In plain English
It is the starting pass that brings data already held in separate systems into alignment. The idea is that this happens on the first time the sync process runs, so existing information is made to match at that point.
In context
As a status or progress label, "Initial sync" indicates that the first run that makes existing data match across systems is the run being reported.
- Situation
- Connecting integrations, syncing data, and running imports or exports
- What it communicates
- status or progress label for the first sync run
Meaning limits
The term only identifies that first matching run and does not by itself say how long it takes, whether it has finished, or how later sync runs behave.
Examples
“On the first connection, the initial sync made the customer records already held in the two systems match.”
“While the address books in the laptop and the server were being aligned, the progress report remained at Initial sync.”