I used FFS some yrs back at work for simple folder syncs. Then I retired and started using SyncbackSE at home for Mirror Backups and kinda got away from FFS. Now I wanted to try the new FFS version but I'm having trouble re-learning the little bit I used to know.
Doing a trial Mirror on my Thunderbird Profile. It mirrors the entire Thunderbird folder just fine.
But I can't seem to grasp how to exclude two subfolders named Pending Pings & Crash Reports.
The way I read the examples it seemed to say this for filter-> \subfolder\
Appreciate input on what I'm doing wrong.
(Folder Pairs)
Source
C:\Users\DD\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird
Destination
C:\Temp\Users\DD\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird
----------------------------
Filters for All Folder Pairs
Include
*
----------
Exclude
\System Volume Information\
\$Recycle.Bin\
\RECYCLE?\
\Recovery\
*\thumbs.db
---------------------------------
Local Filter for Thunderbird folder
Include
*
-------------
Exclude
\Pending Pings\
\Crash Reports\
--------------------------------
Also is there any way to eliminate the creation of the Last Session ?
Help on exclude subfolders
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Assuming your subfolders Pending Pings and Crash Reports are direct children of your Thunderbird folder, your setup seems like it should work as intended.
Did you try if it works?
Obviously, if you just use a single left-right folder pair to be synced, you can/must simply add the two lines \Pending Pings\ and \Crash Reports\ to your global Exclude filter.
Note that this mirror sync will not delete the right-side location subfolders Pending Pings and Crash Reports (if those pre-exist your sync) or any of their contents.
After all, you excluded those two folders, so they are now outside the scope of your sync and thus will not be affected by your sync.
Did you try if it works?
Obviously, if you just use a single left-right folder pair to be synced, you can/must simply add the two lines \Pending Pings\ and \Crash Reports\ to your global Exclude filter.
Note that this mirror sync will not delete the right-side location subfolders Pending Pings and Crash Reports (if those pre-exist your sync) or any of their contents.
After all, you excluded those two folders, so they are now outside the scope of your sync and thus will not be affected by your sync.
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- Joined: 3 Mar 2019
Thank you for the reply, I will first answer all your questions in order but apparently my misunderstanding is converging on your last 2 sentences.
->Plerry 8 Jun 2026, 07:52
->Assuming subfolders Pending Pings and Crash Reports are direct children of Thunderbird folder,
Yes they are
->Did you try if it works?
Yes I did but it did not mirror the source.
-> Obviously, if you just use a single left-right folder pair to
-> be synced, you can/must simply add the two lines \Pending Pings\
-> and \Crash Reports\ to your global Exclude filter.
Ok, I planned to add other folder Pairs but had not got that far yet.
-> Note that this mirror sync will not delete the right-side location
-> subfolders Pending Pings and Crash Reports (if those pre-exist your
-> sync) or any of their contents.
-> After all, you excluded those two folders, so they are now outside
-> the scope of your sync and thus will not be affected by your sync.
Ok you've told the why I can't get it to mirror (copy, rename or delete
Dest to match the Src).
But I'm still grappling with the "how" to get it to mirror.
I want to include everything in the folder \Thunderbird located at,
C:\Temp\Users\DD\AppData\Roaming\
Except the two subfolders Pending Pings and Crash Reports.
I've gotten so used to SyncbackSE's browse Check or UnCheck
that I've not that savy on Include and Exclude.
->Plerry 8 Jun 2026, 07:52
->Assuming subfolders Pending Pings and Crash Reports are direct children of Thunderbird folder,
Yes they are
->Did you try if it works?
Yes I did but it did not mirror the source.
-> Obviously, if you just use a single left-right folder pair to
-> be synced, you can/must simply add the two lines \Pending Pings\
-> and \Crash Reports\ to your global Exclude filter.
Ok, I planned to add other folder Pairs but had not got that far yet.
-> Note that this mirror sync will not delete the right-side location
-> subfolders Pending Pings and Crash Reports (if those pre-exist your
-> sync) or any of their contents.
-> After all, you excluded those two folders, so they are now outside
-> the scope of your sync and thus will not be affected by your sync.
