📝 Note
​This article applies to

This article explains how backup shares are structured in Druva inSync Endpoint backup profiles, and how administrators can configure which files and folders are backed up from user devices. It covers folders under Backup Content, basic shares, Include files and Exclude files filters, custom folders, global variables, and global exclusions.

Use this article when creating or modifying an inSync Endpoints backup profile and you need to control which folders, file types, or paths are included in or excluded from backup.
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Before configuring shares, it is important to understand what a folder means under Backup Content in an inSync Endpoints profile. A folder is a logical grouping of items selected for backup. For example, on Windows, a profile can set the following folders for backup:

The above items are referred to as Folders in logical terms.

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Note: System or App settings do not have the option of exclude files, include files and exclude paths. This is because the backup process backs up your current system and folders where the application settings are predefined. You can modify this by installing a customized XML file for system and app settings.

The following basic shares are available by default for user backup:

If you plan to back up Outlook PST files, use the Email option for PST backups.

For more information about Outlook backups, please refer to the FAQs on how inSync backs up Outlook PST files.

When configuring an All drives backup, carefully select the file types under Include files to ensure that only the required data is backed up. Including unnecessary file types, such as large image or video files, can significantly increase backup storage consumption and may lead to quota exhaustion.

Avoid selecting All files on all drives unless you intend to back up every file. This option adds the *.* extension and includes all files across all drives in the backup.

For any folders that should not be backed up, ensure that the corresponding paths are specified under Exclude paths.

For more information on backup, refer to Tips for configuring "All drives" share.

When backing up Office templates, a list of predefined extensions is automatically populated next to Include files. You can manually add any missing extensions to this list.

Druva does not recommend backing up applications, because the inSync Client does not use the specific VSS writer required to back up application data.

If the default list of shares does not cover your requirements, you can add custom folders and use global variables to back up additional locations, such as an Active Directory user profile.

The following global variables are available for use in custom folder paths, by operating system:

For more information on global variables, refer Configure custom folders for backup.

Folders that must be excluded from backup, such as system files or application files, must be added to Exclude paths. Verify whether the relative path to such folders is already pre-populated in Exclude paths before adding it manually.

When the Allow users to add folders option is enabled, inSync Client users in that profile can add their own folders for backup. Druva recommends configuring Global exclusions in this scenario to prevent irrelevant data from being backed up.

Use the Global exclusions tab to exclude specific files from backup across their specified paths. This setting applies to all users under the profile.

For every folder other than System and App Settings, the following filter options are available:

For example, if the backup folder is My Documents, selecting Include files with Office files, HTML files, and PDF files means only files with those extensions are backed up from that folder. Additional file type categories available in Field 1 include Audio files, Video files, Executable files, Image files, Email files, and All files.

Selecting All files backs up all files under the selected folder, except any subfolders specified in Exclude paths and any files specified in Exclude files.

For example, if the backup folder is My Documents, selecting Exclude files with Image files and Video files means the inSync Client does not back up image and video files from that folder.

As with Include files, selecting a file type category in Field 1 populates its associated extensions in Field 2. You can manually add extensions that are not listed.

Note: The same file type cannot be listed under both Include files and Exclude files. For example, if Office files are selected under Include files, it cannot also be selected under Exclude files. The file type will be grayed out if you have already selected it under Include files or Exclude files: