Introduction to Project Sync

What is Project Sync for?

Project Sync puts the files you are working with right where you need them—on your Desktop PC or Mac. This makes it easy to work with your files in desktop apps.

As synced files are just normal files on your file system, you can edit them with your normal tools: Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, Sketch etc. For example, you can sync collections stored in Chorus to provide stock images to use in an InDesign document - and in the same folder, export a PDF proof which will be synced to Chorus where it can be viewed by your team.

Having direct access to your project files also makes it super-easy to share them online. Creating a social media post is as simple as selecting a file from your hard disk. This works well with cropped derivates—you can crop and resize images in Chorus and then sync them as derivatives to your desktop where they will be ready to be used immediately.

How does Project Sync work?

Project Sync is an app that runs in the background on your Mac or PC.

It syncs files, folders and collections by downloading them from your Chorus server every time you change them, and then back to your Chorus site every time you edit them on your desktop. It only does this on a special folder stored under your home directory for Chorus content, the "Sync" folder.

When you save a file to the Sync folder, there is a short intentional delay of a few seconds to allow things to settle, and then the file is transferred automatically to your Chorus server.

If you save over a file, it becomes a new revision of that file in Chorus.

Project Sync watches a single sync folder in your private space in Chorus. If you add a file to the folder or a collection in the Sync folder on Chorus, it downloads it to your PC or Mac. If you edit a file in your Sync folder on Chorus, the file is updated on your Mac or PC.

Files within folders are also synced - and so are all the folder and files within them.

If you add a file to the Sync folder on your PC or Mac, any changes to files or folders are uploaded to the Sync folder in your private space.

Changes to collections are not uploaded from your Mac or PC as you can’t upload into a collection.

You can have Project Sync running on more than one PC or Mac. Changes you make on one device will be synced up to Chorus and then synced down to your other devices.

How do you collaborate using Project Sync?

Project Sync provides team collaboration through shared folders.

A space manager shares a folder with each team-member for them to place in their sync folder in their private space. Everyone who has the folder shared with them will be able to edit the files and see real-time updates as they work together.

Updating a file is then as simple as hitting save.

With the Project Syncer in use, each member of the team can work more efficiently:

• Designers can work in their desktop apps such as Photoshop or In-Design, saving their project files and exporting proofs directly into the shared folder.

• Copy-text can be written to the same folder ready to be linked or pasted into the documents.

• Stock photos can be selected by one team-member and synced in a collection to other team- members for approval and use.

• The final document can be exported directly into the same folder, synced to Chorus to be sent to a publisher using a published link or an external user account.

Because a project is just a shared folder, they can be organised however you like in a space and even moved from one folder to another within the space without breaking the share.

Similarly, you can organise the shared folders within your Sync folder however you like. Once a project is finished the share can be removed and the folders will disappear from everyone’s desktops.

Project Sync provides the best of two worlds

Project Sync allows every kind of project work to happen in a single system. Any application that can open and save files (including on Windows or macOS) can work with the Sync folder on the local hard drive. Those files also sync to Chorus; a fully-featured DAM product with sophisticated workflow, derivatives, versioning and permissions features which connects different ways of working into a single, consistent place.

This makes Project Sync incredibly natural to use as a tool for both work-in-progress, as well as sharing and collaborating.


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