iSync

iSync is the Mac OS X synchronization software. It synchronizes contact and calendar information between different Mac OS X computers, and also devices such as mobile phones, a Palm OS PDA, or an iPod.

What exactly does synchronization mean? In this case, iSync compares the information on separate computers or devices and then changes the information to be the same on them all. iSync knows to ask you how to resolve conflicting information so that nothing is lost. Anything deleted on one device is deleted on all the other devices after they are synced.

Use iSync to synchronize contact information from the Address Book and calendar and to-do information from iCal. Figure 18-38 shows the iSync window as it first appears.

Figure 18-38: The iSync window as it first appears.

You can use iSync on the four following choices:

• A Bluetooth enabled mobile phone (from a Bluetooth enabled Macintosh)

• An iSync-compatible USB mobile phone

• A Palm OS handheld PDA via USB, or via Bluetooth (from a Bluetooth enabled Macintosh)

• An Apple iPod via a FireWire, one-way, Mac to iPod synch

If you have a .Mac membership, iSync can also synchronize:

• Contact information from Address Book

• Calendar and To Do information from iCal

• Bookmarks from Safari

With (via the Internet):

• Multiple Mac OS X computers

• The .Mac Address Book for use with .Mac Web Mail

• iCal calendars published on the Internet for use by your friends using iCal on their Macs

• .Mac Bookmarks for use via any Web browser

Tip

You should plan on only syncing a device with a single computer. For example, if you have three computers, one at home, one at work, and a PowerBook, you cannot sync the device with any of them; you have to pick one. You can change which one later by removing the device from iSync and then adding it to iSync on another machine; see the instruction below for removing a device. Information may not sync correctly when you violate this rule.

Setting up devices for syncing

Before you can use iSync, you need to set up your computers or devices to work with it.

The first step in setting up your device is to check to see if it is iSync-compatible. Visit www.apple.com/isync/devices.html to view an up-to-the minute list of all compatible devices. The list is growing all the time.

Instructions for setting up devices may change with each new revision of iSync. For the most up-to-date information on how do set up your device, refer to the specific instructions in the “Setting up your computers and devices” section of iSync Help.

Although the details vary, in general the setup process for phones goes like this. First ensure connectivity between your Mac and the phone, via Bluetooth or USB. Second, open iSync, choose Devices Add Device, and double-click the phone in the add device window to add it to iSync. When the phone is added, a phone icon will appear on the iSync interface. You only need to add the phone once.

To set up a Palm OS device, you need to install the latest iSync Palm Conduit software on your Mac. Download this software from www.apple.com/isync.

After the software is installed, follow the instructions in iSync Help to add your Palm OS device to iSync, which only needs to be done once.

In general, you must first ensure that you have compatible versions of Palm Desktop (at this writing, version 4.0 or later), iCal (1.02 or later) and the latest Palm Conduit. Open the Palm HotSync Manager utility, and choose HotSync Conduit Settings. Double-click the iSync Conduit, then select Enable iSync for this Palm device. Click OK, and your Palm device will appear in the iSync window. The Palm Address Book, Date Book, and To Do will now sync with information from the Mac OS X Address Book and iCal. The Palm Notes will still sync as before with the Palm Desktop application.

After you have the iPod software Version 2.0 installed, follow these steps to set up an iPod to work with iSync:

1. Connect your iPod to your Mac with its FireWire cable.

2. Open iSync.

3. Choose Devices Add Device. The Add Device window opens.

4. Double-Click iPod. The iPod icon appears in the iSync window.

iSync transfers to your iPod your contacts from Address Book, and your calendar events and To Do lists from iCal. iSync will not transfer information from the iPod to your computer.

To set up a Mac to sync with another Mac via iSync and .Mac, connect to the Internet and then follow these steps:

1. Open the .Mac System Preference to the .Mac panel to ensure your .Mac member name and password are properly entered.

2. Open iSync and click the .Mac button. The .Mac settings appear.

3. Click the Register button.

4. Enter a name to identify this computer with the .Mac synchronization service. The name must be different from the name of any other computer you register or iSync will not work. The name that is pre-entered is taken from the computer name in the Sharing pane of System Preferences; use this name, or any other unique name.

5. Repeat the above steps on any other Mac you wish to sync.

The registered computers will sync with .Mac whenever you perform a sync while connected to the Internet.

Synchronizing your information

After you have set up all the devices and computers you wish to sync, and icons for them appear in the iSync window, you are ready to synchronize!

1. The first time you synchronize a device, click its icon in the iSync window. From the For first sync pop-up menu, choose Merge to combine the information from all computers and devices, or Replace to replace the information on the current computer or devices with synced information from your other computers or devices.

   If you want to choose what information will be synchronized, click on the .Mac or a device icon in the iSync window, and make your selections. Selecting less information here will speed up the sync process.

