Easy Collaboration with Synology’s DSM 6.2 Features

Introduction Synology released the latest version of their NAS operating system, Disk Station Manager, at the end of May. Today, I'm taking a closer look at the file and document collaboration features. DSM 6.2 Advances There aren't a lot of new things in DSM 6.2, it's more a "Let's do what we do, let's just do it a lot better" kind of thing. Synology's aim is to provide better IT management flexibility and usability in every aspect. The new Advanced LUN, iSCSI Manager, and Storage Manager take management efficiency to a whole new level. At the same time, security update with no service downtime in SHA and abnormal DSM login detection bring you a more powerful but secure DSM. The Package Center also got an overhaul, and that's where we'll find the things we take a closer look at today: Drive, Office, Chat, and Calendar. Synology Drive Synology Drive is a powerful application which allows you to access and store your data anytime, anywhere. But it is more than just a centralised cloud storage. Drive also supports multiple historical version and flexible sharing. Synology Office The office application is a collaboration-oriented tool for creating documents, spreadsheets, and slides in the Drive portal. The data can be edited with various built-in tools while you can exchange ideas with your colleagues at the same time. It features interactive comments and there's also the Chat plugin available. It's even possible to encrypt files with password for that extra bit of security on top of everything else. Synology Chat The chat application is a safe web-based place for you to converse about anything you want in real time. It makes collaborating a lot easier without you having to rely on 3rd party solutions. Synology Calendar The calendar app explains itself, more or less. It's a web-based calendar application for organising your daily events. There's a personal calendar for every user and they can be shared with a group too. CalDAV is also supported which makes it compatible with mobile devices. Synology MailPlus There's also Synology MailPlus is a powerful webmail service with rich features. You can send and receive mail to and from any mail servers while you keep all your emails in one convenient and secure place. It includes everything you could want, from text formatting to a powerful smart search function and labels. You can also save any email to Note Station which is a nice bonus. Summary and Device Usage Before we take a closer look at all the functions, let us summarise the above. In general, it is nothing that which we haven't seen before. But, and that's a big but, everything runs and stays on your NAS. It stays on the premises, under your control, and away from prying eyes. All of it is web-based which allows for an easy access from almost any device. There is no need to install any applications on your PC or mobile systems because they already have it. All you need is a browser. I'm using the Synology DS1618+ for this article, fully loaded with WD RED 6TB drives. While it isn't important as such, it's still worth mentioning. You can check out the full reviews of the Synology DS1618+ NAS and WD RED drives for more details on them. Drive Application The Synology Drive application is essential for some of the other functions to work. But don't worry, if you try to install something, it will either tell you that you need something else or just install all the dependencies after you confirmed that it's okay. The Base of the Application At the base of Drive, it's a cloud sharing function in the same way you know it from Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. Just to name two examples. Not only do you get a centralised place for your files, you are also able to access them from anywhere. Every Synology user has their own drive folder, but they aren't limited to just that. There's also a Team Folder and folders for things you've shared as well as those shared with you. You can assign labels to everything for quick identification and you can easily collaborate on anything you'd like. Other file manager functions such as rename, move, copy, and delete are also available - assuming you have the access rights to do so. Organise Your Files in Folders There is the ability to create folders and thereby sort and organise all your files, of course there is. Without this ability, things could get out of hand very quickly. As with other file explorers, every folder has its owner and modification time displayed with sort-by options. Easy Management with Labels Once you have filled your Drive with a lot of files and folder, things can get complicated to keep track of. Not to worry, you get a label function too. The colour oriented labelling will allow you to quickly find everything that you're looking for, and just that. What Else can you Create with Drive? Naturally, you aren't limited to the creation of folders. That would be kind of pointless if it was the case. You can upload any file from your computer, store, and share it via your Drive application. Files already on your NAS can be added too Assuming that you have the Office application installed, then you can create the respective files directly in the Drive app. Text documents, spreadsheets, and slides are ready to be tackled. You can create new empty documents or by pre-generated templates. All of these can be created as encrypted files too. File uploading happens in the background, thus not preventing you from continuing with your work. There's a task viewer for all the background tasks, allowing you to keep track of when everything is done. Advanced Sharing Options Just because you want to keep your files safely on your locally placed system doesn't necessarily mean that you don't want to share them. Synology has that part covered too and it's one of the things that make this whole thing so great. There are three levels of privacy to chose from: Private, Internal, and Public. With the Private setting, only people you have invited will be able to access the file. The Internal option will allow anyone with an account to access it while the Public setting will give anyone access. Within the various groups, there then are View, Comment, Edit, or Manage rights. When you are done with the settings, you can easily copy or email the link to those who need access. Synology offers Advanced Protection for shared files with password and expiration date. Why keep sharing a file that's only relevant for a short time? Just as an example. Or just make sure that you don't forget to turn it off again. Let the NAS and OS handle these things for you. Version History Version control can save a lot of headaches when something goes wrong. The advantages are clear and as such, there isn't a lot to say about this. Except, it's awesome to have! User Settings The Drive application doesn't have a lot of settings on its own. You can change how you view and sort it, but that's it. However, there are user settings. Depending on your setup, your username might just be an automatically generated item and as such, not very recognisable. When collaborating, it's important to know who you're talking with and who's doing what. Define a nickname and a description, and upload a photo of yourself. A default language and your time zone are also among the available settings. Notification can be sent out via chat and email when they're needed. I said above that there aren't any real settings for the Drive app, but that's not