Software & Apps > Windows How to Use the Sync Center in Windows 10 Pro Get offline access to your network files By Luis E. Chavez Saenz Luis E. Chavez Saenz Writer New Jersey Institute of Technology Luis Chavez is a former Lifewire writer and a System Administrator with 5+ years' experience writing about technology for end users. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on May 24, 2022 Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years' experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Windows The Ultimate Laptop Buying Guide What to Know Enable offline files: Select Control Panel > Sync Center > Manage Offline Files > Enable Offline Files.Next, restart computer and launch Sync Center.Adjust Disk Usage, Encryption, and Network settings, as needed. This article explains how to enable offline files and utilize Sync Center in Windows 10 Pro Edition. Offline network syncing is not available for Windows 10 Home Edition. How to Enable Offline Files to Use Sync Center Before Sync Center can sync any network files to your device, you must enable offline files: Type control panel in the Windows search box and select the Control Panel app. You must use the legacy Control Panel utility, not the current Windows Settings app, to configure Sync Center. Type sync center in the search box at the top-right corner of the Control panel window, and then select Sync Center. Select Manage offline files on the left side. Select Enable offline files. You'll need administrative rights to enable this feature. Restart your computer and repeat steps 1-3 to access the new Offline Files settings. What Is Sync Center? Sync Center is a feature that was introduced in Windows Vista. Its main purpose is to synchronize your files with a network server so that you always have he most updated copies when you need them. How to Use Sync Center in Windows 10 Once you've restarted your computer and launched Sync Center again, you'll have three new tabs in your Offline Files settings: Disk Usage: 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: Add security to your offline files by setting up encryption with BitLocker. To encrypt your files, simply select Encrypt. Network: Choose to automatically work on 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. Sync Center is not the same as OneDrive. Sync Center is optimized for Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 files. In some situations, Sync Center and OneDrive conflict when open Office files sync at different times with Sync Center and OneDrive. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit