I’m a big fan of Microsoft’s free FolderShare service. FolderShare is a piece of software you download for free and then it allows you to almost painlessly synchronize files between multiple computers. You can set up shared folders or files between your own computers (XP and/or OSX) but you can also invite others to share individual folders, and this is where it gets really useful.

My uses for this range from sharing separate folders with business associates, clients and friends and family members. My brother and I use FolderShare to share local Los Angeles and Chicago radio broadcasts recorded with RadioShark. I sometimes set up a shared folder with a client so we can share documents too large to email. My business partners and I share a Library folder where we deposit whitepapers, pdfs of magazine articles and anything we think might be useful reference material for our shared project. I think you get the idea.

The point of this blog posting is to give you a little head start with FolderShare, should you want to try it out.

  • At the time of my writing FolderShare says they don’t support Mac OSX 10.4.8 but I’ve not had any problems with it so don’t be afraid to try it out if your Mac is new.
  • Don’t try to share a database type file, like your Outlook or Entourage data. The asynchronous manner in which FolderShare works can really mess things up and my experiment lead to the loss of 1.5 days of emails and address book updates. You might have more luck if you set this ‘Share to only sync manually.
  • I have had some success sharing a Quickbooks database, but only because I see to it that the two files are never opened anywhere near the same time. Depending on the size of your Quickbooks data file we’re talking hours here, not minutes.
  • One function that’s really cool is often overlooked. If you log into the FolderShare website you can click on the “Access My Files” button and navigate to any file on any of your computers (called devices) currently logged in. You can’t navigate to invited member’s computers, as you’d probably imagine, but you can use FolderShare to remotely access any file on any of your computers, not just those files that are in FolderShare shared folders. Unfortunately these downloads are pretty slow relaying through the FolderShare system, so use this as a last resort.
  • Another really cool function is that you can search for content on any of your connected computers using the integrated Google Desktop and Apple Spotlight. You access this function through the FolderShare website. If you’re an XP user, as I used to be, there’s now no need to install Google Desktop, just search your local machine on FolderShare. I figured Microsoft would have killed this once they purchased FolderShare back in 2005, but so far they’ve left it alone.
  • I’ve had bad luck trying to share folders on an external hard drive. It doesn’t matter if it’s XP or OSX, it’s just not a good idea. If a computer logs into FolderShare but doesn’t have a folder available because the external hard drive is disconnected, powered down or momentarily napping, the shared device is kicked out of the ‘Share and needs to be set up again. This is a pain and you just might find yourself waiting a day or more for a large folder to copy itself over again.
  • There’s a 10,000 file limit to each folder so plan accordingly when you set up your folders.
  • There’s a 10 library limit to each account so plan accordingly when you set up your folders. I’m not sure if this means you can only be the owner of ten libraries or if you can only interact with ten libraries. I currently have 11 libraries that all list me as the owner… so don’t tell anybody, ok?

    • I’m sure there’s more if I think about it, so I’ll probably post again on this later.