Selective Sync Issue

[CDay225]

Public Service Announcement:

Beware, I just learned the hard way that when a device is setup to use Selective Sync, if you cut a file that does not reside on that device and paste it say to the desktop of that PC.  The file is deleted.  Before cutting and pasting the file you must download the file so that the file is no longer in Selective mode.  Otherwise the Selective file just gets deleted (and not moved to a recycle bin where it can be easily recovered) when you cut it before opening it/downloading it.

Sync team,
Please fix this so that files are not accidentally lost, like mine where or could easily become lost by someone who doesn't realize this is how sync functions while in Selective Sync mode.

Thanks so much!

[eltopo]

Please elaborate your problem so we have better understanding.

I really have no idea what you were talking about when you said "if you cut a file that does not reside on that device and paste it say to the desktop of that PC".

[CDay225]

I'll try to clarify.  For example, Computer A has full syncing enabled on a particular set of files and folders.  So all of the files and folders reside on Computer A's harddrive.  Computer B is sharing/syncing with of Comptuer A's files and folder, but Computer B is using "Selective Sync" so none of the files and folders reside on Computer B's harddrive until a particular shared/sync'd file is opened, at which time just that particular file alone is then downloaded to Computer B so that it can open it.  At that point this particular file now resides on both Computer A and Computer B's harddrives and when this particular file is modified, the modification happens to this particular file on both comptuers.

The problem:  All the shared/syncing files live on Computer A.  Say there is a folder called Clothes and within that folder are sub-folders called Hats, Gloves, Shirts, etc...  Computer B can see theses shared files and folders while in Selective Sync mode, but rather than opening them, Computer B decides to restructure a handful of sub-folder arrangements.  Let's say Computer B creates a new sub-folder under Clothes that is called Winter and another called Summer.  Computer B now uses Windows to Cut a particular file (or an entire sub-folder full of files) and then Paste this file (or sub-folder) into a new location, let's say we move the Gloves sub-folder under the newly created Winter folder (from Clothes/Gloves to Clothes/Winter/Gloves.  When Computer B Cuts a file or folder that is Selectively Sync'd, the Sync software doesn't fully understand the Cut command.  It ought to download and then Cut the file, but it doesn't ever download the file.  Instead it Cut's a placeholder which then dissapears when Pasted, the same way that deleting a file would cause it to dissapear except without sending anything to the recylce bin where it can easily be recovered because the Cut file/folder is never fully downloaded.  Cutting a file that is Selectivly Sync'd just gets rid of that file when you Paste it.  The concern/problem is that Computer B just accidentally got rid of the entire Gloves folder and all of the files it contained by simply trying to move/restructure things.  The Gloves folder is not only gone on Computer B, but it's also gone on Computer A as well.

Devices using the Selective Sync method can very easily and unknowingly make sync'd files/folders dissapear with the way the Sync software currently fuctions.  There ought to be a way to disable or warn/remind users who are using Selective Sync about these dangers.  Or somehow make Cutting a file or folder download the file/folder first then Cut it so that things would fuction as expected.  Fortunately, the files I lost were old and less important, but wow it could have been catestrophic had I decided to move around more critical folders while using Computer B.

[AustinRKelly]

If I understand the archive system correctly, you should be able to recover anything like that that may have been deleted by going into Computer A's archive and restoring it.