Ok you've told the why I can't get it to mirror (copy, rename or delete
Dest to match the Src).
But I'm still grappling with the "how" to get it to mirror.
I want to include everything in the folder \Thunderbird located at,
C:\Temp\Users\DD\AppData\Roaming\
Except the two subfolders Pending Pings and Crash Reports.
I've gotten so used to SyncbackSE's browse Check or UnCheck
that I've not that savy on Include and Exclude.
-
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- Joined: 22 Aug 2012
>> Did you try if it works?
> Yes I did but it did not mirror the source.
Well, it should have, except for the two excluded folders.
If it did not, did you check the log-file? That file might give you clues as to why it did not sync correctly.
Make sure to always first run a Compare before an actual synchronization.
You can run just a Compare (before clicking Synchronize) and then review the proposed sync actions.
> Ok, I planned to add other folder Pairs but had not got that far yet.
That's surprising. Because only if you have multiple left-right folder pairs, the option of local (=per folder pair) settings is available.
If you defined any invalid or unavailable left or right location in any of your multiple left-right pairs, FFS may not run its sync.
> Ok you've told the why I can't get it to mirror (copy, rename or delete Dest to match the Src).
No, I did not.
Taking into account my above replies, with your setup FFS should mirror (copy, rename or delete Dest to match the Src), except for the two excluded folders.
The part of my previous reply you react to just explained that the two excluded folders (and their contents) will not be deleted from Dest if those would exist in Dest prior to your sync, because they are excluded from the sync.
> Yes I did but it did not mirror the source.
Well, it should have, except for the two excluded folders.
If it did not, did you check the log-file? That file might give you clues as to why it did not sync correctly.
Make sure to always first run a Compare before an actual synchronization.
You can run just a Compare (before clicking Synchronize) and then review the proposed sync actions.
> Ok, I planned to add other folder Pairs but had not got that far yet.
That's surprising. Because only if you have multiple left-right folder pairs, the option of local (=per folder pair) settings is available.
If you defined any invalid or unavailable left or right location in any of your multiple left-right pairs, FFS may not run its sync.
> Ok you've told the why I can't get it to mirror (copy, rename or delete Dest to match the Src).
No, I did not.
Taking into account my above replies, with your setup FFS should mirror (copy, rename or delete Dest to match the Src), except for the two excluded folders.
The part of my previous reply you react to just explained that the two excluded folders (and their contents) will not be deleted from Dest if those would exist in Dest prior to your sync, because they are excluded from the sync.
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- Joined: 3 Mar 2019
->Plerry 8 Jun 2026, 07:52
-> After all, you excluded those two folders, so they are now outside
-> the scope of your sync and thus will not be affected by your sync.
Well I really liked FFS's layout and wanted to possibly switch over all my Mirror jobs to FFS. So I did a few more experiments on Generic folder/file creations. But apparently if I don't decide what Excludes I'll need at the created Sync Job's first run then I can't Exclude it later. Because from what I've experienced so far, once a folder gets into the Destination there doesn't seem to be a way to get it out other than manually deleting it from a file manager.
So if I later decide for any reason to want to Exclude a folder that was previously Sync'd to the Destination, please tell me there is a way for the Mirror to de-select, Exclude or something I missed, to get it out of the Destination.
I realise the basic premise of a Mirror is it matches the Source. But every Sync or Backup App that offers a Mirror usually allows at any time to select which parts of the Source is desired to be mirrored, and not dependent on whether it's already in the Destination?
-> After all, you excluded those two folders, so they are now outside
-> the scope of your sync and thus will not be affected by your sync.
Well I really liked FFS's layout and wanted to possibly switch over all my Mirror jobs to FFS. So I did a few more experiments on Generic folder/file creations. But apparently if I don't decide what Excludes I'll need at the created Sync Job's first run then I can't Exclude it later. Because from what I've experienced so far, once a folder gets into the Destination there doesn't seem to be a way to get it out other than manually deleting it from a file manager.
So if I later decide for any reason to want to Exclude a folder that was previously Sync'd to the Destination, please tell me there is a way for the Mirror to de-select, Exclude or something I missed, to get it out of the Destination.
