Although Windows 8 offers you several "modern" data synchronization solutions such as SkyDrive and Microsoft Account, they both are limited - they are dependent on the Internet. You may or may not know about the old "Briefcase" feature which was removed from Windows 8. It offers you simple two way data synchronization which was offline and could be used with removable drives. Someone at Microsoft decided to remove it from the brand new release of Windows 'cause he thought perhaps that the feature was too outdated. If you miss Briefcase, here is a simple solution for you.
I have figured out a way to restore the Briefcase feature with a simple registry hack. It looks as follows:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Briefcase\ShellNew]
"IconPath"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\
00,79,00,6e,00,63,00,75,00,69,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,30,00,00,00
"ItemName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,\
6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,\
00,73,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,\
2d,00,36,00,34,00,39,00,33,00,00,00
"Directory"=""
"Handler"="{85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Briefcase\ShellNew\Config]
"IsFolder"=""
"NoExtension"=""
As you can see, there is no magic here. The main value is the missing "ShellNew" subkey at Briefcase's file descriptor branch in the registry. All you need is to merge the following registry tweak:
Merge the Windows 8-Enable Briefcase.reg file to enable Briefcase feature. Merge the Windows 8-Disable Briefcase.reg file to disable it again. Quite simple.
Briefcase restore tweak worked … thanks!
Great ! it worked flawlessley. it was required …. thanks a lot
The tweak worked to install the Briefcase but then I can’t synchronize it!!!
Any idea?
Thanks
Which locations are you synchronizing? Right click on Briefcase, it has “Update All” command.
Thanks to Sergey for posting thgis tweak.
I agree it’s not as obvious as having a “Briefcase” button on the menu. So try selecting the files & folders you want to synchronize then right-click and chhose “Update”.
Does anyone know how to add Briefcase to the menu – with Update All, Update Selection and Split from Original commands?
Cheers
@Roy Eastwood, use Winaero’s Ribbon disabler to disable the ribbon, then you will get Update and Update All back on the Explorer toolbar. Split from original is in each file’s properties -> Update status tab.
Your solution is exactly what I’m looking for. I have two questions –
1. Will it work with Windows 8 Pro (your article is headed Windows 8 Pro)?
2. How do you merge the .reg file (excuse my ignorance)?
Many thanks.
1. Yes it will work.
2. Double-clicking the reg file means merging/adding the information from it to the registry.
I don’t know how to thank you for this. DUDE YOU’RE AWESOME!!! Thanks for this fix, whole life made better by this (not really I’m getting a mac when i can afford it
Much love to you for showing this!
Alohas!
I’d like to use a newish Windows 8 system as a repository for briefcases as emergency backup for various projects that are on Windows 7 development systems. Has anyone faced the “sync” question in that sort of scenario? (Any info/pointers gratefully appreciated.)
its works! briefcase is back, thanks alot, awesome!
This exactly what I am looking for!
However I cannot work out how this is done. I can find regedit but don’t understand how to input the information or how to create a new sub folder etc.