Cloud Sync
Cloud Sync keeps your library metadata — clips, tags, collections, drives and clip locations, and thumbnails — in step across every Mac you sign in on. It is free for all signed-in users: no subscription required, just an account.
Sync moves your catalog, not your footage. The media files themselves stay on your drives (back those up with Clipthesis Backup, the paid add-on).
Automatic — no clicks needed
Once you're signed in, sync runs by itself:
- When the app opens or you sign in — a catch-up sync runs shortly after launch, pulling anything that changed on your other devices and pushing anything made while you were signed out or offline.
- After you make changes — tagging, importing, renaming, organising collections: Clipthesis waits for the changes to settle (about 15 seconds), then syncs them in one batch. Big operations like indexing a whole drive won't spam the server — a long scan still syncs periodically as it goes, and once more when it finishes.
- Every 15 minutes while idle — a periodic pull, so edits made on another device show up even when this one is just sitting open.
Failures are quiet: a dropped connection retries on its own with increasing delays, and a run that keeps failing waits for the next trigger instead of nagging you. If something needs your attention, the footer chip turns amber.
The footer cloud chip
The chip at the right of the bottom bar rolls sync and backup into one health signal:
Cloud · 2h ago— everything is settled; the time is the most recent sync or backup.Syncing…/Backing up… 42%— a run is live.Scheduled— changes are waiting to sync, or a backup is queued.- An amber alert — the last sync failed, or a drive's last backup failed.
Click the chip to expand it:
- Library sync — current status, how many changes are waiting, when the last sync landed, and a Sync now button.
- Media backup — shown with a Clipthesis Backup subscription: live progress with a Details button mid-run, last-backup status, and a Back up now button. Without a backup-enabled drive it offers Set up, which takes you to Drives.
Sync now is also available in Settings → Account, alongside the last-synced time.
Offline and conflicts
Clipthesis is offline-first: every change is recorded locally and syncs whenever you're next online — nothing is lost by working without a connection. When the same item was edited on two devices, the most recent edit wins.
What syncs (and what doesn't)
| Syncs | Stays local |
|---|---|
| Clip metadata (filenames, durations, dates) | The media files themselves |
| Tags and collections (including which clips are in them) | Drive connection status |
| Tag groups and tag colours | Scrub frames and transcripts |
| Drives and where each clip lives on them | |
| Thumbnails |
If two devices created the same tag group independently (for example both typed seq:test while offline), sync merges them into a single group — tags and clips keep their tagging either way.
A clip synced from another device appears in your library with its metadata, thumbnail, and the drive it lives on — the drive shows as disconnected until you plug it into this Mac (or download the clip from Backup) to play it.