I realise the basic premise of a Mirror is it matches the Source. But every Sync or Backup App that offers a Mirror usually allows at any time to select which parts of the Source is desired to be mirrored, and not dependent on whether it's already in the Destination?
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- Posts: 2978
- Joined: 22 Aug 2012
It seems the relevance of my earlier replies slowly sunk in ...
> But apparently if I don't decide what Excludes I'll need at the created Sync Job's first run then I can't Exclude it later.
You can Exclude it later, and from that point onward FFS will not sync it anymore, because you have excluded it from the sync.
But for exactly the same reason FFS will not delete it from the Dest side either.
That's simply the way an FFS mirror sync works.
And that is very convenient in cases a mirror sync is performed to a Dest location that (already) comprises data that is not in Srcs and you want to remain/be retained there.
> please tell me there is a way ... to get it out of the Destination.
Not with FFS itself. From the FFS manual:
This topic has been discussed several times in this forum.
E.g. viewtopic.php?t=8981 and viewtopic.php?t=5123 .
At the bottom of this last link you can find links to a script for Linux and one for Windows to automatically delete excluded items from the destination.
> But apparently if I don't decide what Excludes I'll need at the created Sync Job's first run then I can't Exclude it later.
You can Exclude it later, and from that point onward FFS will not sync it anymore, because you have excluded it from the sync.
But for exactly the same reason FFS will not delete it from the Dest side either.
That's simply the way an FFS mirror sync works.
And that is very convenient in cases a mirror sync is performed to a Dest location that (already) comprises data that is not in Srcs and you want to remain/be retained there.
> please tell me there is a way ... to get it out of the Destination.
Not with FFS itself. From the FFS manual:
and also deletion from Dest is a synchronization action.Files and folders are considered for synchronization only if they pass all filter rules: They must match at least one entry in the include list and none in the exclude list as shown in the filter configuration dialog.
This topic has been discussed several times in this forum.
E.g. viewtopic.php?t=8981 and viewtopic.php?t=5123 .
At the bottom of this last link you can find links to a script for Linux and one for Windows to automatically delete excluded items from the destination.
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Well I thank you (Plerry) the information, I had always thought that excluding an item took it out of the destination also. I must of had pretty good luck all these years of excluding the ones I wanted on first run because I don't remember having to delete and uncheck much except for new folder files added after the profile was created (that I did not want backed up).
So this has been enlightening to me. But I found it's just as easy to delete them manually in a file manager from time to time as it is to create a Clean Profile Job with an Empty Source folder and run it against the Destinaton you want to clean with filters that Include "Only" the items you want cleaned from Destination.
I ask this, Is the reason the destination is not cleaned on Exclude (or unselected on other Sync Apps) something functionally inherent in the Sync paradigm or is it more a performance gain if the Destination is not also scanned for excludes?
So this has been enlightening to me. But I found it's just as easy to delete them manually in a file manager from time to time as it is to create a Clean Profile Job with an Empty Source folder and run it against the Destinaton you want to clean with filters that Include "Only" the items you want cleaned from Destination.
I ask this, Is the reason the destination is not cleaned on Exclude (or unselected on other Sync Apps) something functionally inherent in the Sync paradigm or is it more a performance gain if the Destination is not also scanned for excludes?
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- Joined: 22 Aug 2012
> Is the reason the destination is not cleaned on Exclude ... functionally inherent in the Sync paradigm or is it more a performance gain ...?
I am not the FFS author, but probably neither of the two.
It seems simply to be the choice of the author, and is implemented fully consistent with the concise description quoted from the FFS manual in my previous reply.
I am not the FFS author, but probably neither of the two.
It seems simply to be the choice of the author, and is implemented fully consistent with the concise description quoted from the FFS manual in my previous reply.
Repeating myself: Excluded files are thus not considered for synchronization and consequently also not for the synchronization action of deletion.... are considered for synchronization only if ...
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FWIW, that's what those scripts in the linked thread do for youBut I found it's just as easy to delete them manually in a file manager from time to time as it is to create a Clean Profile Job with an Empty Source folder and run it against the Destinaton you want to clean with filters that Include "Only" the items you want cleaned from Destination. RBc3241, 12 Jun 2026, 03:50
