Where does the exported file list go?

[ozaz]

Hi,

New user here. Am using version 13.2 in Linux, installed as a Flatpak.

I've run a comparison between two directories. I'd like to keep a record of the comparison and I see there is an "Export File List" option in the Tools menu.

After running this, a message appears near the bottom of the window reporting "File list exported", but it doesn't tell me where it has been saved to or what its called. The log also doesn't seem to provide this information.

Where can I find the exported file list?

Thanks

[xCSxXenon]

On Windows, it opens up the csv file in Excel automatically. The file is stored in my 'Temp' Appdata folder. Do you have a program installed that automatically opens up csv files? Is there a Linux equivalent to "AppData" that you can look in?

[therube]

There really needs to be a way - but there is not, to Save the .csv.

As it is, the file is written to a temporary directory (like %TMP%/FFS-guid/ on Windows, perhaps ~tmp or /tmp on Linux?).
Further, the file only exists so long as FFS remains open.
(As in, when FFS closes, the file is purged [automatically].
[More correctly, the %TMP%/FFS-guid/ directory.])

If one does not have a program set up to handle .csv (I do not), it gets to be a bit, awkward.
With a Save, I'm free to do with the saved file what I want.


(Now sure, I can make a copy of the file, while it exists, & then I have it, but that's besides the point.)

On my end, the file is named "STEVEN~guid" (where guid is a "random" set of 4 digits).
Now, while STEVEN is my name, not sure where that is being picked up from (unless maybe my license?) cause that is not my Username (though I do have an Admin account named STEVEN).

On Linux, maybe it might use the results of uname -n (or not)?


Oh, I thought I've been here before, Export File List : Stop Calc/Excel from grabbing CSV.

[ozaz]

I've only been using FFS for a short time but I agree it would be much better if there was a way to save the csv in a user defined location as an alternative to having it routed to the default app assigned to csv files. In addition to the Linux version I've been trying the Windows version today and the 1,048,576 row limit in Excel means its a problem that it tries to open the CSV straight into Excel. I guess I could temporarily change the default csv app to something else but this is a nuisance.

Is there a place to send feature requests or do the developers monitor this forum for user-flagged issues?

Back to Linux - LibreOffice is my default app for CSV files (it's what gets launched when I double click a CSV file in the file manager), but FFS isn't opening LibreOffice. I've also tried searching for *.csv files, filnames containing my username, and filenames containing the hostname in /tmp and in my home directory. Didn't find anything that is coming from FFS.

I wonder if installing FFS via Flatpak (from Linux Mint software manager) rather than the tar.gz file from the FFS website is an issue. I'll try changing the installation method and will post back here with how I got on.

[fred_be]

Although I'm not in need of this today, I agree the Export is useful and would be better with a basic "save to disk" implementation (in homedir or configurable location), rather than "open in app that handles .csv".

[Zenju]

Although I'm not in need of this today, I agree the Export is useful

I'm wondering:
Who is in need for a file list export in first place?
Why is this a useful feature to keep in FreeFileSync, rather than remove it to simplify the GUI?
In its current form the "export file list" seems more like an anomaly in the FreeFileSync application, and should probably be removed.

[therube]

(I've never used it.)

Given that there is no other way to get/save said data, regardless of usefulness, there is something to be said about getting to some point in an operation (like after a scan completes) & being able to save the "state" of operations up to that point.

Granted, you are not saving the "state" of operations, in the sense that you can "import" said data to get back to where you were, but at least if things were to go haywire, computer locks up or what not, you may have something to fallback on, refer to, without having to rerun a scan again.

(And granted for most, a scan may be quick, but if you're doing a Content scan it could potentially be very timely.)

[xCSxXenon]

The only use-case that I can think of is exporting the list to submit for verification before the actual sync is run. That would be a pretty niche case though, and it's unlikely that the person using FFS wouldn't have permission to perform the action anyway. Sounds like a business feature at that point

[fred_be]

Although I'm not in need of this today, I agree the Export is useful

I'm wondering:
Who is in need for a file list export in first place?
Why is this a useful feature to keep in FreeFileSync, rather than remove it to simplify the GUI?
...

In this thread, it was OP (ozaz) asking for the feature.
Other people have commented in other threads, that they use it, e.g.
viewtopic.php?t=10926
viewtopic.php?t=9407.
I don't know if there is some way to invite/signal those people to answer your questions

My earlier remark was mostly centered on the idea that IF an export feature exists, THEN it should (IMHO) just create the file (and not try to open another application; whilst making it hard to find or keep said export file).

In an abstract sense, I do like to keep records of my activities in some cases, so I can imagine that some people want to store the difference list. Perhaps to move it to another program where they can view the list more conveniently... perhaps to assure there is nothing "unexpected" in the diffs. Perhaps to prove to themselves later that what they did was correct or at least harmless.

[Plerry]

> Perhaps to prove to themselves later that what they did was correct or at least harmless.

The FFS log-file keeps track of what actually happened, and is therefore better proof of what "they did" than the FFS compare results, which (from that angle) only show what FFS intends/intended to do.

Nevertheless:
In the past, I have some times used the FFS compare result export feature; mostly to review/process the list of "equal" files.
The log-file requires you to run an actual sync, and those "equal" files are not in the log-file anyway.
My usage of FFS in that way was perhaps beside what FFS was designed for, but was convenient to me ...
For such "unintended" use of FFS, I always picked folder pairs with a reasonably limited amount of files (a suggestion to fred_be ...).
So, opening the list in Excel was never a problem.

But I agree with the idea behind the post.
The ability of generating the CSV-file is there in FFS, so why not simply export that file to an accessible location (e.g. the log-file location).

[ozaz]

Back to Linux - LibreOffice is my default app for CSV files (it's what gets launched when I double click a CSV file in the file manager), but FFS isn't opening LibreOffice. I've also tried searching for *.csv files, filnames containing my username, and filenames containing the hostname in /tmp and in my home directory. Didn't find anything that is coming from FFS.

I wonder if installing FFS via Flatpak (from Linux Mint software manager) rather than the tar.gz file from the FFS website is an issue. I'll try changing the installation method and will post back here with how I got on.

Have now replaced my Flatpak installation of FFS (which is the one available via the Linux Mint software manager) with the version that can be downloaded from FFS website (via tar.gz file). FFS is now opening LibreOffice Calc when I use the Export File List function, so it seems Flatpak installation was the thing blocking this. I would however still prefer option to save csv to disk instead of launching the default .csv application, and perhaps this would work with the Flatpak version of FFS.

[ozaz]

I'm wondering:
Who is in need for a file list export in first place?
Why is this a useful feature to keep in FreeFileSync, rather than remove it to simplify the GUI?
In its current form the "export file list" seems more like an anomaly in the FreeFileSync application, and should probably be removed.

For me the ability to export the results of a comparison is useful because it opens up the possibility to analyse the results in a way that may not be available within the file comparison/sync application that generated the list.

For example, I recently had thousands of differences between two drives which I suspected were due to name mangling issues introduced when data was copied from one drive to the other. Being able to export the comparison results and load into a script I wrote myself would have made it easier for me to identify and confirm a list of problematic filename characters that caused the issues. This specific example is of course a niche situation, but the ability to export data from applications are provided to allow users to tackle niche situations themselves.