How to force checking of default remotes?

[Gary Creech · Accepted solution]

Manually tell Sourcetree to refresh each individual repo via the Repository -> Refresh remote status option.

Auto refresh option is set in Tools -> Options -> General (tab) -> "Check default remotes for updates every xxx minutes.

[Seth]

You can force a check by clicking the "Fetch" button.

As Gary said, you can configure SourceTree to do this automatically every xxx minutes.

[Gary Creech]

Seth - doesn't "Fetch" do more than just check the status?

[Seth]

SourceTree (and git in general) don't show you remote information, they copy information about the remote to your local repo, and show you that.

Fetch downloads new commits from your remotes, and updates all of the remote branch references. It does not modify your local branches.

The option to check remotes automatically performs a fetch command. I'm not sure what the Repository -> Refresh remote status does.