Rclone - File Manager for Cloud Storage

Posted on May 10, 2023

Rclone is a command-line tool for file management on cloud storage. Basically it allows you to transfer files from your client to your cloud storage. For example instead of using the Dropbox web client on your computer you can use Rclone via the command-line to manage files on your Dropbox account. Of course there is much more to it but for most people that will be there main use of it.

Installation

To install Rclone use your systems package manager. See below for some examples.

## Arch
sudo pacman -S rclone
## Void
sudo xbps-install -S rclone
## Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install rclone
## macOS
brew install rclone

Configuration

Configuring Rclone is really easy, the program will run you through the steps depending on the cloud storage provider you use.

rclone config

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q>

Configuration - Dropbox

For this example I will show you how to set up Rclone with Dropbox. See below:

rclone config

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> n
name> Dropbox
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Dropbox
   \ "dropbox"
[snip]
Storage> dropbox
Dropbox App Key - leave blank normally.
app_key>
Dropbox App Secret - leave blank normally.
app_secret>
Remote config
Please visit:
https://www.dropbox.com/1/oauth2/authorize?client_id=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX&response_type=code
Enter the code: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_XXXXXXXXXX
--------------------
[remote]
app_key =
app_secret =
token = XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_XXXX_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Usage - Dropbox

# To list al
rclone lsd Dropbox:

rclone ls Dropbox:

rclone copy /home/somefile.txt Dropbox:test