9.4 Performing Your First Sync

With the fine details out of the way, it's time to put iSync to work. With your Mac registered with the .Mac synchronization server, iSync can be used to transfer the data from your Mac to your iDisk; once there, your contacts, calendars, and bookmarks can be pulled over to other Macs or used by other .Mac services.

This section shows you how to add and remove devices to the sync list, and provides an overview of the windows and alerts you'll see along the way during the data transfer.

9.4.1 Add and Select Devices

By default, iSync is set up to synchronize data with your .Mac account, as denoted by the .Mac icon in top portion of iSync's window (see Figure 9-11). Try as you might, you cannot remove the .Mac icon from iSync's list of devices.

Well, there is one way to remove .Mac from the list of devices, but that involves hacking iSync's plist file.

If you have other devices that you'd like to synchronize data with, you can add them to the list by selecting Devices Add Device ( -N).

To synchronize data with a PalmOS device, you need to use the HotSync Manager, which is installed on your Mac by the software that came with your Palm PDA. For more information about the HotSync Manager, visit Palm's web site (http://www.palm.com).

Additionally, any time you upgrade to a new version of iSync, you should also upgrade the Palm Desktop software.

When you select Add Device from the Devices menu, iSync will search for any devices connected to or within Bluetooth range of your Mac. When iSync locates a device, an icon for that device is displayed in the Add Device window, shown in Figure 9-12. In this case, iSync has detected an iPod.

Figure 9-12. iSync's Add Devices window displays an icon for any devices it can sync data with.

To add a device to iSync's list of devices to sync with, simply double-click on the icon's device in the Add Device window. When you do, the device will transfer from the Add Device window to iSync's main window, as shown in Figure 9-13. The Add Device window stays open until you close the window, either by clicking on the red close window button or by using the close window keyboard shortcut ( -W).

Figure 9-13. iSync's window, showing both the .Mac and iPod icons.

Once detected, iSync displays the name of the device and lets you know when the last time a sync was performed. The only data you can sync with an iPod are the Contacts from your Address Book or the Calendars from iCal. (Music syncing is handled by iTunes and is not discussed in this book.)

9.4.1.1 The Safeguard panel

One of the great things about iSync is that it not only synchronizes data from your Mac, but it also compares that data with the any existing data on devices with which it is synchronizing. When iSync encounters similar records that might have slightly different information, the Safeguard window, shown in Figure 9-14, appears.

Figure 9-14. iSync's Safeguard window alerts you when it finds differences in data on the destination device when compared with the source device.

As shown in Figure 9-14, the Safeguard window is broken up into a table view with four columns :

Device

This column lists the devices with which you're synchronizing data.

Add

This column lists the number of new records that will be added to the device. Figure 9-14 shows that there are 165 records to be added to the .Mac account from the Address Book. We know that the additions are coming from the Address Book by the "Your contacts will be changed by this synchronization" message in bold text near the top of the window.

Delete

This column lists the number of records that will be deleted from the device. iSync determines whether a record will be deleted based on a previous sync. For example, if you've synchronized your Address Book's contacts once before but have deleted a few people between syncs, iSync will list that number of records in the Delete column. When you perform the sync, any records on that have been deleted from your Mac since the last sync will also be deleted from the device.

Modify

This column lists the number of records that will be modified on your Mac. When performing the sync, iSync looks at the records on your Mac and the device and compares the two. If it finds any changes, the number of records that will be modified is noted in the Modify column. In the case of Figure 9-14, one of the records on .Mac's Address Book is different from one of the records on the Mac; therefore, the record on the Mac will be modified during the sync.

After reviewing the Safeguard panel, if you're okay with the changes that will be made, click on the Proceed button to allow the changes to be made to both devices. In the case of Figure 9-14, 165 records will be added to .Mac's Address Book, and one change will be made to the Mac's Address Book. If you don't want to make the changes, click on the Cancel button. The changes specified in the Safeguard panel won't be made, and iSync will continue on with the rest of the synchronization process.

9.4.1.2 The Conflict Resolver

Another window you might encounter when performing a sync is the Conflict Resolver, as shown in Figure 9-15.

Figure 9-15. iSync's Conflict Resolver.

