Viredrive: your Drive as a folder on your computer

Viredrive keeps your Drive in a folder on your computer, called Viredrive, in the desktop app from version 1.0.10. Change a file in either place and the other catches up within moments, much like iCloud Drive or OneDrive.

Turning it on

A little while after you sign in, the app asks Turn on Viredrive? Choose Turn on, or turn it on later in Settings, This device.

1. A folder called Viredrive appears in your home folder. If you use more than one account, each one gets its own folder, such as Viredrive ([email protected]), and nothing ever moves between them.
2. A shortcut called Viredrive appears on your desktop.
3. On Windows the folder is pinned to Quick Access in File Explorer. On Linux it is added to the sidebar of Files (and Dolphin on KDE). On a Mac it is added to Favourites in the Finder sidebar. If your Mac doesn't allow that, choose Add next to Finder sidebar in Settings: Finder opens with the folder selected, and you can drag it into Favourites.
4. Your Drive comes down to the folder. The folder gets Viremail's icon where the system allows it.

How it works

• Files you add, change, rename or move in the folder go to Drive, and changes made in Drive (on the web, on your phone, or by someone you share a folder with) come to the folder.
• Write docs, Grids, Decks, Fields forms and Canvas designs live in Drive, not as files. In the folder each one is a small shortcut, such as Minutes.vwrite, that opens it in Viremail when you double-click it. Rename or move the shortcut and the file is renamed or moved in Drive too.
• Removing a file from the folder moves it to Drive's trash, where you can restore it for 30 days. Something removed in Drive goes to your computer's trash (the Bin, or the Recycle Bin). Nothing is ever deleted for good by Viredrive.
• Changed in both places before they could sync: both versions are kept. Drive's keeps the name, and yours is renamed, for example Report (conflicted copy from Ann's MacBook, 2 Oct 2026).pdf, and uploaded next to it.
• Large removals. If most of the folder, or hundreds of items, disappear at once, Viredrive waits and asks in Settings before passing that on.
• Offline, changes wait and go as soon as you are back online. Viredrive also pauses while Viremail is locked or the account is signed out, and carries on afterwards.
• Files larger than Drive's limit per file stay on your computer and are listed in Settings. System files such as .DS_Store, Thumbs.db and Office's ~$ lock files are never synced, and neither are shortcuts (aliases and symbolic links).
• Shared with me is not in the folder yet. Folders other people share with you stay in Drive.

Settings

In Settings, This device, under Viredrive, you can see how it is going (Up to date, Syncing 3 items, Paused), and:

• Pause and Resume;
• Open the folder;
• Change where it is kept, for example on another disk. Viredrive moves the folder there;
• add the desktop shortcut or the sidebar place again;
• Stop syncing. Your files stay in the folder and in Drive; changes simply stop going between them. You can remove the shortcuts at the same time.