Today we are excited to release a refreshed cloud syncing experience that dramatically improves performance and gives you more control and insight into how drafts sync to third-party cloud services such as Dropbox and Google Drive.

Freewrite was designed from the very beginning to be part of a two-step writing process: draft on a Freewrite device, and edit later on your computer. To make this as frictionless as possible, we designed Freewrite to seamlessly sync in the background to Postbox and then to the most common third-party cloud services.

This functionality has existed since shipping the first Freewrite device in 2016 and remains core to the proposed writing workflow. Over the years, we have added Microsoft OneDrive and Evernote and fixed many bugs, but the underlying infrastructure has largely remained the same.

It was time for an overhaul!

Our Goals

When we started on this project almost a year ago, we set out to accomplish the following goals:

1. Make syncing extremely reliable. It should be “set it and forget it.”
2. Improve transparency about when draft syncs are happening and if there are any errors.
3. Improve consistency in how drafts sync for all 4 supported platforms.
4. Clearly indicate when syncs are broken at the draft level and at the cloud provider level and provide methods to repair broken connections.
5. Improve Simple Sync such that it is more useful for most users and create a new Advanced Sync available to Freewrite Plus users for those who want more customization.

Today's update includes new connection status and error visibility, helpful tooltips, the establishment of “simple” vs. “advanced” cloud settings, and more.

Here's what's new:

Enhanced Postbox Draft Sync Icons & Tooltips

Your Postbox draft list now shows in-progress icons when drafts are currently being synced. New red icons with a slash signify drafts that were once synced to that service but are no longer syncing because the connection is broken. Clicking on the red icon provides a method to re-authenticate to the cloud service that should fix the sync.

We’ve also added tooltips that indicate the file name and extension synced to that cloud service. Like before, if you click on a black icon, it will open the synced draft at the selected service. We’ve improved these links to be more reliable.

Streamlined “Cloud Services” Page

Everything you need to set up cloud sync is now displayed on one convenient page within your Postbox account for easier access and a smoother user experience. “Simple” Cloud Settings is the perpetually free, default third-party syncing setup suitable for most people, and the new “Advanced" Cloud Settings is a premium feature of Freewrite Plus that allows more customization. (Find more details below.)

 

File Format Selection

Everyone can now choose their preferred file format in addition to service provider under Simple Settings. By popular request we’ve added MD (plain text) as a syncing option for Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.

Enhanced Sync Control

Users can selectively sync a single draft to a particular third-party service and now stop a draft from syncing to that additional third-party service. 

Download a Word Doc

You can now download a Microsoft Word compatible DOCX file directly from your draft list.

Evernote Enhancement

Freewrite drafts that sync to Evernote will no longer be read-only.

Link Fixes

Issues with Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive links have been resolved.

 

Connection Status of Each Third-Party Platform

You’ll now see a clear confirmation of successful connections or be alerted to error states if drafts aren't syncing properly.

Sync Details

Postbox accounts now display the date and time of the last successful sync for better tracking.

Automated Notifications

You’ll receive emails at the email address associated with your Postbox account if there's a disruption in third-party sync, such as a lost connection or full storage.

 

 

All users will have access to Simple Cloud Settings, which is the free, default sync setup. We've added the ability to choose preferred file format which means the Simple configuration will be suitable for virtually everyone. This makes cloud syncing simpler and better than ever.

To customize the file type and sync destination for each folder, users will need the new Advanced Cloud Settings, which is now part of the Freewrite Plus subscription.