Troubleshooting

Start here

Open the client from the tray icon and read the status it reports. Most problems name the file and the reason directly, which usually points straight at the fix.

Then check, in order:

1. Is the client running? No tray icon means no synchronisation.
2. Is sync paused? A pause badge on the icon, or Resume sync in the tray menu, tells you it is.
3. Is the account connected? A disconnected account needs you to sign in again.
4. Is there space left? A full disk stops synchronisation.

Nothing is synchronising

The client is not running. Start it from the Start menu, Applications folder or your application menu. If this happens after every restart, switch on Settings → General → Launch on System Startup.

Sync is paused. Choose Resume sync from the tray menu. Check individual folders too — a single folder can be paused while the others run.

The account is disconnected. Sign in again from the account list in the main window. Sessions end when your administrator revokes access, when your password changes, or after a period of inactivity your organisation defines.

The server cannot be reached. Confirm you can open the web interface in a browser from the same computer. If the browser works and the client does not, the difference is often a proxy — see Connection settings.

The folder is waiting its turn. Folders synchronise one at a time. A folder showing "Waiting to start sync" is queued behind another one.

Sign-in finishes in the browser but the client keeps waiting

The browser has to hand the authorisation back to the client, and that can fail if the sign-in happened in a different browser profile from the one the client opened, or if a security tool blocked the hand-back.

1. Cancel the sign-in in the client and start it again.
2. When the browser opens, complete the sign-in in that window rather than copying the link elsewhere.
3. If your default browser is unusual, try again after temporarily setting a mainstream browser as default.

Should it still fail, your administrator can check whether the server allows the browser-based sign-in flow used by desktop clients.

There are no status badges on my files

Domino Workspace Sync does not put sync-status badges on individual file and folder icons. Nothing is wrong with your installation.

Check status in the client window instead: open it from the tray icon to see each folder's state, what is transferring, and anything that needs attention. See Everyday use.

The Domino Workspace Sync menu is missing from the right-click menu

On Windows 11, it is in the full menu rather than the short one that appears first. Click Show more options at the bottom of the menu, or press Shift+F10 instead of right-clicking. See Everyday use.

If it is missing from the full menu too, sign out of Windows and back in — the extension registers at sign-in.

On macOS, this is expected: there is no Domino Workspace Sync submenu in Finder. See Everyday use.

On Linux, this is expected: the AppImage has no file manager integration. See Installing on Linux.

Everything the menu offers is also reachable from the client window, so synchronisation is unaffected either way.

Conflicted copies

When a file changes both locally and on the server between two synchronisations, the client cannot know which version you want, so it keeps both. Your version is renamed:

report (conflicted copy Jane Doe 2026-07-29 143012).docx

and the server's version keeps the original name. Nothing is lost.

To resolve it: open both, decide what to keep, save the result under the original name, and delete the conflicted copy.

Conflicts most often come from editing the same document on two of your computers, or from a laptop that was offline while you changed the same file from the web interface.

"The file name contains invalid characters"

The name cannot be stored on the server or on another operating system that syncs the same account. Rename the file — see names your server cannot store for the list of what is not allowed.

Two files whose names differ only in capitalisation

Report.docx and report.docx can coexist on a Linux server but not on Windows or macOS, so one of them cannot be created locally. The client shows a dialog asking you to rename one of them. Renaming in the web interface fixes it for everyone.

A file will not upload

It is open in an application. Some programs lock a file while it is open. Close it and the upload proceeds.

It is too large. Your server may impose an upload size limit. The error names the limit when it does.

Your quota is full. The client reports insufficient storage on the server. Delete files, empty the server trash, or ask your administrator for more space.

It matches an ignore rule. Check Settings → General → Edit Ignored Files and the list of files that are always skipped.

Synchronisation is slow

• Check whether a bandwidth limit is set under Connection settings on the account page.
• The first synchronisation transfers everything you selected and is always the slowest.
• Many small files take longer than one large file of the same total size, because each one is a separate request.
• Antivirus software that scans every written file slows transfers noticeably. Your administrator can exclude the sync folder from on-access scanning.

Reading the log files

The client writes logs to a logs folder inside its configuration folder:

Paste the path into File Explorer, or use Go → Go to Folder in Finder, to open it.

Creating a diagnostic archive

The quickest way to give support what they need:

1. Open Settings → General.
2. Click Create Debug Archive.
3. Choose where to save the file and send it to your support contact.

The archive contains the client's log files and its configuration. It does not contain your files or your password, but log files can include file names — review it if that matters for your organisation.

Collecting more detailed logs

If support asks for verbose logs, start the client from a command line with extra logging switched on:

# Windows
"C:\Program Files\DominoWorkspaceSync\dominoworkspacesync.exe" --logdebug --logfile %USERPROFILE%\dwsync.log

# macOS
"/Applications/Domino Workspace Sync.app/Contents/MacOS/Domino Workspace Sync" --logdebug --logfile ~/dwsync.log

# Linux
~/Applications/DominoWorkspaceSync-x86_64.AppImage --logdebug --logfile ~/dwsync.log

Useful options:

Quit the client first — starting a second copy does nothing useful.

Starting over with a clean configuration

As a last resort, you can discard the client's configuration and set the account up again. Your files are not touched by this.

1. Quit the client.
2. Rename the configuration folder listed under Reading the log files — for example, add .old to its name. Renaming rather than deleting lets you put it back.
3. Start the client and go through Getting started again, pointing it at your existing local folder and choosing Keep local data.

The client compares both sides and, finding matching content, records it as already synchronised instead of transferring everything again.

What to include when you contact support

• The exact version from Settings → General → Info
• Your operating system and version
• What you did, what you expected, and what happened instead
• The exact wording of any error message
• A diagnostic archive, if you can produce one