User Interface

User Interface 

Mountain Duck runs in the status bar (macOS) and taskbar (Windows).

Find the mounted volume in Finder. Choose Go → Computer or choose Finder → General → Show these items on the desktop: Connected servers to make it appear on your desktop.

Tip

Make sure there is enough space left on right side of the notch or application menu items to make sure the Mountain Duck is visible in the the system status bar. To rearrange status menus, press and hold the Command key while you drag an icon. When having multiple displays attached to your computer the status bar item may not be visible on the main display but on the secondary display.

Auto Start 

You can choose to automatically open Mountain Duck when logging in. Refer to Preferences. Re-opening the application will open previously mounted volumes. If you choose Enable Login Item and Save Workspace in Preferences → General and do not manually eject the volume prior to reboot it will reconnect after login.

Bookmarks 

Choose Open Connection… to add a new bookmark. To edit the connection settings of an existing bookmark, choose → Edit Bookmark.

Note

Bookmarks are shared between Cyberduck and Mountain Duck.

Nickname 

The nickname determines the display of the bookmark in the menu and can be customized.

Tip

The nickname determines the name of the mounted volume in Finder.app on macOS or drive in File Explorer on Windows. Also refer to Mount Location.

Labels 

Assign multiple labels to bookmarks. Bookmarks are grouped in folders in the status bar menu by their assigned labels.

Connect Mode 

You can change the synchronization options for a bookmark with Connect Mode. Choose Default to use the setting from Preferences → Sync. The Online and Smart Synchronization connect modes mount a volume like a network attached disk. The Integrated connect mode synchronizes files and folders from a directory on the local disk with support from macOS and Windows.

Default: Use setting from Preferences
Online: Do not synchronize any file to your computer. See Online connect mode.
Smart Synchronization: See Smart Synchronization connect mode.
Integrated: See Integrated connect mode.

Windows Store

The connect mode Online and Smart Synchronization are not supported in Mountain Duck available from the Windows Store.

Online

Do not synchronize any file to your computer. You can only access this volume when a connection is possible to the server or cloud storage. Files are accessed on demand from the remote when opened and do not take up any local disk space.

Smart Synchronization

Directories can be browsed when offline and files opened are made available for later offline access. Upload changes in the background when server is reachable. You can explicitly make files available offline using the context menu. See Smart Synchronization.

Integrated

Version 5

Mountain Duck 5 (Beta) required for Integrated connect mode.

Local storage is managed by the operating system. The mount is not seen as a remote volume by applications but as a regular folder on disk. This option uses the tightly integrated File Provider (macOS) and Cloud Files (Windows) APIs.

Read-Only Volume 

Select Options: Read Only in the bookmark to mount the volume as read-only and disallow any write operations on the remote disk.

Drive Letter (Windows)

Always assign the same drive letter to the mounted volume.

Note

The number of concurrent connected bookmarks is limited by the number of available drive letters. You can have a total of 26 drives on your system.

Filter 

You can search for bookmarks with the filter input field in the menu. Bookmarks not matching the input are greyed out.

Bookmark Status 

The bookmark can show three different status lights:

No light: No current connection to this bookmark.
Green light: Currently connected to this bookmark. The bookmark is completely synced and idle.
Orange light: Currently connected to this bookmark. There is at least one active process.

You can can put the currently connected bookmarks on top of the bookmark list regardless of the sorting by using a hidden configuration option:

bookmark.menu.sort.connected=true

Connect 

Choose → Connect to mount the server as a volume in the Finder.app on macOS or the File Explorer on Windows. You can connect to multiple servers and have several volumes mounted. All operations on the remote files and folders can then be performed like on local files.

Tip

You can just select the menu item with the bookmark name to connect, too. If you are already connected, selecting the menu item will reveal the volume in Finder.app.

Screenshot Windows Mountain Duck

Connect Using the Command Line Interface 

You can mount volumes using your command-line interface (CLI) by opening a bookmark file.

Use open -a "Mountain Duck" ~/Library/Group Containers/G69SCX94XU.duck/Library/Application Support/duck/Bookmarks/*.duck in Terminal.app

Enter the command <path to Mountainduck.exe> %AppData%/Cyberduck/Bookmarks/<Bookmarkfile> in cmd.exe.

Activity 

Version 5

Mountain Duck 5 (Beta) required.

Track and cancel currently running sync operations in the new Activity panel.

Notifications 

Notifications of the connection status are posted to the Notification Center of the operating system.

Filesystem mounted
Filesystem unmounted
Errors: If there is a network connectivity issue while the remote server is mounted, an alert is displayed that allows you to retry the connection or disconnect and unmount the volume.
Sync Notifications

Disconnect 

Choose → Disconnect to unmount a volume. Alternatively, eject the volume in Finder.app or File Explorer.

Choose File → Eject in Finder.app for the selected volume or control click to choose Eject.

Disconnect using command line
You can unmount volumes using your command-line interface (CLI). Use umount <bookmark nickname> in Terminal.app.

In File Explorer in “This PC” view or the sidebar on the left of the File Explorer window, open the context menu for your mounted drive and select Disconnect.

Disconnect using command line
You can unmount volumes using your command-line interface (CLI). Use net use <drive letter>: /delete in cmd.exe

Copying Files 

Drag files in Finder.app an macOS or File Explorer on Windows to move and copy files. You can also access the mounted volume with any other application and command-line interface.

Copy Operation Mountain Duck Finder

macOS only

Using Integrated connect mode, files dragged are moved by default instead of copied. Drag the file with the ⌥ key pressed (macOS) to copy instead.

Context Menu in Finder and Windows File Explorer 

A context menu in Finder on macOS and File Explorer on Windows allows various actions on files.

macOS only

Please make sure to enable the Mountain Duck Integration in System Preferences → Extensions → Finder Extensions. For macOS Ventura and later, the setting can be found in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Extensions → Added Extensions.

Sync Options 

Keep Offline on Local Disk or Delete on Local Disk to manage caching status. Refer to Sync Options.

Reload 

Changes from the server are not immediately visible. The folder listing in the file browser may become outdated when another application adds, removes, or modifies files on the server. Mountain Duck periodically polls for changes for open folders in Finder.app on macOS or File Explorer on Windows about every minute in both Online and Smart Synchronization connect modes. Choose Reload from the context menu to refresh the directory listing.

Windows only

Use F5 in File Explorer to refresh the folder listing.

Tip

Enable the Index Files option in Preferences → Sync to allow new files on the remote storage to be detected periodically for previously opened directories regardless of any open window for the folder in Finder.app on macOS or File Explorer on Windows in Smart Synchronization connect mode.

Versions 

Quick Look or Restore previous versions of documents on servers supporting versioning. Read more about versioning.

New Bookmark 

Right-click on white space within the mounted drive in Finder or Explorer to add a bookmark including the selected path.

Open in Terminal 

Right-click on a folder and choose Open in Terminal to open an SSH connection to the server in Terminal for SFTP bookmarks.

Mac App Store

The setting is not available in the version installed from the Mac App Store. Refer to #7664.