I deleted or moved a synced folder

What the tray icon tells you

• Amber, with a “?”: Ambifold needs your decision about a folder. Nothing is lost while it waits, and your other folders keep syncing.
• Green, with a grey slash: something isn't connected, such as a disk, a network share or Google Drive itself. Syncing picks up by itself.
• Red, with a “!”: something broke, and your files aren't protected until you act. Open Ambifold and follow what it says.

Ambifold also shows a notification, with buttons for the most likely choices. Click the notification, or choose ‘Work’ needs a decision… in the tray menu, to see every choice on the settings page. Choices that delete something are only on the settings page, and ask you to confirm.

You moved the folder to the Trash

Ambifold puts the folder on hold at once, so nothing is deleted on Google Drive. If you undo it straight away (Ctrl+Z in the file manager), it simply carries on. Otherwise a notification says ‘Work’ is in the Trash. Its copy on Google Drive is still there. You can choose:

• Stop syncing: the copy on Google Drive stays as it is, and ‘Work’ stays in the Trash. You can undo this for 30 days.
• Restore: moves ‘Work’ out of the Trash, back to where it was, and syncing carries on. Restoring it yourself from the Trash works too. If ‘Work’ went to the Trash inside a bigger folder, the button names that folder, for example Restore ‘Projects’: restoring it brings back everything in it.
• Delete it on Google Drive too (on the settings page, after you confirm): moves the Google Drive copy to Google Drive's trash, where you can restore it for 30 days, and stops syncing the folder. Only the folder's owner can do this.

You deleted it for good, renamed it, or moved it to another disk

To Linux, renaming a folder or moving it to another disk can look the same as deleting it. Ambifold puts the folder on hold, and the notification says Can't find ‘Work’. It was renamed, moved or deleted. Its copy on Google Drive is still there., with Stop syncing and Review…. On the settings page you can choose:

• Stop syncing: the copy on Google Drive stays as it is.
• Find it…: show Ambifold where the folder is now, and it keeps syncing it there.
• Download it again: puts a fresh copy from Google Drive where the folder was, but only on the same disk as before. You see how many files it will download before anything happens, and nothing is deleted.
• Delete it on Google Drive too (on the settings page, after you confirm): as for a folder in the Trash.

You renamed it, or moved it on the same disk

Ambifold asks as it does for a deleted folder. Choose Find it… on the settings page and show it the new place: it keeps syncing the folder there, and nothing is copied again. It first checks that syncing there would not delete many files or put older copies over newer ones. (Following a renamed folder by itself comes in a later build.)

It was deleted or moved on Google Drive

That may have been you on drive.google.com, another of your devices, or someone you share the folder with. The copy on this computer is left as it is.

• In Google Drive's trash: ‘Work’ is in the Google Drive trash, with Stop syncing (this computer's copy stays) and Restore on Drive. If a folder above it went to the trash, the button names that folder, because restoring it also brings back everything else in it.
• Deleted for good: ‘Work’ was deleted from Google Drive. The copy on this computer is now the only one. Choose Stop syncing, or Upload it again to a new folder in your Drive; you see what it will upload first.
• Moved or renamed in your Drive: Ambifold follows it and keeps syncing, unless another folder with the same name is at the new place; then it asks.
• Two folders with the same name in the same place: Ambifold can't tell which one to sync, so it waits. Rename or move the one it shouldn't sync, and syncing carries on by itself.
• No longer shared with you, moved to a shared drive, or moved out of My Drive: Ambifold can't reach it. You can stop syncing it, or upload this computer's copy to a new folder in your Drive.

You deleted both copies

Say you moved ‘Work’ to the Trash on your computer, and to the trash on drive.google.com too: in either order, even while Ambifold wasn't running. That means you're done with it, so Ambifold stops syncing ‘Work’ by itself. It deletes nothing, the icon stays green, and a notification says Stopped syncing ‘Work’. It was deleted on this computer and on Google Drive. Both copies are in a trash. If a copy was deleted for good (for example with Shift+Delete), the notification says so instead.

Changed your mind? Use Undo on the notification, or Restore under Recently removed on the settings page, for 30 days. Ambifold takes both copies out of their trash and picks up where it left off. If one trash was emptied in the meantime, it offers to download or upload the other copy again, and shows you what that will do first.

A disk or network share isn't connected

If a synced folder is on a USB disk that isn't plugged in, in an encrypted folder that isn't unlocked, or on a network share that doesn't answer, Ambifold waits. The icon shows the grey slash, and the status says, for example, Waiting for disk ‘MyPassport’. Plug it in or unlock it, and syncing picks up by itself. An empty folder where the disk is usually mounted is never mistaken for a deleted folder. After 7 days, Ambifold asks once whether to keep waiting.

When a folder comes back

Whether you restored it from the Trash, moved it back, or plugged its disk in again, Ambifold first checks what syncing would do, without changing anything. If older files would replace newer ones, which happens when you put an old backup back in the same place, it stops and asks Is this your ‘Work’ folder? Nothing changes until you choose. On a disk that doesn't record when a folder was created (Linux Mint's encrypted home folder, USB sticks, network drives), Ambifold also checks this way after it starts, and whenever it couldn't watch the folder in the meantime.

Stop syncing, and how to undo it

Stop syncing never deletes or moves a file: your files stay on this computer and on Google Drive, as they are. On the settings page, each folder has Stop syncing… for it, every question about a folder offers Stop syncing, and so do the notifications.

Folders you stopped syncing are listed under Recently removed for 30 days. Restore picks up where it left off; Remove now forgets the folder sooner. Neither touches your files.

Setting up the same folder again, somewhere else, while the old one is waiting for your decision? When you add it, Ambifold offers Stop syncing the old one and continue.

Deleting files inside a synced folder

That's normal two-way sync: delete a file on one side, and Ambifold deletes it on the other. A file you delete on your computer goes to Google Drive's trash, where Google keeps it for 30 days. A file deleted on Google Drive is kept in Ambifold's backup folder on your computer for 30 days. If a lot of files go at once (more than half of a folder's files, unless you changed the limit), Ambifold stops before deleting anything on the other side and shows you the list, so you can put them back or confirm. It never deletes more than the list you saw: if more files go before you confirm, it shows you the new list. If files look missing, see what to do first.

What Ambifold never does

• delete anything on the other side because a folder disappeared;
• delete anything without your choice, or delete anything for good: what you choose to delete goes to the Trash on your computer or to Google Drive's trash;
• start a folder over by itself: syncing a whole folder again always shows you a preview first;
• create a missing folder again by itself; only Download it again does that, when you choose it.

Still stuck?

Email support@ambifold.com and say what you did and what Ambifold showed. Paste the version info (on the settings page, About › Copy version info) and attach the diagnostics file (About › Save diagnostics…): it leaves out file and folder names, paths and addresses, and you can read it before you send it.