Method and apparatus for a file sharing and synchronization system

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause thea computing device to:

• maintain a copy of a data object shared with a first set of client devices associated with a user and a second set of client devices associated with one or more other users;
• receive a notification of a change to the data object from a client device from the first set of client devices associated with the user;
• in response to receiving the notification of the change to the data object from the client device and prior to receiving user input to publish the change to the data object, send the notification of the change to the data object to other client devices from the first set of client devices associated with the user but not to the second set of client devices;
• determine that the user provided input to publish the change to the data object;
• and
• send the notification of the change to the second set of client devices associated with the one or more other users based on receiving the notification of the change to the data object and determining that the user provided input to publish the change to the data object.

A system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
• maintain a copy of a data object shared with a first set of client devices associated with a user and a second set of client devices associated with one or more other users;
• receive a notification of a change to the data object from a client device from the first set of client devices associated with the user;
• in response to receiving the notification of the change to the data object from the client device and prior to receiving user input to publish the change to the data object, send the notification of the change to the data object to other client devices from the first set of client devices associated with the user but not to the second set of client devices;
• determine that the user provided input to publish the change to the data object;
• and
• send the notification of the change to the second set of client devices associated with the one or more other users based on receiving the notification of the change to the data object and determining that the user provided input to publish the change to the data object.

A method for synchronizing and sharing data objects, the method comprising:

• maintaining, by a synchronization server, a copy of a data object shared with a first group of client devices associated with a user and a second group of client devices associated with one or more other users;
• receiving, by the synchronization server, a notification of a change to the data object from a client device from the first group of client devices associated with the user;
• in response to receiving the notification of the change to the data object from the client device and prior to receiving user input to publish the change to the data object, sending, by the synchronization server, the notification of the change to the data object to other client devices from the first group of client devices associated with the user and a first subset of the second group of client devices associated with the one or more other users but not to a second subset of the second group of client devices;
• determining, by the synchronization server, that the user provided input to publish the change to the data object;
• and
• sending, by the synchronization server, the notification of the change to the second subset of the second group of client devices associated with the one or more other users based on receiving the notification of the change to the data object and determining that the user did provide input to publish the change to the data object.