Interoperating with Windows, macOS, iOS

For you all in multiple ecosystems, how do you ease things like copying files, clipboard contents, screen shots, etc.?

This was easier in a VM on my Mac, but now that I have a physical machine there’s a good bit of friction.

I have a NAS, but, still, there’s friction.

About ten years ago, I used an earlier version of this when I was on WIndows and Mac:

It wasn’t perfect, but generally worked as advertised, allowing me to share clipboard contents, move my mouse and keyboard between my Mac and Windows machine, and drag files from one to the other. I have no idea how well it works today.

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When the PC and Mac were on the same network I would share a folder on one of them, usually the PC. When I was connecting to a windows box at the office, I used Google Drive to share files.

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I use a Linux workstation for machine learning with CODA and as a place to do my data science and research work at my office. I’ve been using Obsidian as my “everything bucket”. It also has a Windows partition with the same synchronization setup and this works perfectly,

I use Obsidian Sync to make sure all my file transfers are end to end encrypted and have all file types syncing. This means all my notes, meetings, journal and files are always available on all platforms, and I have no worries about security. I have organized it so that all files are in the same folder as related notes, so I can find anything related to a project.

I have no way to copy clipboard contents, but screenshots and other binaries are always available on any platform (including mobile).

This is working out incredibly well. It took a while to move everything from DevonThink and Craft and organize it, but now I am really happy with the setup. I know that all my data is instantly available from one place.

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I use Syncthing. There is a client for Synology that works great over the local network and even connects over the internet too. I use this to sync all my machines. I sync every folder that I store content. So it syncs up app preferences, screen shot folder, downloads, etc…

Another option if you care about iOS is Resilio Sync. Syncthing doesn’t have a great iOS client.

I’ve also toyed with using Insync which allows you to sync specific folders with multiple cloud clients. This works pretty well but it can be slow to sync at times.

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I use the same OneDrive account on my Mac and on the Windows machine(s). If you cannot do this because your Windows machine has a work or academic account that you cannot or do not want to access on the Mac, then use a different OneDrive account in a browser.

(Obviously, doesn’t have to be OneDrive. You can log into your iCloud account on the Windows box, or Dropbox, or whatever.)

Other things I’ve done – though somewhat annoying – is to use a OneNote notebook as the transfer point – too much friction – or use Notebooks on both machines.

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Use OneDrive for file synch, for keyboard and mouse I use the Logitech mx3 / mx keys with flow.

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Also… the suggestions from Apple, below, assume you have a lot of control over both physical machines, their network settings, and security settings.

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Just to add Logitech flow copies the clipboard

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These days I use Snapdrop.net for ad hoc transfers.

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Adding bookmarks to all devices!

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Using Dropbox (select sync), OneDrive and Synology Drive to get files between platforms. Mail, Brave Browser and 1Password have native sync capabilities

Thanks for the input everyone!
I didn’t realize (or had forgotten) that Resilio Sync has a Windows client. I already had a family license with it installed on Macs and Synology, so just added my Windows PC to the mix.
It seems like clipboard sharing will be infrequent (I hope), but will look into the suggestions you all made if needed.

Thanks again!

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