# Desktop client on-demand file sync (like GDrive)

**URL:** <https://help.nextcloud.com/t/desktop-client-on-demand-file-sync-like-gdrive/128518>\
**Category:** 💻 Desktop\
**Tags:** vfs\
**Created:** [December 3, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/desktop-client-on-demand-file-sync-like-gdrive/128518 "2021-12-03T13:53:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![shi](https://help.nextcloud.com/letter_avatar/shi/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@shi](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/shi)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/desktop-client-on-demand-file-sync-like-gdrive/128518/1 "2021-12-03T13:53:48Z")

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Hi,

are the nextcloud desktop clients somehow able to sync files and folders only when I access them?  
The GDrive integration shows exactly this behavior which is great if you have huge shared folders like team folders or image/video collections, …

The behavior I’m looking for is somewhat like this:

- The NC client syncs the whole folder structure including files
- The files are not synced completely but only all the necessary metadata such like name, size, … and previews are synced.
- Files are created as something like proxies
- When I try to access a file for the first time the client syncs the file then lazily

Does something like this exist or can I achieve such a behavior with another sync client?

Thanks so far!

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**Author:** ![tflidd](https://help.nextcloud.com/letter_avatar/tflidd/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@tflidd](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/tflidd)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2021, 8:33am UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/desktop-client-on-demand-file-sync-like-gdrive/128518/2 "2021-12-22T08:33:54Z")

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The feature is called virtual file system. It was announces a long time ago, was alpha status for quite some time:

> [@Nextcloud introduces Virtual Drive in Desktop Client to simplify desktop integration](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/nextcloud-introduces-virtual-drive-in-desktop-client-to-simplify-desktop-integration/46256):
>
> Originally published at: [Nextcloud introduces Virtual Drive in Desktop Client to simplify desktop integration - Nextcloud](https://nextcloud.com/blog/nextcloud-introduces-virtual-drive-in-desktop-client-to-simplify-desktop-integration/) Today we are proud to announce the first view on a project we’ve been working on for quite some time: a Virtual Drive in the Nextcloud Desktop client! A Virtual Drive makes files always visible on your system, irrespective of whether they are available locally or not, making the use of your cloud storage far more seamless. [image] The virtual drive, a standard technol…

I didn’t want to try when it was in an alpha state. I still have the traditional sync and only sync specific folders, not all. So I can’t say how reliable it is.

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**Author:** ![wwe](https://help.nextcloud.com/user_avatar/help.nextcloud.com/wwe/32/72963_2.png) [@wwe](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/wwe)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 10:16am UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/desktop-client-on-demand-file-sync-like-gdrive/128518/3 "2024-11-15T10:16:43Z")

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