Staying organised between the cloud and locally stored files

Storing files in the cloud has become an excellent answer for companies. It makes data easier to reach through shared file systems, which is one of the advantages of the cloud for professionals who have to work with colleagues on shared projects. Many users, though, struggle to stay organised between the files held in the cloud and the ones stored locally on their own machine. If that sounds familiar, here are a few tips for finding your way.

Synchronise your data locally

Sharing content is often a necessity for companies. Having the same information on every connected device (laptop, desktop, tablet, phone and so on) makes for better collaboration between colleagues and improves how much the company gets done. To keep everyone equally informed, each person could send the others the files they have edited from their own hard drive.

That quickly becomes tedious, though. There is a more practical answer: local file synchronisation software. These tools for synchronising locally stored data generally take the form of desktop applications installed on each machine in the network. With them, anything added to, removed from or otherwise changed in a file is reflected across every other device the synchronisation program manages.

Cloud computing, a way of making file management simpler

For collaboration to work at its best, data has to be synchronised automatically in both directions. Cloud computing handles that perfectly. It supports quick, easy file sharing between colleagues, along with real-time data synchronisation. Depending on the type of access, several users can read, comment on and even edit the contents of shared files.

Rather than installing a desktop application to synchronise locally stored files, synchronisation in the cloud is handled by web applications built into the service the vendor provides. Every change made to a file in a folder is therefore saved automatically.

That save is immediately followed by an update on every other device with access to the shared cloud space. To manage your data better, you can therefore stick to cloud storage alone. It is an effective way of avoiding headaches of every kind.

Use tools that bring your cloud storage spaces together

Since the arrival of the cloud, the number of services offering this kind of virtual storage keeps growing. While adopting a single environment for managing files in the cloud is the advice, companies and individuals alike sometimes have no choice but to use several. That quickly becomes a problem, because the data ends up scattered across various cloud services.

Fortunately, there are tools that let you centralise and manage several cloud storage services. They are free or paid tools taking different approaches, and they offer features such as:

• managing all of your data through a single web interface;
• synchronising and backing up files across several clouds;
• managing external storage such as NAS devices;
• encrypting outgoing files, and more.

Tools like these make managing your files easier. They let you find and administer, in a few clicks, every file you hold on remote servers.

Synchronise your cloud data from your own machine

Managing files held in the cloud generally means going through a web interface, which calls for a good internet connection. That does not suit everyone. Some people would simply rather not use a web platform for managing files shared in the cloud. Others work on the move, in places where internet coverage is unreliable or absent. What do you do then?

Usually, people in that situation simply create files locally, on their device's hard drive. When they find a connection again, they upload the files to the cloud. The catch is that you end up with different versions of the same file, some in the cloud and some held locally.

It is perfectly possible, though, to use both (cloud and local) at once without conflicts. There is a way of doing it while sparing yourself unnecessary headaches: using a tool that lets you manage your cloud data from the hard drive of your computer.

Use NetExplorer's NetSync application

NetExplorer's NetSync software lets you manage and edit your cloud files directly from your own machine. With NetSync, you no longer have to go through the NetExplorer web platform to reach your documents.

The icing on the cake is that NetSync lets you reach your cloud data even without an internet connection. You can work on files in an area with no coverage, and once the connection is back, the part you changed is synchronised very quickly.

Files are locked automatically while a user is editing them. This professional synchronisation tool therefore spares you version conflicts and duplicates once the data has synchronised. The software also includes a system that prevents accidental deletion, which keeps your data safe.

Use the NetExplorer Drive application

To manage your Drive data effectively from your own machine, you can use an application that works as a kind of bridge between the cloud and your desktop. The NetExplorer Drive application is one example. It was built to give you access to every file you hold in the cloud from your computer, without using up space on your hard drive.

The tool works like a USB stick or an external hard drive. As with NetSync, NetExplorer Drive lets you view and edit your data very quickly. Every change made to a file or folder from the application is updated automatically in the cloud. Unlike NetSync, though, you need a good internet connection to get the most out of NetExplorer Drive.

In short, staying organised between files held locally and in the cloud can feel like an uphill struggle. With the right tools, though, local file synchronisation software, NetSync or NetExplorer Drive among them, you come out of it well. And when your data is organised properly, better results tend to follow.