Shared Opus settings on two PCs

Help & Support
1

Hi,

I often use Opus on two computers, a desktop PC and a laptop. Both computers share a (Synology) cloud directory under drive C:\ which works somewhat like Microsoft OneDrive, i.e. files and folders are constantly synched between the computers. Would it be possible to save the Opus settings to such a shared folder in order to have the same Opus look and feel, listers, etc. on both machines? I realize that I can export and import settings between computers, but that is kind of awkward. It would be nice if I could have two synched installations - is this possible?

Kind regards,
Armin

2

You can try either just synching the settings-folder in "Roaming > GPSoftware..." between the two computers or symlinking both from NAS to this folder (not tested, just what I would try after backup, of course!).

3

Thanks for your suggestion. Where can I find the "Roaming" command? Is this Opus-specific or a Windows function?

4

Roaming is a Windows-folder, where settings are stored (C:\Users\<your username>\Appdata\Roaming\GPSoftware). You can try to sync or symlink to it.

5

OK, got it. I'll try that out. Thanks!

6

There's a built-in environment variable for that roaming path:

%APPDATA% will also point to the C:\Users[ProfileName]\AppData\Roaming folder of the currently signed-in user.

So, this will go to the correct folder for any user on any computer that has Directory Opus installed:

%APPDATA%\GPSoftware\Directory Opus

7

The symlink works fine, but the jump list entries disappear when the linked folder is used. Any ideas on how to avoid this?

8

The JumpList is build when the program starts. If something external changes the config files, it wouldn't be rebuilt until you restart the program (File > Exit Directory Opus).

9

Thank you. The jump lists are there now, but a couple of things don't look the same on both computers when a common Roaming directory is used. For example, tab colors and file labels (colors) only appear on the computer they were originally defined. That's a pity, because in my work I use colors as visual cues for workflow steps.

BTW, do you have any plans for releasing a portable version of Opus?

10

That's because DO is not designed to run on multiple computers using common settings.

You can export it to USB and use it portable (but afaik e.g. labels are stored in local filesystem, not within DO).

11

Do the folders have the same paths on both computers?

12

Yes, the folders are symlinked to a shared directory synched (via Synology Cloudstation) to drive C: on both computers.

13

If the labels are stored in NTFS ADS then the Synology drive may not support or sync ADS, losing the labels.

If they're stored in the config against the path, they should work.

Folder Tab colors should work as well, since they are stored in the config against the paths, assuming you've created them using Folder Formats.