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# Introduction

## What is Toucan?

Simply put Toucan is a file syncronisation, backup and encryption tool, aimed at advanced users. It has been written from the ground up to be a portable application. It also features a powerful inbuilt scripting system and a user interface that has been translated into nearly 20 languages.

## What is this Document?

You are reading the main Toucan manual. It aims to be a complete reference for Toucan, the user interface, the command line options and scripting system. Also included are sections on translating and compiling Toucan, as well as a set of example scripts. It is not a guide to Lua, the language that Toucan uses for its scripts, for an introduction see the Lua website and documentation. If you spot any mistakes or have any suggestions please post them in the Toucan support forum.

## A Brief History

What would eventually become Toucan, although it shares no code with it, first existed on the MozillaZine forums in the same thread as the original versions of Portable Firefox. Although it’s name has apparently been lost to history it was a very basic app, coded in NSIS that simply copied folders backwards and forwards, it was created originally for copying Firefox profiles. After Portable Firefox moved to PortableApps.com it migrated to the Liberta Project along with it’s new sibling, a backup tool written in NSIS that used 7-Zip as a back end. Together these are the distant ancestors of Toucan. After some time these two utilities were re-written into a single new tool in C++ using the wxWidgets GUI library. It was called the Portable Utility and Security Suite, which also added an encryption component. The code-base evolved for some time, before eventually moving to PortableApps.com and being renamed Toucan, a name chosen in a competition and thought of by Danny Mensingh. The initial 1.1 release was a success, receiving roughly 40,000 downloads in it’s first month. A number of bug fix releases followed, most notably replacing the default encryption mode, before version 2 was released with an updated user interface. The next major release was 2.1 which moved to a new Sync engine and Progress Window. After that release a there was another series of of bug fixes and feature updates after which Version 3 was released. Version 3 is the latest in a long line of improvements, moving to a new scripting system based on Lua, support for Linux and many other general fixes and additions, such as a much improved Sync system.

## Installing Toucan

Once you have downloaded a copy of Toucan from the website installation is simple.

### With the PortableApps.com Platform

Simply open the menu and click Options->Add a new App and follow the on screen instructions. Once installation has been completed Toucan will immediately be ready to run by clicking the link on the menu.

### Without the PortableApps.com Platform

If you do not use the platform and menu then simply run the installer and follow the instructions, selecting a path for Toucan to be installed in. Please note as of Windows Vista it is not recommended to install into the Program Files directory due to permissions issues. Also you will need to remember the path you have chosen to install to, because Toucan is designed mainly as a portable application start menu shortcuts are not created during installation. To run Toucan navigate to the directory you have installed to and run Toucan.exe.

## Uninstalling Toucan

If Toucan is not for you then because of its portable nature uninstallation is very straightforward. Please consider leaving some feedback in the Toucan support forum to help us improve it in future revisions.

### With the PortableApps.com Platform

Simply open the menu and click Options->Uninstall and follow the on screen instructions.

### Without the PortableApps.com Platform

Navigate to the folder you installed Toucan into and delete it, because it is a portable application nothing is left elsewhere on your computer. If you manually created your own start menu shortcuts you will need to delete these separately.

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