A system is provided for enabling in-application support for topological changes to local files during remote synchronization. The techniques disclosed herein solve the problems of existing systems by mitigating conflict states and loss of edits being made to a file during synchronization. In addition, the techniques disclosed herein enable a user to interact directly with a productivity application to rename and/or move a file. The techniques disclosed herein provide an improved user experience and more efficient methods for interacting with files in that a user does not have to exit a productivity application and interact with an operating system interface to rename and/or move a file. A productivity application can operate in a server mode or a client mode depending on a validity of a requested destination location for a file.