The Conflict Resolver appears when it finds similar records on the devices being synced with, but there might be some slight difference in that record. The portion of the record that iSync is trying to resolve is displayed as red text. In the case of Figure 9-15, the difference between my Address Book records is that there's a trailing slash on the URL for my work home page (http://www.oreilly.com/ in .Mac's Address Book, versus http://www.oreilly.com in my Mac's Address Book).

The Conflict Resolver lets you choose which information to use. As you can see from Figure 9-15, the information for each device is placed within a box, one of which has a thicker, blue border; the box with the blue border contains the information that will be used to resolve the conflict. Meaning, the information in the box will be made the same on all devices being synced. If you want to choose the information in the other box, simply click on that box and it will be highlighted with the blue border.

Once you've selected the information that you want to be used, click on the Finish button. iSync resolves the conflict on the source and destination devices, and displays the sheet shown in Figure 9-16. To continue with the synchronization process, click on the Sync Now button; or to save the change and quit the synchronization process, click on the Sync Later button.

Figure 9-16. Once the conflict has been resolved on the devices, iSync gives you the option of continuing with the sync or saving those changes for a later sync.

The combination of iSync's Safeguard Panel and the Conflict Resolver helps to ensure that your data is the same on your Mac and any of the devices with which you're syncing.

9.4.2 Resetting a Device

Most syncs will go off without a hitch. You connect a device, sync the data with iSync, and then go about your business. But there may come a time when you want to erase the data you've synced to a device and restore it with the data on your computer. For example, you may have synced the all of the contacts from your Address Book to your cell phone, when all you wanted was your list of Friends, or maybe you didn't mean to sync the event calendar for the local Apple Store to your iPod. In times like these, iSync comes with a reset button of sorts.

To reset the synchronized data on a device, make sure the device you want to reset is connected to or detected by your Mac (Devices Add Device). Next, select Devices Reset All Devices, which opens the window shown in Figure 9-17.

Figure 9-17. Clicking on the Reset All button resets the data on your devices, including .Mac.

Before you click that Reset All button, you should keep in mind that any changes you've made to the data on your devices will be wiped out, including any changes you've made to the online version of your Address Book.

If you have something precious on any device, you should take the time to update the information on your computer first. For example, if you've entered a new phone number for a friend on your cell phone and you haven't made that change to your Mac's Address Book, you should go into the Address Book and make that change before you click on the Reset All button, which will wipe out and restore the data on the phone.

To start the process of clearing the old data off of the devices and replacing it with a fresh set of data from your Mac, click on the Reset All button. iSync's window will collapse, and you can track the progress of the data replacement by reading the messages shown in the window's status bar (the gray bar at the bottom of the window), as shown in Figure 9-18.

Figure 9-18. As the blue progress meter moves from left-to-right , the status bar at the bottom of the window displays messages about what iSync is doing.

If you are synchronizing data between two or more Macs, you should resynchronize the other Mac after you've reset the devices. When you synchronize the other Mac, you will see a message similar to the one shown in Figure 9-19.

Figure 9-19. iSync alerts you after a device has been reset.

When you use iSync on the other Mac, the .Mac Reset window shown in Figure 9-19 appears. This window alerts you to the changes that were made and gives you one of three options to select from:

Cancel Sync

Clicking on this button will cancel the synchronization process, leaving the data on the machine intact.

Merge with .Mac

Clicking on this button will merge the data from your Mac with what exists on the .Mac (iDisk) server.

Replace with .Mac

Clicking on this button replaces the data on the Mac with what exists on the .Mac (iDisk) server.

Since we want to keep the data the same across all of the devices and Macs, the option to choose here is Replace with .Mac.

Additionally, if you have used an earlier version of iSync and this is the first time that Safari's bookmarks had been synchronized, you will also see the alert message shown in Figure 9-20.

Figure 9-20. iSync alerts you if there's something new waiting on the server to synchronize.

The first time you synchronize Safari's bookmarks between two Macs, you will see a pop-up menu that gives you an option to merge the bookmark lists. Selecting this option (Merge data on this computer and .Mac) is probably the option you will want to choose. Why? Well, it lets iSync merge Safari's bookmarks on the different Macs so that they will be the same on both Macs.