SyncTrayzor is a little tray utility for Syncthing on Windows. It hosts and wraps Syncthing, making it behave more like a native Windows application and less like a command-line utility with a web browser interface.
SyncTrayzor is a tray utility designed to enhance Syncthing's functionality on Windows. It wraps Syncthing, providing a native application experience rather than a command-line tool with a web interface.
Key Features:
Built-in web browser for accessing Syncthing's interface without external browsers.
Option to start automatically on login, eliminating the need for service setup.
Tray icon indicating synchronization status and activity.
Alerts for file conflicts, out-of-sync folders, and completion of sync operations.
Tool for resolving file conflicts efficiently.
Pauses device syncing on metered networks to conserve data usage.
Multi-language support for global accessibility.
Audience & Benefit:
Ideal for Windows users requiring seamless file synchronization. SyncTrayzor offers a native experience with real-time notifications and conflict management, streamlining the sync process. It integrates effortlessly into daily workflows, ensuring efficient and trouble-free file sharing across devices. Available via winget for easy installation.
README
SyncTrayzor
> [!NOTE]
> This is SyncTrayzor v2, a continuation of the (discontinued) original SyncTrayzor by @canton7 (Antony Male)
SyncTrayzor is a little tray utility for Syncthing on Windows.
It hosts and wraps Syncthing, making it behave more like a native Windows application and less like a command-line utility with a web browser interface.
Features include:
Has a built-in web browser, so you don't need to fire up an external browser.
Optionally starts on login, so you don't need to set up Syncthing as a service.
Has drop-box style file download / progress window
Tray icon indicates when synchronization is occurring.
Alerts you when:
You have file conflicts
One of your folders is out of sync
Folders finish syncing
Devices connect / disconnect
Has a tool to help you resolve file conflicts
Can pause devices on metered networks, to stop Syncthing transferring data on e.g. a mobile connection or wifi hotspot.
Contains translations for many languages
Installation
SyncTrayzor is packaged as both an installer and standalone zip. It will run on Windows 10 or newer.
First, what went wrong? Remember that SyncTrayzor is a wrapper around Syncthing.
Syncthing is the file synchronization program, which has a web interface.
SyncTrayzor is the tray utility, looks like a normal Windows program, and has menus and suchlike, and a big area where Syncthing's web interface is displayed.
Will SyncTrayzor phone home / give away my secrets / etc?
SyncTrayzor's auto-update mechanism will periodically call a script (found in server/version_check.php, hosted on a server of mine) to find out if there's an upgrade available.
It will disclose your current SyncTrayzor version, and the package you downloaded (installer/portable and x64/x86).
It will also reveal your IP address, which is unavoidable.
You can turn off auto-updates in the Settings, but in that case you are responsible for manually checking for updates.
Usage information, details of your computer / network / syncthing setup / etc are not reported.
How can I be sure that I'm not downloading a virus?
You can be paranoid and build everything from source (after auditing the source), or you can trust that I'm a good person who's trusted by the Syncthing developers.
You can verify that this GitHub account hasn't been compromised and is releasing malicious downloads by following the steps in the Security README.
This process also lets you verify that Syncthing's developers trust me to release non-malicious software.
What will SyncTrayzor do to Syncthing?
It's worth noting that SyncTrayzor will override the 'GUI Listen Address' and 'API Key' in Syncthing's configuration.
This is because it needs to fully control these values, in order to ensure that it can communicate with Syncthing.
However, you can set these values in File -> Settings, if you want to customise them.
What will SyncTrayzor do to my system?
Good question. The answer depends on whether you installed SyncTrayzor using the installer, or are running it standalone.
Installed
The Installed version of SyncTrayzor will install itself into C:\Program Files\SyncTrayzor or %LocalAppData%\Programs\SyncTrayzor for all-users or current-user version respectively.
By default, SyncTrayzor will put its own configuration in C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\SyncTrayzor, and let Syncthing use its default folder for its database, which is C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Syncthing.
It will also create a registry key at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\SyncTrayzor the first time that it is run, which will let it start when you log in.
You can delete this registry key by unchecking "Automatically start on login" in the settings.
You can set a custom home path for Syncthing in the settings if you wish (Settings -> Syncthing -> Advanced -> Syncthing Custom Home Path).
