If you own a Synology NAS, you probably know the pain: the DSM web admin interface is rough with VoiceOver. I got tired of fighting it, so I started building a native Mac alternative — and before I go further, I'd genuinely love to know whether others would find it useful and which features you'd want first.
What it is
DSM Access is a free, open-source macOS app that talks directly to your Synology NAS through Synology's official Web API. It's built VoiceOver-first by someone who actually uses VoiceOver every day (me). The goal is simple: the things you currently struggle with in the DSM web UI, done in a clean, native, fully accessible Mac app.
What works today
- Sign in to your NAS — password login, with two-factor / one-time-code support and "remember this device."
- System information — model, DSM version, memory, uptime, temperature, and more.
- Browse File Station — your shared folders and their contents (read-only for now).
The file browser is where I put the most accessibility care. It uses a native table, like the Finder list view, so:
- Arrow keys move through the list (nothing opens just because your cursor lands on it).
- Command + Down or Return enters a folder.
- Command + Up goes back to the parent folder.
- VO-Space activates a row.
- Loading and errors are spoken — nothing happens silently.
Under the hood
- A native Mac app (SwiftUI, dropping down to AppKit where it makes accessibility genuinely better — the file list is one such place).
- Uses only Synology's documented API — no private or hidden endpoints, so it should stay reliable across DSM updates.
- Bilingual: English and French.
Being honest about the status
This is early. The code is public on GitHub: https://github.com/math65/dsmaccess (MIT license). There is no ready-to-install signed build yet — I want to gauge interest and priorities before investing more time, and a proper downloadable release will follow. If you're comfortable with Xcode, you can already build it from source.
Where you come in
- Would you actually use a native, accessible Mac app to manage your Synology NAS?
- File Station is next. Which of these would you want first?
- Download files to your Mac
- Upload files to the NAS
- Manage files: create folders, rename, move/copy, delete
- Create shareable links
- Search within a shared folder
- Would managing Download Station tasks (add / pause / remove downloads) be useful to you?
- Open question: what else about your NAS would you most want to do from an accessible Mac app? Some areas depend on what Synology's API actually exposes, so your answers genuinely help me figure out where it's realistic to dig.
Thanks for reading — any feedback, even a simple "yes, I'd use this," helps me decide where to take it. 🙏
Comments
Congratulations with V1.1 and USB Copy works!
Hi Mathieu,
Congratulations with version 1.1 Stable. I really appriciate the afford you and others are putting into the development of this app. I've used the stable version the whole evening with just one thing not working: I'm not able to eject my USB device. However, this could easily be a problem on my side, since the USB device is a read only audio recording device with read only rights. I was however able to test USB Copy and it seemce that the installation had failed. So, USB Copy was not available on my system and therefore greyed out as intended. Since USB Copy is busy doing it's thing, I was not able to test the USB ejection with other devices. Without any updates from my side, considder it in working order.
In addition to some of the features added in V1.1, I've got some questions for extended functionality.
- Could you add a function to to toggle the recycle bin on and of while creating a shared folder or while modifying it?
- Also while creating or modifying shared folders, could you add the options for encryption?
Now, both options defaults to 'yes', because they are not available in DSM Access. For some shared drives, I would like to switch one or both off.
And for a later release:
Is it possible to add the task planner (don't know if that's the correct name) into DSM Access to schedule to tempty the bins, to start a quick smart test or an extended smart test e.g.
Don't hurry. I'm just writing these down to let you know. Although, I absolutally understand that you might not have all the time of the world to add these features. I'm enormously thankful for all the work that has been put into this app so far. It was just the right moment and the right place for me. So, thank you very much!
Regards,
Ferry
Recycle bin, encryption, and the rest of the folder settings
Ferry, thank you again. Both of the settings you asked for are done, and I took the opportunity to complete everything missing around them. This will be in a future version.
The recycle bin
It can now be switched on or off when a shared folder is created and on an existing one, together with the option that restricts it to administrators. It can also be emptied from the app.
I owe you a clarification here. You wrote that the recycle bin "defaults to yes": you had put your finger on a real defect. The Shared Folders list never showed its true state. The app was asking the NAS for a field name that does not exist, so the column stayed empty for every folder, in every version released so far. It now says Yes or No.
Editing a shared folder is new in itself: until now the app could create one and delete it, with no way at all to come back to its settings.