entirely true. In the DSM control panel, you have the Application Portal. Within that, you control customised aliases, ports, domains, and access control. Convert Files to Office Files So, what if currently have all your files on your desktop? All those you made with Open Office or similar apps? That's easy enough. Just upload them to your Drive and convert them. You don't even have to do it file-by-file. You can do it for an entire folder at once. We can see in the below screenshot that I got the old ODT and ODS files along with brand new Synology Office files. It couldn't be simpler Office Application Synology's Office application is truly one of the best things. Spoiler: I love it and I love how well it works. Documents, Spreadsheets, and Slides You can create it all with the office application. Whether you're creating documents in the form of a letter, or you're writing a whole book. Or maybe you need to manage your budget or create a database? Then you'll just use the spreadsheet function. And presentations aren't a problem either with the slides function. The three most important functions in an office pack. Synology Documents The document editor offers you all the functions you'd expect from a text editor. Font type, size, and formation is no problem to change. Images, tables and links can also be inserted with ease from the toolbar. Since the space in the toolbar is limited and too many icons would confuse, the rest of the functions are located in the menu bar. New files of any office type can be created from inside the editor at any time while you also have access to file actions for the open document. Move or copy it to another folder without having to go back to drive. When it comes to the insertion of extras, you aren't limited to images and tables. You can add shapes and charts as well as other formatting options like header/footer, page breaks and horizontal lines. Even spell checking and a personal dictionary function are available. They can both make your writing life easier. Last but not least, there's the built-in connection with the Chat application. Write in real-time with other people working on the same file - or someone else. The chat function is also available in the other office tools. Synology Spreadsheets Next up are the spreadsheet which can come in handy in a lot of situations, whether you need to keep track of data of one sort or another. You'll find all the usual formatting tools along with the basic sheet functions. Naturally, Synology's Spreadsheets also support sorting and data validation as well as filtered views. Conditional formatting is a quick way to check on important fields or highlight things that might be off what they should be. And you can create fancy graphs based on your data too, just like you're used to from other similar apps. Synology Slides With Synology's Slides application, you'll be able to create presentations too. It includes all the basic functions you'd want in such an app and it seems very complete. It's also easy to use. I had no trouble finding all the functions I was looking for despite not being used to making slide shows. Basic functions such as text formatting, insertion of images and shapes are done very quickly. The limits are only set by your imagination, well, almost. Presenting data can be tricky unless you use tables or graphical charts. Both options can make your presentation more useful to the audience. There is, of course, also a play function for your slides. It wouldn't be much use without. I'm using a 4K display which makes the controls seem small in this screenshot. But they aren't. And in case you wonder, the fade out when not used. Here I have zoomed in on the controls. You can skip forward, back, play, and pause as well as pick your slide. Chat Application We've already talked a little bit about the chat function as it is built into the other collaboration tools. But there's a standalone version too where you get more options. My Space It starts with My Space where things are summarised, but you won't stay long on this page. After all, you want to chat, right? Create Private and Public Channels So to chat, we need a chat room. The rooms can be private where only invited people have access or they can be public. It's also possible to invite people from the user list during the creation. The Chat Rooms Once the chatroom is created and you've invited the people you want in there, you can start chatting. You get all the things you'd expect from a chat program these days, including a whole lot of emojis. You can react to posts and tag them with hashtags. There is even the option to go back and comment on a specific message to lessen the confusion. The latter is very useful when multiple subjects are discussed at the same time. You'll be notified on new messages if the window isn't the active one, but you can snooze that. You can snooze by schedule or a given time frame. You get a convenient access to other office functions too, as with all the other apps. They're interconnected and accessible from each other. Calendar Application In order to have a complete office experience, you'll need a calendar too. And that's no problem as Synology has that application for you too. A calendar app is a calendar app and there isn't a whole lot to say. You get what you expect to get. Besides the default monthly view, there's also a daily and monthly view. The Agenda view will give you a great sense of your days and how busy you are. Create multiple calendars and colour code it all for an even easier management of your days. Final Thoughts This was a brief introduction to Synology's latest collaboration tools in their latest version. I can say right away, it was a pleasure to use. Everything is intuitively placed, right where you'd expect it to be. The change from other office products such as OpenOffice or Google Documents will be easy. A lot of Advantages The advantage of these offerings is clear: You keep your data in-house, under your own control, and away from the risk any third party provider presents. At the same time, you don't lose anything. In some aspects, you gain a lot. Another advantage is the Collaboration ability which you won't have in a local application. Drive, Office, Chat, and Calendar Apps The Drive application is kind of the base of everything. With the advanced sharing options, labels, and office integration, it's a solid cloud drive. But it is so much more than that. Building on top of the drive, Synology offers you as good as a complete office package. Documents, Spreadsheets, and Slides are made in no time. You can even convert old local files with just two clicks. That's good, but it becomes great when you add the chat and collaboration features. Work on the same files with your coworkers, have in-app chat windows and enjoy the benefits of version-history. The Chat application can be accessed separately too and then there's the also the Calendar. All that packed together will provide a very complete solution. Final Thoughts I'm the first to admit that I'm far from a whiz when it comes to office apps. I can write letters and create basic spreadsheets, but it ends there. So there might be cool functions which I missed. If it was a DTP app instead, I could have shown you thing you never dreamt of. That said, I loved the experience and I can't think of anything I would change. "Synology's Drive and Office tools offer you collaboration features of which you're in control. A perfect piece of software for your NAS."