Cloud collaboration is a hard sell to a DIT with terabytes to offload and an editor who wants footage to open at local-drive speed. Browser uploads are fine for a few files; they're the wrong tool for a shoot's worth of dailies.
Desktop Sync is Sequence's answer, powered by Sequence Shuttle — a native macOS companion app that mounts any Sequence project as a local drive. The project shows up in Finder at /Volumes/SequenceProjects/ like any other disk. You work with its footage exactly the way you'd work with any folder on your Mac, and Shuttle keeps the cloud and your local drive in step behind the scenes.
Copy footage into the mounted folder and it flows straight into the Sequence project — no upload button, no export step. Shuttle notices the moment a file lands and sends it to the cloud in the background; the instant it finishes, it's a normal project asset your whole team can see. Pulling media back down works in reverse: open or scrub a clip that lives in the cloud and Shuttle streams only the parts you need, always prioritizing what you're actively watching over anything it's quietly prefetching, so playback stays smooth.
What Shuttle does#
Mount and work locally
Projects mount as local drives at /Volumes/SequenceProjects/ and open in Finder like any disk. Mount from Shuttle's menu-bar menu or with one click from a project's Overview page.
Automatic transfers
Uploads start on their own the moment footage lands — no button. Downloads stream only what you need, on demand. The Uploads tab shows live status, and Shuttle retries after network hiccups without you stepping in.
Smart local cache
A local cache — 100 GB by default, adjustable from 1 GB to 1 TB — means footage you've already touched reopens straight from disk. Shuttle prefetches ahead of the playhead so sustained playback stays smooth.
Runs in the background
Sign in once and Shuttle stays connected. When cache headroom runs low it throttles uploads and clears the least-recently-used data on its own — never touching a file that's still uploading — so it works invisibly while you do.
Workflow fit#
Desktop Sync is the on-ramp for teams whose media doesn't start in the cloud. A DIT offloads a shoot into the mounted folder and it becomes cloud footage the editor can cut with immediately — no separate upload pass. An editor who wants local-speed scrubbing gets it from the cache, while everyone remote sees the same assets. And because Shuttle mounts the project as an ordinary Finder volume, it sits comfortably alongside a Mac-based finishing and mastering workflow rather than replacing it.
macOS today
Shuttle is a native macOS app. Editing itself runs in any browser on Mac or Windows — Shuttle is the desktop companion for mounting projects and moving large media, and it currently runs on the Mac.
Who it's for#
- DITs offloading footage from set without a manual upload pass
- Editors who want local-speed access to cloud media
- Post supervisors moving large deliverables in and out of projects
- Mac-based finishing and mastering rooms working from mounted projects
- Distributed teams keeping local drives and the cloud in step
Ready for the step-by-step? The Shuttle guide covers installing the app, mounting projects, and managing your local cache in detail.