Encryption
A folder can be encrypted when it is created, and an existing folder can be encrypted or decrypted from its settings. It can also be locked and unlocked from the list, which matters more than it sounds: after the NAS restarts, an encrypted folder comes back locked, and without that command the app would have left you no way to open it again.
Two warnings, both of which the app now states itself. Encrypting a folder that already holds data is not a setting: the NAS rewrites the entire folder, which stays unavailable for the whole operation. The app follows that progress and tells you when it is over. And the key: the NAS accepts any key at all, including an empty one, and encrypts the folder with it, with no way back. The app therefore requires at least eight characters and a confirmation, and states plainly that nobody will be able to recover the contents without that key.
The rest of the settings
While I was there, the app now also covers the folder quota, file compression, the data checksum, and the three restrictions that prevent browsing, modifying existing files, or downloading them.
A screen also shows which accounts reach a shared folder, and with which right, switching between users and groups. You asked for something close to this a few weeks ago: seeing which groups reach a folder. There it is.
What is still missing, to be complete: the NFS permissions, which I cannot put to the test without that service running here, and the encryption key manager.
The task scheduler
Noted, and I am not promising a date. That one is a module of its own rather than a screen, and it drives tasks that run with full privileges on the NAS. I want to be sure of it before it ships.
The USB eject
I could not reproduce what you saw: I have neither a read-only device nor an eSATA enclosure here. So that point rests on your testing rather than mine. If another device misbehaves, tell me and I will dig.
Thanks and USB eject is in fact working correctly
Hi Mathieu,
Thank you again for all this functions. I've was able to test the USB eject function and it was my read only USB drive that massed things up. I was able to eject every other drive I tried; more than 6 in fact. So, that can be ticked off. :)
One last check on that read-only drive
Ferry, thank you. Six drives is a real test, and it is good to know the eject works.
I would still like to settle the one that did not, rather than write it off. Two questions, whenever you have a moment:
No hurry at all. I have no read-only device here, so this one can only be answered from your side.
DSM Access: stable 1.2, and a 1.3 beta with Hyper Backup
Hello everyone,
Two releases to catch up on: version 1.2 went out as a stable update yesterday, and the first beta of 1.3 is available today. The beta is the big one.
Stable 1.2: a terminal for your containers
The Containers module gained a terminal. You can open a shell inside a running container and work in it. What you send and what the shell answers are laid out as an exchange, one block each, in a read-only field you can move through line by line, instead of the screen-shaped terminal DSM draws, which no screen reader can follow. If you are on 1.1, the updater has this for you already.
1.3 beta 1: Hyper Backup
The new Hyper Backup module (Command-Option-6) lists your backup tasks with their destination, state and encryption, follows a running backup with live progress announcements, and lets you start a backup, cancel one, browse the dated versions, and read the task's log and statistics.
The part I care most about is restoring. You open any backup version and browse it the way the Files module works: arrow keys to move, Command-Down Arrow to open a folder, Command-Up Arrow to go back. Restoring beside your originals is the default gesture: walk to the folder that should receive the copy, create it on the way if needed, and the screen states in a plain sentence what will be restored and where before you confirm. Nothing replaces your current files unless you switch that on explicitly, and the confirmation for restoring to the original location names what will be replaced, not just "your original files". You can also download a single file from a backup straight to the Mac.
Not there yet, and said plainly: searching inside a backup, following a long restore, unlocking encrypted backups, pausing a backup, and creating or deleting tasks. That is what the rest of the 1.3 cycle is for.
Also in the beta: complete shared folder settings
Creating a shared folder now offers the recycle bin, visibility options and encryption, and a settings sheet brings the same choices to existing folders: quota, file compression, data checksum, the three advanced access restrictions, emptying the recycle bin, and a view of which accounts reach the folder and with which right. Encrypting an existing folder reports its progress to the end, and the recycle bin column stopped claiming "No" on every folder. Ferry, this is the "future version" from my last reply: it is this beta.
Getting the beta
If you were on the 1.1 betas, the updater offers this one by itself. From stable 1.2, open Settings, then Updates, and check "Receive beta versions". You can also download DSM Access 1.3 beta 1 directly.
If you would rather stay clear of betas, nothing changes for you: the updater keeps you on stable versions, and you can also download DSM Access 1.2 directly.
Your reports on the restore explorer are what I am after most: it exists because one of you described what made DSM's own restore screen frightening to use.
Mathieu