Welcome to the Synapse docs site!
This site exists to help orient you to Synapse to make the most of your experience using it.
Whether you’re new to Synapse, or an experienced user, this docs site should help.
What’s on this docs site for you?
Read about Synapse—how it got started and how it fits into the bigger data-sharing picture
Gain a better understanding of Sage Bionetworks (that’s us—the nonprofit organization that created Synapse) and our other platforms that coincide with Synapse (such as portals)
Learn about Sage’s governance, and how that affects data privacy within Synapse
Get familiar with the structure and components of Synapse so you can navigate it with ease, manage your account, and personalize your experience
Learn how to upload, organize, and curate your data
Learn how to find and download data of interest
Get information to our API clients, including access to API documentation, as well as cloud computing
Read about newly released or improved features
Put instructions into action with our use cases—real applications of specific tasks
Look up an unfamiliar term or acronym in our glossary
Finally, see our help section for further assistance via the FAQ page, discussion forum, or contact information to get in touch
What do you need to get started?
First off, to browse Synapse and access its most basic level of functionality, you will need to register for a Synapse account. In doing so, you will be agreeing to the Synapse Code of Conduct and Synapse Terms and Conditions of Use.
If you’re simply looking to view a public wiki page, or browse our public project or file catalog, you can do so without registering for a Synapse account.
To perform other functions within Synapse, such as exploring, downloading, uploading, and organizing data, there are additional steps to take:
Exploring and downloading data
As a registered user, you can view and download any data that is publicly available.
However, some data is considered controlled access and requires additional protections for who can access it and how it can be used. This data will be clearly labelled with its specific conditions of use. Occasionally, access to controlled data requires additional steps, like having your analysis plan approved by an ethics board or IRB. Controlled access data can not be shared. Anyone wishing to gain access to said data must individually agree to the conditions for use.
Uploading, organizing, and curating data
To work with data of your own or your team’s, you must become a certified user. To become certified, you must pass a certification quiz, which will ask you about information that can be found throughout this documentation site.
Accessing mHealth data
To access mHealth data, you must become a validated user.