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Synchronizing
A big win with today's palmtops is that they can easily synchronize their
data with a desktop computer - it is as simple as plugging in the palmtop
and punching one button. New data on the palmtop is copied to the
desktop, and new data on the desktop is copied to the palmtop. Your data
is backed up, so if your palmtop is dropped or stolen you haven't lost any
data. You can enter data on your desktop where it is easier, and you can
beam data from one palmtop to another via their infra-red ports.
All PalmOSes come with Palm Desktop, a simple PIM (Personal Information
Manager) that they can synchronize with. Most people, however, will want
to sync with Microsoft Outlook (also a PIM). All PalmOSes now come with Chapura's
PocketMirror, which does this (but not for Mac).
Most PalmOSes bought in the last year or so came with PocketMirror
2.0. There are two new versions: PocketMirror Standard
3.0, free to PocketMirror 2.0 owners, and PocketMirror Professional 3.0,
$25 if ordered and delivered via the Internet. The Professional
version supports syncing with subfolders in Outlook, and improves conflict
resolution when an item is modified on both the palmtop and the desktop.
See Chapura's site for downloading
Standard, buying Professional, a comparison chart, and a few free minor
upgrades to specific programs (the only interesting one stops PocketMirror
from putting "United States of America" in the country field of
some contacts downloaded from Outlook).
See also Intellisync's Sync-It
and Browse-It.
There are a few gotchas about synchronizing. Here are some
we've noticed with PocketMirror 2.0, and there are undoubtedly more.
Not understanding this may lead to loss of data! Learn
how to backup your mailbox! You should read about
cradles first.
- When a particular data item has been changed on the desktop and
the palmtop, which one should it keep? PocketMirror tries to do
the right thing by saving both of them - so, you will occasionally
have duplicates to deal with. Professional 3.0 resolves conflicts
better.
- Obviously, a palmtop doesn't have all the features of a
desktop. For instance, entries in Outlook's Contacts can have
long category names and belong to more than one category.
PocketMirror will choke on these entries and refuse to download them
(just them) to the palmtop. If it did truncate or choose one category,
how would it know if category information later changed?
- A palmtop has limited memory. So, downloading information is truncated
at some point (you don't want to receive email containing a 4M
attachment that is viewable only on a desktop anyway, do you?).
Outlook Notes that are way too big can be stored in a subfolder of
Notes that PocketMirror doesn't see. Less obvious are notes that grow
slowly: if you don't glance at PocketMirror's log each time for
errors, a note might be truncated on the palmtop, then later synced to
the desktop, and you've lost the tail end of your note.
- PocketMirror only sees Microsoft Outlook's top-level folders
like Contacts. It does not see, and does not do anything with
subfolders under Notes, say. Hierarchies are a good way to organize
data, so it might seem like a major restriction. However, dumping all
your notes into one folder and then using categories to separate them
is not so bad, and it even has some advantages like being easier to
search. Professional 3.0 handles subfolders.
- If your palmtop has been reset and has no local data, be
careful how you synchronize to download all information again from the
desktop. You don't want the palmtop being the master - it will delete
your Outlook information! It might have problems with wildly
inaccurate time-of-days, too.
The PalmOS software for your desktop, Conduit Manager, should be set
for "synchronize desktop and handheld", except for initial
setup, restores and recoveries.
If you move one occurrence of a recurring
event in Outlook's Calendar, Outlook
considers it still part of the series. If
you delete the series, the moved meeting is deleted too. PalmOS
does not remember the moved meeting as part of the series, so it is left
behind.
There is no PocketMirror for Macintosh.
Mac owners must syncrhonize to Palm Desktop. With additional
software a Palm will synchronize with Schedule+, but it won't sync with
Schedule+'s contacts.
Be careful setting up email services on a palmtop. The mail
protocol it uses it probably POP (Post Office Protocol), which, unlike
Outlook, downloads mail from the server and then removes the mail from
the server. Some palmtops' and cell phones' POP implementations are
missing key features:
- No "leave mail on server" checkbox. One employee's
cell phone downloaded 75 messages and then removed them from the
server. The owner didn't really want to answer all that mail
from the limited display / keyboard of a phone. Also, owners will have
to manually delete read messages in Outlook later - even when it works
right.
- No "Return Address" field. You tell a POP client
(on the palmtop) your mail server name (say ex1.uchsc.edu), your
Stargate handle (say "smithj") and your password. Without
knowing anything else, a dumb POP client will create, as was done in
the old days, an email address of smithj@ex1.uchsc.edu. Here at UCD
those style addresses don't work. You can mail a message, but your
correspondent's reply will bounce. A smart POP client lets you type in
a return address (say "John.Smith@UCHSC.edu").
- No "outgoing mail server" field. A dumb POP
mailer will try to send mail (using the SMTP protocol) via your
mailbox server (say ex1.uchsc.edu) - but that doesn't work here.
A smart POP client will let you set it to "mail.uchsc.edu".
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