Syncplicity

File synchronization and online storage services have caught on with users and for good reason. It's tough to work efficiently when some of your files live on your home computer, other files are on your office computer, and even more are spread out across various mobile devices. Syncplicity is one solution to the problem of how to access your files from anywhere, but it's not nearly as easy to use as its main competitors Dropbox and SugarSync, our Editors' Choices. A dated and unintuitive interface make the Windows desktop app for Syncplicity clunky to use, and a number of settings and services are only available through the Website.?

With Syncplicity, as with Dropbox and SugarSync, you create an account, get some allotment of free space with more available for purchase, and then select which files and folders you want to synchronize and have backed-up into an online space. Once that's done, you can download, share, or edit your files from any Web-enabled device and typically from a number of apps, like iOS or Android apps. For example, if you leave your resume on your home computer but suddenly need it while you're at work, you can retrieve it from Syncplicity in a few clicks?as long as you've saved it there or store it in a folder that you've told Syncplicity to back up. You can also see previous versions of backed-up ?files, if you ever need to turn back the clock a bit.

Syncplicity works, but it provides nowhere near as simple and efficient an experience as our Editors' Choices, SugarSync and Dropbox. Additionally, you can only sync two devices with a free account, which may not cut the mustard for people with a highly digitized lifestyle.

Storage Space and Price
A free Syncplicity account sets you up with 2GB, which is equal to Dropbox, but pales in comparison to SugarSync's 5GB, over the impressive 10GB that CX currently gives away. For about $15 per month, Syncplicity only opens up 50GB of space to you, whereas SugarSync doubles it at 100GB for the same price. And if you only need 50GB, you might as well pay Dropbox the lower price of $9.99 per month. Syncplicity doesn't have any file size limits for individual files, while Dropbox's website prohibits you from uploading anything bigger than 300MB (the Dropbox desktop app easily handles larger files and has no limit).

Problems With Interface and Features
I had no problems installing the desktop app for Syncplicity on Windows XP, but when it came time to select folders to sync, I felt frustrated quickly due to the app's interface. What I saw was the start of a tree view of folders on my computer, with checkboxes next to each folder. I wanted to select individual subfolders, but I couldn't without first selecting the main folder and then selecting the subfolders. The complete tree view doesn't show up on screen until you tick the box of the folder, which means "sync it." Once you do, there's a plus sign to indicate you can show the subfolders and files, but the plus sign doesn't appear until you've marked a folder to sync. It should be there from the start. If you try to select a subfolder but unselect the folder in which it's nested, you can't. In other words, you have to select through the whole path to reach subfolders, while unchecking the sub items that you don't want included.?

In setting up, I also exceeded my space quickly, because the free account only gives you 2GB and I had a large video to sync. With SugarSync, a generous 5GB goes to all free account holders?more than double what you get with Syncplicity and Dropbox.

Another big problem with the desktop application is you can't do very much with it. To get to all the features, like synchronization with Google Docs (which in itself is difficult to figure out how to use) you have to use the Syncplicity website, which has an admittedly better interface, although it's still nothing to write home about.

Neither the website nor desktop app have good visibility into how much space your account has used versus what is left to use, which is unacceptable for a service that is at its core providing online storage. The only place I saw it was under the Account tab on the website. What I think users need to see is a tiny counter or pie chart in the corner of their online dashboards, or bottom of the software interface window, pretty much at all times. When I upload files, I want to see file size counts, percentage counts, and other metrics before and during the upload. Syncplicity does none of this.

Syncplicity Far Behind
It's very difficult to recommend Syncplicity given that SugarSync and Dropbox provide the same core service, but do it better. SugarSync gives you more space with a free account. And with a paid account, Dropbox beats Syncplicity on price.

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