Synology Drive is the modern sync-hub app in DSM. It shows you your sync folder, version history, shared files, collaborative Office documents. Compared to File Station it’s more comfortable for day-to-day file work, but has less DSM power.
Starting Synology Drive
In the DSM main menu → Synology Drive. A modern web UI opens.
What you see
Left sidebar:
- My Files — your primary sync folder (default
home/Drive) - Computers — overview of the devices syncing with the Drive client
- Shared with me — files other users shared with you
- Shared links — public links you created
- Starred — favorites
- Recent — recently edited
- Recycle bin — deleted files (with a restore option)
Main area: file list or gallery view.
File actions
Upload
- Drag and drop into the browser window
- Or toolbar → Upload → File or Folder
Create a new file
- Toolbar → Create → pick a type:
- Document (Synology Office): Word-like file
- Spreadsheet (Synology Office): Excel-like
- Slides (Synology Office): PowerPoint-like
- Folder
Rename / move / delete a file
- Right-click the file
- Pick the action
Sharing
- Right-click → Share
- Public link with password, expiry, read/write permission
- Share with people does appear in the menu, but doesn’t apply to storageDRIVE: your plan has exactly one user account, there are no other DSM users. Use the public link — the recipient doesn’t need an account.
More in Sharing with externals.
Office editing in the browser
Synology Drive has a built-in office suite (Synology Office) — you can edit .docx, .xlsx, .pptx files right in the browser.
Click a file → the Office editor opens. Functionally similar to Google Docs / Microsoft Office Online:
- Text formatting
- Insert tables, images, charts
- Co-editing (several users in parallel, if shared)
- Auto-save
Synology Office stores its own format internally (.osheet, .odoc, .oslides), but can open and export .docx/.xlsx/.pptx.
From our experience: great for simple Office files, for complex Excel sheets with pivots or VBA macros better stick to Microsoft Office.
Version history
One of the best Drive features.
Right-click a file → Version history. Shows all previous versions with:
- Date / time
- Who made the change (with co-editing)
- Size change
Click an old version → preview. Restore button → the old version becomes the current one.
Version depth: we’ve configured 32 versions per file. Plus the 30-day snapshots at system level as a second safety layer.
”Shared with me”
The section exists in DSM, but stays practically empty with storageDRIVE: your plan has exactly one user account, there are no other DSM users. DSM doesn’t map shared storage pools across multiple accounts cleanly in our multi-tenant environment — what we can’t run reliably, we don’t sell.
Instead, you share files via sharing link with password and expiration date (see above). If several people need their own logins: a plan per person — or Nextcloud Hosting with unlimited users and shared storage.
Managing shared links
In Shared links you see all public links you created. You can:
- Copy the link
- Disable / delete the link
- Change the permission (read/write)
- Adjust password/expiry
Recommendation: go through them regularly, switch off old links.
Search
Toolbar at the top: search bar. Finds:
- File names
- Content (for Office files and PDFs that went through OCR)
- Tags
Full-text search works for Synology Office files and PDFs that have been OCRed.
Starring / favorites
Right-click a file → Star. Appears under Starred. Handy for frequently used files.
Gallery view
Toolbar top right → gallery icon. Instead of a file list, a preview gallery with thumbnails.
Handy for photo folders — even though Synology Photos is the better place for those.
Tags
You can tag files — right-click → Add label. Tags appear in the sidebar, clickable to filter.
Handy for:
- Status markers (“Draft”, “Final”)
- Categories (“Taxes 2026”, “Travel”)
- Workflow states
Settings
Avatar top right → Settings:
- Language, date format
- Default view
- Notification settings
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Drive folder physically live?
The default is /home/Drive of your DSM account. You also see it in File Station, but you can’t switch the Drive sync location arbitrarily.
Does Synology Office work offline? No, it’s browser-based. For offline editing: sync files locally with the Drive client, then edit with local Microsoft Office / LibreOffice.
How many users can work on a file in parallel? In Synology Office: up to 30 parallel editors per file. Rarely relevant in practice — your co-editors are link guests, and more than 2–3 in parallel hardly ever happens.
Version history — how long are versions kept? Default 32 versions per file (the oldest get overwritten). Plus 30-day server snapshots on top.
Can I lock files so nobody edits in parallel? Synology Drive supports file locks for Office files automatically. When one user is editing, others see “being edited by…” and can only read.
Does co-editing with externals work without an account? With Synology Office: yes, via public links with write permission. The external guest gets an editing view and can work in parallel with you.
Are deleted files gone right away? First into the Drive recycle bin. There for 30 days by default. Plus server snapshots for even older versions.
What’s the difference to the Google Drive / Dropbox browser? Functionally very similar. Advantage of Synology Drive: runs on your private cloud, no third-party data mining, GDPR.
What’s next
First login to DSM
What you receive after ordering and how to log in to your storageDRIVE account for the first time.
Account and quota — how your storageDRIVE storage works
One plan, one user account, a fixed quota: what counts toward the quota, what happens when it's full, and how upgrades work.
File Station — the file manager in your browser
The classic file manager in DSM. Upload, download, creating folders, ZIP creation, previews, sharing links.
Mounting storageDRIVE as a drive (SMB)
How to connect your storageDRIVE via SMB as a drive — in the Mac Finder, Windows Explorer and as a mount on Linux. Step by step, including auto-mount and Time Machine.