What ist MagicSync?

There are various ways to transfer your documents to all your Macs, iPhones, and iPads, or even share them with other users. Some use Cloud services such as iCloud Drive, Dropbox etc, others prefer using file servers.

Services like iCloud Drive and co. are becoming more and more reliable, widely used, easy to set up, and to some extent even free. With their Finder integration, they offer your cloud files in a Finder window and allow you to open and edit your files even when you are not connected to the Internet.

Remotely accessible corporate SMB file servers, on the other hand, offer more security, but require more expertise to set up and administer. Moreover, they cannot be used if the server is not accessible via the Internet.

So do these services solve all the problems of working in a virtual team? Unfortunately not. When working on a document with multiple devices, you quickly run into problems. Most file servers will lock a file when it is opened by one user, not allowing it to be edited or even opened until it is closed by another user. Other file servers may overwrite time-consuming changes made by one user when another user saves. In some cases, most cloud services detect these conflicts and create special files with conflicting copies. Your edits are not lost, but they are now spread across multiple files. So you have to go to the trouble of identifying all conflicting variants and adding them manually.

Example of a text file with conflicts because of synchronization.

MagicSync - for smooth project management in a team

Our patented technology MagicSync is optimized on a variety of ways for cloud services and the multiuser setup. With MagicSync, Merlin Project synchronizes the changes made by multiple users without any data going missing or generating conflicting files. It all happens automatically and seamlessly. No need to close and re-open your documents, external changes simply show immediately as they immerse.

MagicSync does not require you being online all the time. You can work on your documents online or offline for a while. Next time you go online, syncing will take place, allowing you still to undo your own changes long after you last synchronized them or if you quit Merlin Project in the meantime.

We’ve tested MagicSync in Merlin Project with the following:

• Dropbox (mac: personal / business, iOS personal)
• iCloud Drive (mac, iOS)
• Box.com (mac: Box Sync)
• Google Drive (mac: Google Backup & Sync)
• Microsoft One Drive (mac: OneDrive Finder Integration)
• Synology Cloud Station (mac, iOS)
• SMB file server (mac, iOS)