A sync folder solves a real problem well: the same files, current, on every machine that needs them. Delivery is a different problem.
Two different jobs
Syncing. Your laptop, your desktop and a colleague's machine hold the same current files. Changes propagate. Work in progress stays in one place and nobody mails versions around.
Publishing. Somebody outside opens something and reads it. They do not need the file, they need the content, and they will do it on whatever device is nearest.
Using the sync folder for the second produces the friction people associate with it.
| Situation | Route |
|---|---|
| Files you are working on | Sync folder |
| A colleague editing with you | Sync folder |
| Large assets in progress | Sync folder |
| A brochure for a customer | Published address |
| A quote for a client | Published address |
| Anything read on a phone | Published address |
What the recipient sees
A file viewer with the service's branding, a download button, and usually an invitation to create an account.
That frame belongs to the storage service. Your document is a panel inside somebody else's product, which is a strange way to present a proposal or a brochure.
Compare with an address on your own domain, where the document is the page.
The settings worth checking
Expiry. Some plans let you, or a team admin, set an expiry date on links. A link that dies after a month is fine for a file transfer and wrong for anything printed or filed.
Downloads. Whether the recipient can take a copy. Sometimes you want that and sometimes you very much do not.
Access without an account. Test it in a private window, which is not signed in. You are always signed in, so you can never see what a recipient sees from your own browser.
Deleting breaks links
This one catches people badly.
In Dropbox, moving or renaming a shared file keeps the link working. Deleting it, or replacing it with a new file under a new link, is what leaves the people holding the old link with an error.
If a link has been sent to a client, keep the file it points at in place rather than deleting and re-uploading it, or send a published address instead.
The arrangement that works
Working files in the sync folder, where they belong.
Finished things at an address, published, where they open on any device, cannot be broken by tidying, and carry your name rather than a storage service's.
Closely related: A Dropbox alternative for sharing, and Sharing a file from cloud storage for the adjacent problem.
Put it at an address
Keep working files in the sync folder, publish anything meant to be read, check expiry and download settings, avoid deleting shared files, and test every link in a private window.