This is useful if you want to keep the copy of Syncthing managed by SyncTrayzor separate from another copy running on your machine.
The auto-update mechanism may download updates to %TEMP%\SyncTrayzor.
This location is periodically cleared out.
Portable
SyncTrayzor Portable will put its own configuration in SyncTrayzorPortable\data, and tell Syncthing to use SyncTrayzorPortable\data\syncthing for its database.
This means that, when manually upgrading, you can simply move the 'data' folder over to move all your settings and database.
The portable version won't start on login by default. If you check "Automatically start on login" in the settings, then a registry key will be created at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\SyncTrayzor.
The auto-update mechanism may download updates to %TEMP%\SyncTrayzor.
This location is periodically cleared out.
Migrating between "raw" Syncthing, Portable, and Installed SyncTrayzor
Here's a handy table of what you need to copy where if you're migrating between different combinations of "raw" Syncthing, SyncTrayzor Installed, and SyncTrayzor Portable.
From
To
Actions
"raw" Syncthing
SyncTrayzor Installed
None
"raw" Syncthing
SyncTrayzor Portable
Copy the contents of C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Syncthing into the data\syncthing folder inside the portable directory
SyncTrayzor Installed
"raw" Syncthing
None
SyncTrayzor Installed
SyncTrayzor Portable
Copy the contents of C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Syncthing into the data\syncthing folder inside the portable directoryCopy C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\SyncTrayzor\config.xml to data\config.xml
SyncTrayzor Portable
"raw" Syncthing
Copy the contents of the data\syncthing\ folder inside the portable directly into C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Syncthing
SyncTrayzor Portable
SyncTrayzor Installed
Copy the contents of the data\syncthing folder inside the portable directory into C:\Users\\AppData\Local\SyncthingCopy data\config.xml to C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\SyncTrayzor\config.xml
Backups
For the installed version of SyncTrayzor, in order to save your configuration (both Syncthing's and SyncTrayzor's), you will need to backup the following paths:
C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\SyncTrayzor
C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Syncthing
Using Syncthing beta releases
Installed
SyncTrayzor keeps two copies of syncthing.exe.
The copy that is executed is at C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\SyncTrayzor\syncthing.exe.
This one is writable by the user, allowing Syncthing to auto-upgrade.
There's also a backup copy in SyncTrayzors main install directory.
This one is copied to C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\SyncTrayzor\syncthing.exe if that one does not exist (SyncTrayzor has never been run before for that user, for example). SyncTrayzor will attempt to upgrade this version when copying it.
If you want to manually upgrade (e.g. to a beta version) you should download Syncthing from the releases page, and replace the syncthing.exe in C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\SyncTrayzor.
Portable
SyncTrayzor keeps two copies of syncthing.exe.
There's a copy in data\syncthing.exe, which is the one which is run. There's also a copy next to SyncTrayzor.exe, which is used if the one in data\ is missing.
If you want to manually upgrade (e.g. to a beta version) you should download Syncthing from the releases page, and replace the one at data\syncthing.exe.
Building from Source
You'll need the VC++ redist (2022+ release) installed. Most Windows machines have it already. Next, you need to install the .NET SDK, currently 8.0 LTS. Some IDEs, like Visual Studio Code or JetBrains Rider can also help you in setting this up.
Clone/download the repository, open src\SyncTrayzor.sln in your IDE, and compile. If you've compiled .NET programs before, this should be familiar.
You'll also need to download syncthing.exe and place it in the binary output folder as appropriate (SyncTrayzor will guide you to the exact location in an error message, if required).
Notes for System Administrators
The installer is built using Inno Setup, and has various command-line options, documented here.
If you pass the /silent command-line flag when SyncTrayzor won't be launched when the installer completes: add /StartSyncTrayzor to override this (which also causes SyncTrayzor to be launched minimized).
There are various parameters inside the file SyncTrayzor.exe.config which can be customised by system administrators, including the default SyncTrayzor configuration (used to create the user's SyncTrayzor config file when SyncTrayzor is first launched).
To override these, pass the flag /SyncTrayzorExeConfig="Path\To\Customized\SyncTrayzor.exe.config" to the installer -- the specified SyncTrayzor.exe.config will overwrite the default.
Note that the contents / structure of SyncTrayzor.exe.config may change between releases.
Using the wrong version may cause a crash, or incorrect behaviour.
