tool can choose a ShareFile folder or a local folder to be the source, allowing you to easily mirror a folder in either location. Users also have the ability to set up a two-way sync job so that updates to either folder will be automatically recognized and adopted by the other. This allows users to work from the most up-to-date document at all times.

My favorite part about the Sync tool is it truly streamlines the process of file sharing. It’s easy for you and your team members to work in the same “magic folder” in real time, allowing you to focus on your goals and meeting deadlines. If you or your colleagues are working remotely (or workshifting like we call it here) you can remain current with your clients and colleagues regardless of your physical or virtual location.

For more info on how to setup and use ShareFile Sync or to download the tool now, click here.

Bulk Client & Folder Setup: Your time is already stretched. So, to save a few extra steps, we can help you create your folder structure and users in bulk. With ShareFile’s Bulk Folder Upload option, you can have all of your client users and their portals setup in a single step. Read more here.

Outlook Plug-in: The Outlook Plug-In is an easy way for all of your employees to communicate directly with clients using Microsoft Outlook. With the Outlook Plug-In, you can send files from your desktop, receive files, and even send files that are already stored in your ShareFile account. Learn more about our plug-in here.

Dynamic Folder Templates: This tool allows you to create a default set of subfolders that may be added to new or existing folders on your account to allow for easy folder structure set up when the same subfolders are frequently used. Click here to read more about this new and exciting feature.

ShareFile Desktop Sync: Like most accountants, you probably have a DMS that you use on a daily basis to manage your files. Wouldn’t it be easy if you could extract that data from your DMS into ShareFile? With ShareFile Desktop Sync, you can simply “Save As”, “Print To”, or “Export” directly from your DMS into the folders on your desktop. Get ahead of the curve and learn more about Sync here.

Consolidated Notifications: We realize that keeping up with the activity on your account is a must. However, you are far too busy to sift through hundreds of emails each day. There is a feature in the ‘My Settings’ link of your navigation bar that lets you consolidate those email notifications into a more manageable format. To get more information on this feature, visit our Knowledge Base.

Passwords in emails: As a trusted professional of your clients’ personal information, it is important to provide a high level of security. This feature will send an email to your clients with the password stripped from the email and instructing the clients to contact their accountant for their password. Please contact our support team or your account manager for further details!

Reports: With plenty of items demanding your time, we want to make it as simple as possible to monitor the activity of your ShareFile account. Our reporting tools located in the ‘Admin’ section, will keep you up to date on upload, downloads, and various other activity types. To learn more about our Reporting feature, visit our Knowledge Base

As always, we encourage you to contact us with any questions. Thanks again for choosing ShareFile and good luck with the upcoming tax season.

Watch a short, informative video and learn how ShareFile can help your business.

Be sure to sign up for a 30-day FREE trial and try ShareFile for yourself. Click HERE to get started.

A number of updates have been implemented in the past few weeks to the main application:

Enhancements to Send, Requesting, and Notifications

Distribution Group Updates

More information on folder content available

There is also an update to Enterprise Sync which fixes any issues where large jobs could fail to finish reliability in some cases, and also addresses problems when editing jobs that have not yet initially run. This update also adds the ability to exclude file types from the sync, which is useful if you wish to exclude temporary or backup files.

Got Feedback? We take feedback from our customers seriously.

Send your suggestions to suggestions@sharefile.com.

The ShareFile Sync Power Tool is an automatic synchronization tool allowing you to manage your files and folders directly from your desktop and is a more user-friendly version of our SFCLI tool. ShareFile Sync offers a two-way synchronization option for users to sync files within specific folders for upload and download within the account. The new tool even allows for a one-way synchronization where businesses can protect certain files by designating them to be “upload only” from the user’s desktop into their account.

ShareFile Sync is available to all users in Professional accounts and above; it can also be added to Basic plans as part of the Power Tools package, including a Microsoft Outlook Plug-In. Later this quarter, ShareFile plans to launch an Enterprise Sync tool to provide for more advanced syncing capabilities.

If you have any feedback on the new ShareFile Sync, please send it to suggestions@ShareFile.com.

To learn more, please visit our ShareFile Knowledge Base Sync page.