Windows Vista: The Missing Manual

19.4. The Sync Center: All Versions

Syncing is the process of keeping files that are stored in two places matched up with each other. If you add some paragraphs to your novel manuscript on your office PC, you're going to want the copy on your home PC to reflect those changes. You'll want the two computers synced.

Same thing on mobile devices. If you add a new person to your Pocket PC's address book, syncing can copy it into your Outlook address book on your desktop PC.

That's what the Sync Center is designed to handle.

19.4.1. Sync Partnerships

Before you can synchronize your device with Vista's Sync Center, you need to set up a sync partnership for it. The procedure goes like this:

1. Connect your Windows Mobile cellphone, or your Pocket PC, to your computer. Install the software that came with it .

   NOSTALGIA CORNER The Briefcase

   The trouble with progress is that it entails changeand when you change things, somebody, somewhere is going to be upset. Just ask Microsoft's Windows division. Anyway, Windows Vista may have the Sync Center, but it also still has the Briefcase, which is something like its predecessor. Microsoft plays it way down, to the point of invisibility. But it still does one thing that the Sync Center can't do. It keeps your files straight between two PCs (as opposed to one PC and a network server). That's handy when you transport files from desktop to laptop, or from home to work. If you learn to use the Briefcase, you'll be less likely to lose track of which copies of your documents are the most current. To use the Briefcase, start by adding a briefcase icon on your desktop. To do so, right-click any spot on the desktop; from the shortcut menu, choose New Briefcase. A new icon appears, called New Briefcase. (If youre feeling inspired, rename it as you would any folder.) Now round up the icons of the documents you'll work on when away from your main PC. Drag them onto the Briefcase icon. Windows copies the files into this special temporary holding tank. Now connect your laptop to the desktop PC, if you haven't already. (See Chapter 24 for tips on connecting machines.) Or, if you plan to take your files with you on a USB flash drive, insert it. Drag the Briefcase icon onto the laptop or the flash drive. You're ready to leave your office. When you get to wherever you're going, open and edit the documents in the copied Briefcase "folder" icon. Whatever you do, don't move those files. (For example, work on the documents right on the flash drive.) If the copied Briefcase is actually on the laptop's hard drive (not a flash drive), Windows can keep track of changes made to the documents on both computers, the original and the copy. When you return to your main PC, reconnect the laptop or reinsert the flash drive. Now all of your careful step-following is about to pay off. Right-click the briefcase icon; from the shortcut menu, choose Update All. Windows copies the edited files back to their original folders on your desktop-PC hard drive, automatically replacing the older, original copies.

   This is generally an easy task; all recent Windows Mobile devices are Vista-compatible. Some even connect to your PC wirelessly ; consult the manual.

   Unfortunately, it's not a sure bet by any means that Vista will recognize the gadget you've just connected. If Vista doesn't report that it found a driver for your device and installed it properly, you probably won't see the device in Sync Center. That doesn't mean you can't sync the gadget with Vista, only that you can't use Sync Center to do it. You'll have to use the software that came with the device.

   If Vista does announce that it's found a driver and installed it correctly, then you can proceed.

2. Open Sync Center. In the left pane, click "Set up new sync partnerships."

   The main window lists whatever Sync Center-compatible gadgets Vista can see.

3. Click the device you want to synchronize. Click Set Up .

   Figure 19-15 shows what you'll see at this stage.

   Figure 19-15. Sync Center doesn't work with all kinds of pocket gadgets, but it's a start. It's also the home base for the Offline Files feature described in the following pages .

4. Select the settings and schedule to specify how and when your device should sync .

   For example, you might indicate that you want the synchronization to take place every time the device is connected to the PC.

5. Click Sync to start a manual sync .

Vista uses its best artificial intelligence to determine what to copy where. For example, if a file has been created on Machine A since your last sync, it gets copied to Machine B. If a file has been deleted, it's deleted on the other machine. And if a file has been changed on both machines since the last sync, a dialog box presents you with the decision about which file "wins." (These examples assume that you've set up a two-way sync. A one-way sync is much simpler: everything on Machine A always replaces what's on Machine B.)