How to Use the Sync Center in Windows 10

Offline access to your network files

Windows 10 Sync Center
by Luis E. Chavez Saenz
Luis Chavez is a System Administrator with 5+ years' experience writing tech guides for end users. Luis holds a BS in Computer Science.
Updated May 01, 2019

Sync Center is a Windows feature introduced with Windows Vista and has been supported in all versions of Windows since. The main purpose of Sync Center was to be able to synchronize your files from multiple devices, so you always have the most updated copy when you need it.

Why Use Sync Center on Windows 10?

The overall idea is you now use Sync Center in combination with offline files to have access to your network shared files and folders at any time, even when not connected to the network. This works great for mobile/portable devices, and for people constantly traveling between locations.

How to Enabling Offline Files to Use Sync Center

Before you can use Sync Center to sync any network files to your device, you must enable offline files.

  1. Select the Start Menu, type "control panel," then select Control Panel to launch it.

  2. Type "sync center" in the search box on the top right corner of the window and select Sync Center.

  3. Select Manage offline files from the left side menu.

  4. Select Enable offline files.

    You'll need administrative rights to enable this feature.

  5. Restart your computer and follow the first 3 steps once again to access the Offline file settings.

How to Use Sync Center in Windows 10

Once you've restarted your computer and launched Sync Center again you'll have Disk Usage, Encryption, and Network tabs within your offline files settings.

  • Disk Usage: Allows you to define the amount of disk space your offline files are allowed to use. By default, the offline files will have all the free space on your hard drive. To modify this, select the Disk Usage tab, then select Change limits.
  • Encryption: Sync Center allows you to add some security to your offline files by giving you the option to set up encryption on your offline files using the built-in software on Windows devices, BitLocker. To encrypt your files, simply select Encrypt.
  • Network: Under the network tab, you can choose to automatically work with your files offline if the network connection is too slow. You can also set how often you'd like to check for a slow connection.