What is Selective Sync?

Dropbox Selective Sync

Selective Sync with Dropbox.

Selective sync is the ability to choose which folders are synchronized to each computer. This can be used to compensate for differences in drive space, or to free up space on your hard drive.

For instance, let’s say you have 1 TB of files on a cloud storage service. You have 2 devices to sync: a PC and a laptop. Your PC has a 4 TB drive, which is plenty of space to sync your 1 TB of files to. However, your laptop only has a 250 GB hard drive. If you sync your laptop to the cloud, that 1 TB account would use up all the space on your laptop’s drive. Not good!

This is where selective sync comes in. By being able to select which folders sync on each computer, you can compensate for smaller hard drives. You can also unsync folders which might not be needed on certain computers. For example, you could stop your “Family Photos” folder from syncing to your work computer.

Many cloud storage services support selective sync, but each one implements it slightly differently. Here’s how you can enable this feature for the most popular services.

Selective Sync with Google Drive

  1. Click on the Google Drive icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Click the settings icon, then click Preferences.
  3. Select Sync only these folders.
  4. Uncheck the folders you don’t want to sync.
  5. Click Apply.

Selective Sync with Dropbox

  1. Click on the Dropbox icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Click the gear icon, then click Preferences.
  3. Click the Account tab, then click Selective Sync.
  4. Uncheck the folders that you don’t want to sync to the current computer.
  5. Click Update.

Selective Sync with Microsoft OneDrive

  1. Right-click the OneDrive icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Click Settings.
  3. Click the Account tab.
  4. Click Choose folders next to “Choose folders to sync on this device.”
  5. Uncheck the folders you don’t want to sync.
  6. Click OK.

Selective Sync with MEGA

  1. Click the MEGA icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Click the gear icon, then click Settings.
  3. Go to the Syncs tab, and click Add.
  4. Add the folder(s) you want to sync.

Selective Sync with MediaFire

  1. Click on the MediaFire icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the manu bar).
  2. Click the gear icon, then click Preferences.
  3. Go to the Sync Folder tab.
  4. Check Choose which folders to sync to this computer.
  5. Check the folders you want to sync to the computer.
  6. Click Apply.

Selective Sync with Yandex.Disk

  1. Click the Yandex.Disk icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Click the gear icon, then click Settings.
  3. Go to the Selective sync tab. Uncheck folders you don’t want to sync to the computer you’re using.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Confirm that you want to delete the folders from your computer.

Selective Sync with hubiC

  1. Right-click on the hubiC icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. In the Account tab, click Choose next to select folders to synchronize.
  3. Uncheck the folders you don’t want to synchronize.
  4. Click OK.

Selective Sync with Box

Box does not offer the ability to selective sync folders on different devices. You can unsync folders from all devices, however.

  1. Log into your account on the Box website.
  2. Right-click on the folder you want to unsync, and go to Properties and click Disable Sync for this Folder.
  3. Confirm by clicking Unsync Folder.

Selective Sync with IDrive

  1. Right-click on the IDrive icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Click Start IDrive.
  3. Go to the Sync tab. Make sure sync is enabled.
  4. Click Selective Sync in the top-right corner.
  5. Uncheck folders you don’t want to sync to your computer.
  6. Click Save.

Selectively Sync with pCloud

  1. Click on the pCloud icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Go to Sync, then click Add New.
  3. Add the folder(s) you want to sync.

Selective Sync with Cubby

  1. Click on the Cubby icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Click on Open Cubby.
  3. Hover over the folder you want to selectively sync, then click Sync.
  4. Toggle the On/Off button next to the computer you don’t want to sync the folder to.

The folder will be unsynced, but you’ll still have to manually delete the files from the local drive. If you turn on the sync in the future, files will be re-downloaded from the cloud.

Selective Sync with Tresorit

  1. Click on the Tresorit icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Click Open Tresorit.
  3. Hover over the Tresor you want to selectively sync. Click More, then click Selective Sync.
  4. Uncheck the subfoldrs you want to unsync, then click Sync these items.

Selective Sync with SecureSafe

  1. Click on the SecureSafe icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Click on the File Safe tab.
  3. Click on the Synchronized Folders tab.
  4. Uncheck Synchronize – Automatically next to the folder you wish to unsync.

Selective Sync with Sync.com

  1. Click on the Sync icon in the notification area (Mac users: in the menu bar).
  2. Click Preferences.
  3. Go to the Advanced tab.
  4. Uncheck the folders you want to unsync from the computer.
  5. Click Apply.