2. To start the sync between all computers or devices (for everything but a Palm OS device), click Sync Now in the iSync window.

3. To do a sync between all computers or devices, including a Palm OS device, perform a Hot Sync operation on the device. To do this, push the Hot Sync button on the device’s cradle or on the device’s screen, select the Hot Sync application and press the Hot Sync button.

   Starting the Hot Sync operation when a Palm device has been added to iSync is equivalent to pushing the Sync Now button, in that all the added devices and computers will be synchronized. When the sync starts, the iSync window temporarily hides your settings. If more than 5 percent of the information on any device will be changed by the synchronization, a “Safeguard window” appears to inform you of how much information is going to be changed, and gives you an opportunity to cancel the sync process. (You can change the setting for this window in iSync Preferences.)

All registered computers and added devices are synchronized, as long as they are connected either by wire, within Bluetooth range, or over the Internet. The first sync will take longer than subsequent syncs, because all the information is being synchronized and not just the changes.

If any of the registered computers or added devices are not connected or available at the time of the sync, iSync saves the information meant for them, and updates them as soon as a connection to them becomes available.

If iSync detects that the same record has been changed on different source computers or devices and the changes are not identical, iSync will ask you to resolve the conflict. In the dialog that appears, select the source which will be used. If there is more than one conflict between sources, you will see a message to this effect. To resolve all conflicts with your selected source, click the checkbox next to this message. You can also click Later to resolve the conflicts at your next sync.

Tip

After a sync, you may notice a new calendar in iCal called Unfiled. iSync creates an Unfiled calendar to hold date-related information from a mobile phone or Palm device that you have not specified should be added to one of your iCal calendars. You can keep the Unfiled calendar, or delete it after transferring its events to another iCal calendar.

Automatic synchronization

If you are a .Mac member, you can choose to synchronize the following information automatically, every hour:

• Address Book

• .Mac Address Book

• iCal calendars and To Do lists

• Safari bookmarks

When Automatic Synchronization is turned on, and a Bluetooth phone or USB has been added to iSync, they will also be synced when they are connected or in range.

Note that Palm OS devices cannot be automatically synchronized, because they depend upon the Hot Sync software.

Follow these steps to turn on Automatic Synchronization:

1. Choose iSync Preferences. (See Figure 18-39.)

   
   Figure 18-39: The iSync Preferences window.

   Make sure that the Show data change alert when...pop-up menu is set to an option other than Any. If you do not do this, you will see a window later asking you to change your Safeguard settings. Close the Preferences window when done.

2. Click the .Mac icon in the iSync window and select the Automatically synchronize every hour option.

While you are connected to the Internet, every hour your computers will by synchronized with the .Mac synchronization server. If you are not connected to the Internet, iSync will save your information every hour and will perform the synchronization the next time you are connected to the Internet.

Resetting synchronized information

You can undo a synchronization if you don’t like its results, or if you had problems during the process, by performing a reset. You have three choices of how to do this:

1. To revert only your computer to the information that was on it just before your last sync, choose Devices Revert to Last Sync. You will lose any changes made since your last synchronization.

2. To transfer the information currently on your computer to all computers or devices, choose Devices Reset All Devices. Then select the This computer option from the pop-up menu and click Reset All.

3. To transfer the information currently on the .Mac sync server to all computers or devices, choose Devices Reset All Devices (see Figure 18-40). Then choose .Mac from the pop-up menu and click Reset All.

   
   Figure 18-40: iSync’s Reset All Devices window.

If you have turned on syncing for your .Mac Address Book, the information it contains will also be reset. You will lose any information that is stored only in your .Mac Address Book, such as quick-tos and nicknames.

Turning off synchronization

You can temporarily turn off synchronization off for any of your registered computers or added devices. You can also turn off synchronization for a particular type of information on that computer or device.

To turn synchronization off, click the .Mac icon, or the device’s icon, so that the settings appear. Deselect the Turn on Synchronization checkbox to remove the check mark.

To turn off a particular type of information on the computer or device, deselect the information you don’t want to synchronize.

Removing computers and devices from iSync

If you no longer want to sync a computer or device with iSync, you can remove it.

You must remove a device if you want to sync it with another computer, because information may not sync correctly if a device that has been added to iSync on two different computers is synchronized first with one, and then the other. As a rule, you should only have the device added to one computer’s iSync at a time.

• To remove the computer you are working on from iSync, click on the .Mac icon in the iSync window, and click Unregister This Computer.

• To remove a registered computer you are not working on from the .Mac synchronization service, click on the .Mac icon in the iSnyc window, select the computer, and click Unregister Selected Computer.

• To remove a device from iSync, select the device icon in the iSync window and choose Devices Remove device. The device icon disappears from the iSync window.