Overview
You can add folders for backup even if you do not see the folder in the Folders to backup list. These folders are called custom folders. You must add the custom folders for all operating systems.
📝 Note
If you add folders that are not on user devices, administrators receive a misconfigured backup folder alert. To ensure backup across custom folders, ensure that the users create the folder on their devices.
inSync users cannot edit or remove the folders configured by administrators for backup through inSync Client.
Absolute paths to a folder are operating system specific. For example, for Windows, use <drive>:\customfolder, whereas for Linux, use/root/customfolder.
You can set relative paths that include global variables. For more information, see Guidelines on using global variables.
The folder path can contain a maximum of 255 characters.
inSync does not backup network location due to VSS limitation.
Guidelines for using global variables
You can use global variables while adding custom folders for backup. The following sections provide the guidelines for each operating system.
Windows
The following table lists the global variables that you can use on a Windows operating system.
Global variable | Description | Usage Example |
%appdata% | Equivalent to the appdata folder path in Windows. | %appdata%
In this example, if the user is on a Windows 7 device, this is equivalent to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming. |
%userprofile% | Equivalent to the user profile path in Windows. | %userprofile%
In this example, if the user is on a Windows 7 device, this is equivalent to C:\Users\<username>. |
%homedir% | Equivalent to the user's home directory path in Windows. | %homedir%
In this example, if a user is logged on to a Windows 7 device with the user name ABC, this is equivalent to C:\Users\ABC. |
%username% | Equivalent to the user name of the user who is currently logged in on Windows. | %username%
In this example, if a user is logged on to Windows 7 device with the user name ABC and the administrator configured C:\users\%username%\customfolder. In this case, this is equivalent to C:\users\ABC\customfolder. |
Linux
The following table lists the global variables that you can use on a Linux operating system.
Global variable | Description | Usage Example |
%userprofile% | Equivalent to the user profile path in Linux. | %userprofile%
In this example,if a user is logged on to Linux device with the user name ABC, this isequivalent to /home/ABC. |
%homedir% | Equivalent to the user's home directory path in Linux. | %homedir%
In this example, if a user is logged on to Linux device with the user name ABC, this is equivalent to /home/ABC. |
%username% | Equivalent to with the user name of the user who is currently logged in on Linux. | %username%
In this example, if a user is logged on to Linux device with the user name ABC and the administrator configured /home/%username%/customfolder. In this case, this is equivalent to /home/ABC/customfolder. |
Mac
The following table lists the global variables that you can use on a Mac operating system.
❗ Important
The global variables listed here are custom variables defined in inSync, that automatically expand to the defined path as mentioned in the Usage Example column.
Global variable | Description | Usage Example |
%appdata% | Equivalent to the application data location in Mac. | %appdata%
In this example, if the user is on a Mac, this is equivalent to
/Users/<username>/Library/<wbr/>Application Support/ |
%userprofile% | Equivalent to the user profile path in Mac. | %userprofile%
In this example,if a user is logged on to a Mac with the user name ABC, this isequivalent to /home/ABC. |
%homedir% | Equivalent to the user's home directory path in Mac. | %homedir%
In this example, if a user is logged on to a Mac with the user name ABC, this is equivalent to /home/ABC. |
%username% | Equivalent to the user name of the user who is currently logged in on Mac. | %username%
In this example, if a user is logged on to a Mac with the user name ABC and the administrator configured /home/%username%/customfolder. In this case, this is equivalent to /home/ABC/customfolder. |