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Hack 29. Take Your Work on the Go with Offline Files and the Briefcase
Here are two ways road warriors can more easily take files with them when they leave home or the office, and then synchronize files back to their desktop PCs when they return. If you use a laptop on a corporate LAN, you might sometimes store files on the network and forget to bring them home or with you on the road. This frequently happens to people who, like me, are absent-minded on occasion (or more than on occasionafter all, I once left my car keys in the refrigerator). If you have XP Professional, you can use its Offline Files feature to automatically synchronize folders from the LAN to your notebook so that whenever you leave the office the latest version of your files will be available. To enable the use of offline files, choose My Computer Tools Folder Options Offline Files tab, and select the checkbox next to Enable Offline Files (see Figure 3-17). Figure 3-17. Enabling offline files
As you can see, this tab contains a number of options for using offline files. Here's what you need to know about each to take best advantage of offline file synchronization:
Make sure to choose this option. When you do, the most recent copies of files will automatically be copied to your laptop. If you don't choose this option, you'll get only a partial synchronization, which means you won't have the latest version of all your files. Also, keep in mind that you have to log off or turn off your PC for this option to work. If you only physically disconnect your PC from the network, the files won't be copied.
If you choose this option, as soon as you connect back to the network, your files will be synchronized from your laptop back to the LAN. That means you won't be able to use them locally, and you'll have to use them on the LAN. If you don't choose this option, you'll be able to continue using your files locally and can then manually synchronize any folders you want to the LAN.
If you've disconnected from the network, this option will automatically flash a balloon message at you, telling you at an interval of your choosing that you've been disconnected. More than anything, this is an annoying option and is useful only if you frequently disconnect from your LAN accidentally.
If you choose this option, XP creates a desktop shortcut to the Offline Files folder it creates when you enable the use of offline files.
If you're concerned about the security of your files, choose this option. As the name implies, it will encrypt your offline files.
When you use offline files, Windows caches files from the LAN onto your hard disk temporarily. This option lets you determine the exact amount of disk space to allocate to those temporary offline files. After you've set up your laptop to use Offline Files, you have to choose the specific folders on the server that you want to make available to you offline. Open Windows Explorer, right-click the network folder, and choose Make Available Offline. If there are subfolders in the folder, you'll be asked whether you want to make those subfolders available as well. After you do this, when you log off the network, the server copies to your laptop all the folders you've marked. They'll be available to you in the same way as any other folders are, via your applications, via Windows Explorer, in My Computer, or in My Network Places. Work with them on your laptop, and then, when you next connect to the network, they'll be synchronized to the network folders, depending on the options you've chosen. 3.10.1. On-Demand and Scheduled SynchronizationsIf you'd like, instead of synchronizing when you log off the network, you can synchronize manually on demand, or you can set up a schedule for automated synchronization. To synchronize on demand manually, in Windows Explorer choose Tools Synchronize. From the dialog box that appears, select the items in the Logon/Logoff tab that you want to synchronize, and click Synchronize. To set up times to synchronize, use the On Idle and Scheduled tabs. 3.10.2. Use the Briefcase for Mobile File TransfersOffline Files works only if you have XP Professional and if you have a LAN to which both your laptop and desktop connect. But if you need to synchronize files between two computers not on a networkeven if you don't have XP Professionalthere is still a way to synchronize files between computers: use the Briefcase. It's not as easy to use as Offline Files, but it still does the trick. It synchronizes files between your two machines by using removable media such as a CD, zip drive, or flash drive/USB Keychain device.
To use the Briefcase to transfer files from a laptop to a desktop computer, first format the media you're going to use if it needs to be formatted. With the removable media in the drive, open Windows Explorer, click the media's disk folder, and choose File New Briefcase. If you're going to be using more than one Briefcase at a time, rename the Briefcase with a descriptive name. The Briefcase is a folder, like any other folder on your computer. Open it, and then click Finish to close the dialog box that appears. Copy into the Briefcase the files you're going to want to transfer to your laptop and keep synchronized between the two computers. You can copy files from different folders. If you're going to add files to the Briefcase over time, or if you expect the files in the Briefcase to grow, make sure to leave enough extra room on the disk. Eject the media from your desktop. (If you get an error message when trying to eject a CD, close Windows Explorer and then eject it.) Place the media in your laptop, and move or copy the Briefcase folder to the laptop's hard disk. Remember to move or copy the entire folder, not the individual files in the folder. Work on the files as you would normally. Add or delete files as well. When it's time to transfer the files back to your PC, copy the Briefcase from your laptop to the removable media, and put the removable media in your desktop. Open the Briefcase folder. To synchronize all the files back to your desktop, choose Briefcase Update All and, from the Update Briefcase dialog box (shown in Figure 3-18), click Update. To synchronize individual files, select them, choose Briefcase Update Selection, and click Update. Figure 3-18. Synchronizing all the files in a Briefcase back to a desktop PC3.10.3. A Closer Look at the BriefcaseIt's a good idea to examine the files in your Briefcase before you synchronize so that you know the status of each. As you can see in Figure 3-19, you'll see whether each file has been updated and therefore needs to be updated on your current machine, or whether it was unchanged. The Briefcase folder also shows you the file's original location on the computer, as well as other details such as file size. Figure 3-19. The Briefcase folderRight-click any file in the Briefcase, and choose Properties Update Status; youll get updated information about each file. You can also perform the following tasks:
3.10.4. See Also
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