Intelligent Collaboration: Synology Drive, Office, and Moment
With Synology Drive, Office, and Moments, network storage becomes a place to work together
In November 2017, Synology made network storage more useful by adding three big collaboration packages: Synology Drive, Synology Office, and Synology Moments. These releases were a strategic shift away from traditional file storage and toward smart, integrated content collaboration directly on NAS infrastructure.
Synology systems started out as centralized storage systems, but they have since changed into private collaboration spaces that offer secure file access, document editing, and AI-driven media organization within a controlled business environment.
Synology Drive lets you access all of your files in one place
Synology Drive is a single place where you can access and manage files on different platforms. Users can access data through web browsers, desktop file explorers, and mobile devices, all while keeping control over who can see it and where it is stored.
The platform adds structured layers for working together:
- People can manage files with customizable sharing permissions in their own workspaces (My Drive).
- Team Folders let people from different departments work together while the administrator keeps an eye on things.
- Desktop Synchronization Clients for Windows, macOS, and Linux let you choose which files to sync to your local systems.
- When you connect with Synology Universal Search, you can index all the text in large file repositories, which makes you more productive. In businesses where the number of documents grows quickly, advanced search makes things run much more smoothly.
Self-Hosted Office Collaboration with Synology Office
Synology Office makes it easier for teams to work together by letting them make and change documents, spreadsheets, and presentations right in the NAS ecosystem.
The addition of Slides made it possible to host an office suite that could support real-time collaboration. Users can connect data between spreadsheets, set up their own cell ranges, and use flexible document layouts that work well for reporting and day-to-day tasks.
Hosting collaboration tools on-premises gives organizations more control over data residency and compliance than using third-party SaaS platforms. Documents stay in the company’s infrastructure but still get the benefits of modern editing tools.
Synology Moments: Smart Photo Management
Synology Moments adds deep learning features to help you organize and manage image libraries stored on NAS systems. Embedded AI models automatically sort photos by faces, subjects, themes, and places.
This feature is especially helpful for businesses that deal with marketing materials, media archives, or operational images. Instead of having to manually navigate through folders, the search function lets you find things by keyword. Mobile backup makes sure that images are safe right after they are taken.
Optimized thumbnail rendering speeds up browsing through large collections, even when bandwidth is limited.
Changing the Role of NAS in Business IT
The combination of Drive, Office, and Moments is part of a bigger change in NAS infrastructure. Instead of just being passive storage devices, Synology systems turned into active collaboration hubs that combine:
- Sharing files safely
- Editing documents in real time
- Smart content categorization
- Access control from one place
This unified approach cuts down on the need for different, disconnected platforms for distributed teams and hybrid workforces, while still keeping enterprise-level governance.
Strategic Benefits for Today’s Businesses
From an IT architecture point of view, these features make it possible to:
- Combining storage and collaboration systems
- Less spread of SaaS subscriptions
- Better control over data
- Managing permissions from one place
- Easier integration of backups
Synology’s collaboration tools work with enterprise backup, snapshot, and replication strategies to support secure, scalable workflows in multiple offices and remote locations.
A Little Bit About Epis Technology
Epis Technology helps businesses set up and improve Synology-based storage and collaboration spaces. Epis Technology is an expert in enterprise IT infrastructure, backup solutions for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, designing large storage systems, fully managed PC backups, and Synology consulting services. Epis Technology helps businesses modernize file management while keeping resilience, compliance, and operational control by making sure that collaboration tools work with structured backup and cybersecurity plans.