I might’ve forgotten all about InSync 3 with OneDrive support but mercifully InSync themselves didn’t because, as of today, the tech is out of beta and ready for use!
Yes, InSync 3 is now stable and available to download for Windows, macOS and Linux, though naturally I’m only covering it it from the purview of the latter as there are native Google Drive and OneDrive sync solutions for the first two operating systems.
In all, InSync 3 is a pretty major release for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it introduces a new sync engine called ‘Core 3’ rebuilt from the ground up in Python 3 (hence why this is Insync 3 and not Insync 2).
InSync says the this ‘revved up’ engine will allow them to add new features faster, release new versions faster, and fix bugs faster.
And that’s on top of the sync engine actually being ‘faster’ (and more reliable) than the old one.
All very nice.
But the second and more notable addition is that InSync 3 has OneDrive sync support, including OneDrive for Business and SharePoint.
There hasn’t been a real “user friendly” OneDrive client for Linux for a long time.
Sure, there are plenty of (very good) command line tools out there doing this job (especially via rclone) but entering account credentials in text files and the like isn’t for everyone. A proper GUI — Grandparent Understandable Interface — was overdue.
And InSync 3 delivers that, and much more:
- New ‘faster’ sync engine
- Support for Google Drive and OneDrive accounts
- Create custom ignore rules
- Full selective sync (both local and cloud)
- Support for base folders
- More informative progress bar
There is a “downside” to this otherwise neat slip of news and that is that InSync 3 is not free to use.
Bit of a bummer, but hey: free market and all that.
Only, it kinda gets worse because you have to buy a separate license (which start at $29.99) per account you use with the service. So if you want to sync both Google Drive and OneDrive with InSync 3 you have to buy two licenses — costing almost $60 in total.
On the bright side each license only requires a one-time payment (no ongoing monthly subscription) and will work across platforms (so you can set up and sync to the same accounts on multiple different computers).
And there’s a 15 free trial available so that you (and anyone else interested) can kick the tyres on this cloud sync client to see if it suits your needs.
Learn more over on the InSync website, which is where you’ll find the relevant downloads for Windows, macOS and Linux too: