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Take Control of Syncing Data in Leopard
Is your data stuck on your Mac? Learn how to sync it with another Mac, iPhone, iPod, mobile phone, or PDA!
With clear directions and a humorous touch, Take Control of Syncing Data in Leopard explains how to sync data from a Mac running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard with a variety of devices from Apple and other companies. Whether you want to sync phone numbers between your Mac and your mobile phone, share calendars and keychains between Macs, or move only new podcast episodes to a small iPod, syncing expert and master punster Michael Cohen has the answers. You'll learn what software and gear you need and the best ways to move data between different devices. The ebook also explains how syncing works under the hood and provides troubleshooting advice in case your sync engine throws a rod.
This ebook looks closely at syncing to the iPhone and iPod touch. For less detail about syncing but lots more about those devices, you might prefer Take Control of Your iPhone, currently available in a Web-based preview version.
More Info
Contents & Intro
FAQ
Includes a coupon for 50% off any product from PocketMac, makers of sync solutions for Mac and Windows.
Types of sync data covered include:
Calendar items stored in iCal, Entourage, and Google
Contacts stored in Address Book, Entourage, Yahoo, and Google
Data on Exchange servers
Dock items and Dashboard widgets
Apple Mail account settings, Safari bookmarks, and application preferences
Apple Mail and Entourage notes
Keychains (user names and passwords)
Items from software that uses Leopard's Sync Services, including NetNewsWire and Yojimbo
Audio, video, photos, and associated metadata from iTunes
Types of devices covered include:
Macs, with details on MobileMe and overviews of popular third-party options
iPhone and iPod touch, via MobileMe or iTunes
Old and new iPods via iTunes, with details on USB and FireWire connections
The Apple TV via iTunes
Mobile phones, smartphones, BlackBerries, and Palm OS PDAs
Connection technologies and software examined include:
Bluetooth, USB, FireWire, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet
MobileMe, iTunes, iSync, IMAP (IMAP discussion is limited to Apple Mail)
Third-party products from BusyMac, Mark/Space, PocketMac, and Spanning Sync
Sampler of special questions you'll find answers to:
What is the truth database? And what should I do if I think it's lying?
When a sync occurs, what's going on behind the scenes?
What is push syncing and how does it work?
What is the difference between syncing and a backup?
What does Bluetooth "discovery" mean, and what should I do about it?
Can I control exactly which audio and video files sync to my iPod?
How do I override automatic syncing when I connect my iPod to iTunes?
How does iTunes decide if a video file is a movie, TV show, or music video?
How does the Apple TV figure out what to sync if it fills up?
How do I sync everything possible to my iPhone—calendars, contacts, Safari bookmarks, the works?
How do I sync a mobile phone that Apple doesn't support?
Why won't my Palm device show up in the iSync app?
I have to sync with an Exchange server... what do I need to know?
What's the smartest way to sync keychains between Macs?
How can I best avoid data duplication problems when syncing?
I have a syncing feeling about my data—what should I do?
Free sample with Table of Contents, Introduction, Quick Start, and section starts.
About the Author
Michael has worked as a teacher, a programmer, a Web designer, a multimedia producer, and a certified usability analyst. He's the author or co-author of several books, including The Xcode 2 Book and AirPort and Mac Wireless Networks for Dummies.
This ebook explains how Leopard "thinks about" syncing, and shows you how to take advantage of its syncing capabilities, and how to go beyond them when they fall short. It was written by Michael E. Cohen (with an assist from the Digital Medievalist), edited by Don Sellers, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc.
Introduction
Once upon a time I wrote a book called Take Control of Syncing in Tiger. The book that you have before you is the direct descendant of that one, but, like all children, it is more than just a revised version of its ancestors. The Tiger book described how to take control of syncing both files and other stuff in Mac OS X 10.4. This book, though it incorporates much information from the last one, barely glances at file syncing and focuses just on the other stuff.
"Wait, what?" I hear you exclaim. "Since when aren't files data?" Well, yes, files are data, but the kinds of data I want to explain how to sync are those kinds of data that are not (for the most part, anyway) nicely corralled in individual, well-named, user-created, easy-to-drag-around files. The kinds of data with which this book deals are stored in places on your Mac where it is perilous for users to tread, and which may involve the contents of more than one file.
