Linux Google Drive Client Insync Gets Xfce And Mate Desktop Integration

Insync, an unofficial Google Drive Linux client that's available for a wide range of desktop environments has been updated today, getting support for MATE Desktop (Caja) and Xfce (Thunar).

Here's the Insync or Linux Beta 11 changelog:

• Fixed symlink to symlink (chain of symlinks);
• Mate desktop support - Caja emblems and context menu;
• Xfce - Thunar 1.5 emblems and context menu.

I've only tested the new Xfce (Thunar) support and it works, but there are some minor glitches. However, this is the first Insync for Xfce release, so hopefully all the issues will be fixed soon.

For instance, Insync for Xfce requires "thunarx-python" (version 0.3) which isn't available in the official Ubuntu repositories - you can however, install it from our PPA, see below.

Also, the official release notes mention that it should work with Thunar 1.5; since both Xubuntu 12.04 and 12.10 ship with Thunar 1.4 and the Xfce 4.12 PPA has Thunar 1.6, I've tested it with these two versions and: with Thunar 1.4, the context menu items work, but there are no file emblems and with Thunar 1.6, the context menu items work and the file emblems don't work for most files which I've already had in my Google Drive.

Anyway, the important thing is that it is usable and I'm sure it will improve in future versions.

By the way, I recommend installing Thunar 1.6 (which now has tabs support, among other new features) if you're using Xubuntu 12.04 or 12.10.

Download Insync for Linux, available for Mate Desktop, Xfce, Unity - AppIndicator, KDE, GNOME Shell or Cinnamon, from HERE.

To install thunarx-python in Xubuntu 12.10 or 12.04, required by Insync for Xfce, use the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install thunarx-python

You can also manually download the thunarx-python deb files from our PPA.

Or, to us the official Insync repository in Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Debian, see our previous post (updated with instructions for the Xfce and Mate builds): Insync Repository Available For Ubuntu, Linux Mint And Debian Users