[SOLVED] Should I use Offline Files?

[Klaleara]

I'm looking to see if Offline Files is decent enough for me to use in a professional environment.

Quick rundown, we store all of the data on the server, and the end user is very...technologically impaired. Causes a large amount of problems, so we are want to make this as few clicks as possible.

Well the client goes off-site from the server site on long vacations which may not have internet. He has...a lot of data that he may or may not use. So picking and choosing isn't an option.

Offline files is the perfect solution on paper. It syncs his files to his computer, he leaves, still has it. And when he gets back, it syncs any changes back to the server.

There has been a long, and horrid history with Offline Files. And I'm mostly worried about sync conflicts.

So I"m wondering, with W10, has it gotten better? Is it decently reliable? What do we have to do here?

 

[jimmysmitty]

I have not seen it get better with Windows 10. In fact we stopped using it because people would come in and even when connected to the network it would say "Offline" and use their cache instead.

Now this was a few versions ago for 10 but we also use VPN and I give them one of two options, either they VPN in to access them or the can use an alternative from Microsoft called SyncToy. Its in essence the same thing as Offline Files but without the auto sync. You setup a local folder on the C drive and then tell it what folder from the server to sync. The problem lies in that you have to sync every time you leave the office and every time you get in if you have made changes otherwise the files might not sync properly. It doesn't have the issues we saw with Offline Files but its not perfect either.

Another solution you can look at is a paid for program I have used called Mirror folder. Essentially it is just like SyncToy but it has the auto sync feature and works pretty well, with a bot more configuration options.

I was looking for a auto sync solution with SyncToy but never tried it. You could setup a job in Windows Task Scheduler. I just never tried it yet so I can't say how well it would work.

 

[Klaleara]

Couldn't have asked for a better response.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Dropbox, OneDrive, thre are alternatives. I subscribe to Office 365 and have 1TB of online space. that's how I sync, and, you never lose it... it's in the cloud. My employer also subscribes so I use that 1TB space for all work stuff/backups/whatever storage

 

[Klaleara]

Dropbox, OneDrive, thre are alternatives. I subscribe to Office 365 and have 1TB of online space. that's how I sync, and, you never lose it... it's in the cloud. My employer also subscribes so I use that 1TB space for all work stuff/backups/whatever storage

Appreciate the reply. But as said, the Data is on the server. And the user won't have access to the internet. Kinda defeats the purpose of Onedrive.

Also, its too much data for his laptop. So an external is required.

We did decided to go with SyncToy with an external, and just have his secretary (Who is more tech reliable) to start the syncs before and after he goes on these trips.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Best of luck in using SyncToy. Short of having to remember syncing the data it works very well.