Take a podcast in your iTunes library. When you sync it with your iPod, you sync not only the audio or video file itself, but stuff like the number of times it's been played, its current play position, and so on. Some of this stuff is separate from the media file itself, and is stored elsewhere on your Mac—and is stored in inaccessible places on your iPod. This is not a drag-and-drop-friendly state of affairs.
In this book, I call these kinds of data managed data. They include your contacts, calendars, bookmarks, application preferences, keychains, iTunes songs and video, Dashboard widgets, and more. They are the kinds of data you want to get at from other Macs, and from other devices, too, such as your phone or your PDA or that annoying Windows machine that they shackle you to at work. And they're the kinds of data you want to keep current on all of those devices, whenever you make a change on any of them.
Leopard has a rich set of features that allow you to sync such managed data. But because managed data is, well, managed, it's not always clear just which data are being managed, and how and when it happens. This book attempts to dispel those mysteries, and to help you exploit Leopard's syncing features with a minimum of fuss and confusion.
Your book pointed me to the solution for my problem within 5 minutes of purchasing it. The $10 price was more than worth the money and made me give you this full endorsement for a "Job Well Done"! —Michael Clarke, referring to the Tiger edition
Quick Start to Syncing
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard provides great synchronizing capabilities to help you share your information between devices—unfortunately, to a casual observer those capabilities may seem to be confusingly scattered all over. In fact, though, there's order in the chaos: to take control of syncing you need to learn a few simple concepts; make a decision or two; and, usually, follow a few short steps.
Understand what syncing is:
Learn basic syncing concepts with A Briefing on Syncing (next page).
Check out Syncing Managed Information to find out what kinds of information Leopard syncs.
Syncing vs. Backups: learn the difference.
Get your stuff together:
The Information You Can Sync helps you choose what to sync.
Learn about The Devices You Can Sync, and then Connect Your Gear.
Get synced:
Discover how to Sync an Apple Device with iTunes. Or, learn about iPhone and iPod touch Push Syncing.
If Apple didn't make your gear, read Sync a Handheld Device with iSync.
Sync Your Mac with MobileMe to help multiple Macs think as one.
Expand your syncing options when you Sync with Third-Party Software.
Avoid trouble:
Solve conflicts with The Conflict Resolver, keep your data from getting Lost in Translation , and read Appendix A: If Things Go Wrong for simple steps to make things right.
Finally, always remember to Think Before You Sync.
How do I find the PocketMac coupon?
After you download and unzip your ebook, open it in a PDF reader (typically Apple's Preview or Adobe Reader). You'll find the coupon on the last page.
Does this ebook cover Tiger?
This ebook doesn't much over Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. For information about syncing in Tiger, see Take Control of Syncing in Tiger. The Tiger ebook does not cover MobileMe syncing, and is unlikely to be updated to add that coverage.
Will this book help me sync a handheld PDA with a Macintosh computer and a Windows PC?
Well... not so much... Someone once wrote in with a question about this— here's the question and Michael's answer:
Question: I'd like to synchronize my Palm TX with my many Macs running OS X, and my work PC running Windows XP. I already do this, but would like to use iSync/iCal/Address Book instead of the moribund Palm Desktop on the Mac. Does this book talk about the pros and cons of this approach?
Answer: Generally speaking, you should not sync a handheld device (mobile phone, Palm, etc.) with more than one computer. Syncing with more than one computer vastly increases the possibility of sync conflicts between all the devices involved, and can increase the chances of data corruption as well. Apple includes this warning in its iSync help: "IMPORTANT: You should sync your phone with only one computer. If you sync your devices with more than one computer, your information may not sync correctly (you could see duplicates or wrong information)."
Things can only get even more confused if you sync a single Palm device between both a Mac OS computer and a Windows XP computer, which have rather different ways of syncing information.
The book does not talk about syncing handheld devices with Windows (the title, is, after all, Take Control of Syncing Data in Leopard).
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