Options for Syncing on Mac OS X 10.5.2

Does anyone know what my choices are for syncing a Palm Treo 700p (other
than Missing Sync) with my three Macs, all of which are now running the
latest Leopard OS?

I am using the latest Missing Sync now, but it is absolutely terrible. I
keep getting conflict notices for events that have occurred years ago,
and any event that I delete from the Treo or one of my iCal calendars
never goes away. If I change an event in iCal or the Treo, the original
event is retained and the changed one is created, which gets very
confusing. In addition, at least half the time, when I sync via
Bluetooth, I get a connection failed notice in the middle of the syncing
process, which is very frustrating.

Email to support RemoveThis @markspace.com has gone unanswered and I have tried
numerous things to fix these issues. Now, I am thinking it is time to
cut my losses and consider different options.

What I need is syncing that works reliably between my iCal, Address
Book, plus a memos option (preferably encrypted) and also the ability to
support categories (which is why I switched to Missing Sync from iSync
two years ago). It also needs to support Bluetooth.

In article <srhi-E55185.07362013022008.DeleteThis@newsgroups.comcast.net>,
Shawn Hirn <srhi.DeleteThis@comcast.net> wrote:

> Does anyone know what my choices are for syncing a Palm Treo 700p (other
> than Missing Sync) with my three Macs, all of which are now running the
> latest Leopard OS?
>
> I am using the latest Missing Sync now, but it is absolutely terrible. I
> keep getting conflict notices for events that have occurred years ago,
> and any event that I delete from the Treo or one of my iCal calendars
> never goes away. If I change an event in iCal or the Treo, the original
> event is retained and the changed one is created, which gets very
> confusing. In addition, at least half the time, when I sync via
> Bluetooth, I get a connection failed notice in the middle of the syncing
> process, which is very frustrating.
>
> Email to support.DeleteThis@markspace.com has gone unanswered and I have tried
> numerous things to fix these issues. Now, I am thinking it is time to
> cut my losses and consider different options.
>
> What I need is syncing that works reliably between my iCal, Address
> Book, plus a memos option (preferably encrypted) and also the ability to
> support categories (which is why I switched to Missing Sync from iSync
> two years ago). It also needs to support Bluetooth.

The absolute best sync solution I've found is Microsoft Office 2004 (NOT
2008*). It's is a pleasure to use with my Palm Treo 700p. With it,
address book, calendar, tasks, and notes are all synchronized with the
Entourage application included with Office 2004. You can assign
categories to contacts, events, and so on, and then instruct the conduit
to synchronized select items based on those categories. You can even set
how it synchronizes custom fields.

Synchronization over the Treo USB cable is relatively fast - it takes
just a couple minutes to complete usually. And I have never had
duplication or missing data problems with this method of
synchronization. It's relatively flawless and trouble-free. In contrast,
other "solutions" seem to have mixed or horrible reviews, and reports of
nightmarish duplication problems and so on. I haven't ever ventured from
Office 2004, because it simply works, and works very well. If I were you
I would definitely consider giving it a try!

Here's how you set it up:

1. Install and configure Palm Desktop to synchronize with your Treo.
2. Perform a HotSync with your Treo and Palm Desktop to (a) make sure
your HotSync settings are correct, and (b) back up all the data in your
Treo.
3. Run the/Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Additional Tools/Handheld
Sync Installer installer. This installs the Handheld Sync Conduit, which
replaces corresponding Palm Desktop conduits with one that synchronizes
data with Entourage instead.
4. Run the Mac OS X HotSync application (part of Palm Desktop).
5. From the HotSync menu bar, select HotSync > Conduit Settings.
6. View the Entourage Conduit settings.
7. Set the Entourage identity (if needed), and configure the settings
for contacts, events, notes, and tasks, including selecting categories
that will or will not be synchronized to your Treo.
8. Perform another HotSync. This time, your Treo will synchronize its
data with the Entourage address book, calendar, notes, and tasks.

From this point on, you can use Entourage to manage your events, address
book, tasks, and notes. Life is beautiful! : )

* A note about Microsoft Office 2008:

Due to (I believe) a hurried software development schedule, Microsoft
had to cut back on features to get Office 2008 out the door. As a
result, they have not provided a Handheld Sync Conduit in Office 2008,
and are instructing customers to instead make use of another feature
called Sync Services that synchronizes Entourage data with Apple's
Address Book and iCal applications.

Microsoft suggests 2008 users use Apple's iSync to HotSync data between
their handheld devices and their Macs, then use Sync Services to
synchronize Entourage with the iSync applications Address Book and iCal.
It's obvious that this adds much more complication to what was a simple
task of synchronization with 2004. Notice that notes and tasks are left
out of the equation, since Apple does not have a notes / tasks
application that works with iSync.

To make matters worse, iSync operation with Palm devices is extremely
buggy and very limited. For instance, categories are not synchronized,
nor are various fields of contact and event information. Many, many
users are reporting thousands of duplicate events and contacts with each
synchronization. So until Microsoft addresses this problem (assuming
they ever do), Office 2004 is the best way to sync data between your
Palm Treo and your Mac.

--
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JR