Staying In Sync 

A look at three synchronization programs that keep your H/PC and desktop PC in agreement on important data.

By David Shier

NOTE: These reviews were of the products written for the Windows CE 1.0 operating system. All of the products mentioned have been upgraded for Windows CE 2.0. You will find a summary of the improvements, as described by the developer, at the end of each review.

Handheld computers were conceived, and are generally used as "PC companions." This means that the H/PC user expects to be able to seamlessly transfer calendar, contact and tasks lists, and other information, between their H/PC and another PC. Unfortunately, most programs store information in different ways. Any program that transfers your data, must translate it as well. Most people who speak two languages know how difficult it is to translate between the two. Substitutions have to be made, meanings are lost, new unintended meanings creep in. The same is true of the data used by different applications. For example, one contact database might have separate fields for the city, state, and postal code of an address, while another expects all this information to be stored in a single line. To properly transfer such information between the two computers, it is necessary for the program doing the transfer to understand how each program stores and interprets the information. (For more on the mechanics of file synchronization, read this.

Simplify things -- choose the same application on both platforms

If you have a choice, it might be better to have the same application on both of the platforms you want to synchronize. For example, the H/PC comes with a Pocket version of Outlook, which synchronizes with the desktop version without the need of any special synchronization software. Another advantage of using the desktop version of Outlook for your personal information manager is that Windows CE 2.0 devices can automatically synchronize with the desktop Outlook when you connect the two devices. In addition, you can enable "active synchronization," which updates data whenever you make a change to either device.

Other companies provide desktop and Windows CE versions of their contact managers. Symantec has ACT! for Windows and Act! for Windows CE; Maximizer has Maximizer 97 and Maximizer CELink; and (my favorite) Odyssey has On Schedule/97 and Pocket On Schedule. All these programs can transfer and synchronize information easily, without the need of additional synchronization software.

Unfortunately, you may not have this choice. A certain program may be the standard in your company or you may have already invested many months or years of effort in learning another personal information manager and entering data into it. You can't afford to start over. In this case, you will need a synchronization program to assist you.

After using the synchronization programs and translation utilities, I have come to the conclusion that none of them are 100% seamless. I have always found it necessary to eliminate duplicate entries that they create, or fix problems with data that they misinterpreted. The good news is that, once you get these corrections made, they don't seem to keep reoccurring.

I found it interesting that each of the programs that I evaluated here use different methods to achieve the goal of synchronizing data between the handheld and the desktop. All provided synchronization to more programs than simply Microsoft Schedule Plus, or Outlook, which are your only choices if you use the synchronization software that came with your H/PC. Also, each of them added some extra features that can help even if you chose to use only the Microsoft desktop PIMs. But, as you will see, each of the programs were unique in their style of operation.

IntelliSync, the stand alone solution

IntelliSync for Windows CE is from Puma Technology. Puma has versions of IntelliSync for other platforms, including the HP 200LX palmtop and the PalmPilot. The user connects the handheld to the desktop, runs IntelliSync on the desktop, and selects the programs that that they want to synchronize with the Handheld. IntelliSync then transfers your data between the two computers. You can configure IntelliSync to automatically synchronize with an H/PC upon connecting to the desktop, but IntelliSync does not maintain active synchronization as described above.

IntelliSync was easy to install and supports a reasonable number of desktop applications, including:

Since each program offers different fields for storing information, IntelliSync provides an advanced settings menu which allows you to map the fields in each application to the other.

IntelliSync's field mapping screen lets you customize synchronization and specify where data in one application gets placed in another.

I like IntelliSync's versatility, but like it to be able to import and export to a generic file format such as "comma delimited" or CSV. This is something that many of the PIM programs can do themselves, but is missing from Windows CE. It would be a welcome addition on IntelliSync.

IntelliSync runs as a stand-alone program because it was designed for Windows CE 1.0. In fact, the version of IntelliSync I had was unable to recognize my Windows CE 2.0 H/PC, let alone synchronize it with my desktop PC. Until Puma updates IntelliSync, I would recommend it only for users of Windows CE 1.0 handheld PCs.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: By the time you read this review, Puma will have released IntelliSync 2.0. According to Puma, version 2.0 supports both CE 2.0 and CE 1.0 devices, as well as the recently announced CE-based Palm PCs. Like version 1.0, version 2.0 of IntelliSync supports "auto synchronize on connect" with CE devices for automatic synchronization. Version 2.0 adds support for new applications, including Lotus Organizer 97 GS, Symantec ACT! 3.0.7, MeetingMaker 5.0, Novell GroupWise 5.1/5.2, and Oracle InterOffice 4.1, as well as ASCII text import/export. In addition, Version 2.0 includes a new custom filtering feature letting users select and synchronize only the information that they need, and enhanced Outlook support for subfolders, user-defined fields, and custom forms. An upgrade is available to existing users of IntelliSync for Windows CE. For more information contact Puma Technology; Phone: 800-774-7862; Web: www.pumatech.com]

Harmony 97: The integrated method

Harmony 97 from Randsoft, also requires the user to initiate the synchronization process. However, instead of having to run a separate program, Harmony imbeds itself in the main menu of the PIM application itself. Harmony appears as an item called HPC on the menu bar, which pulls down a list of synchronization functions.

Harmony 97 adds an HPC menu item to Microsoft Outlook. To access Harmony 97, open Outlook and select HPC from the menu.

Once open, Harmony has features similar to IntelliSync. Field mapping is handled by a dialog screen similar to IntelliSync's. I find the style of the Harmony screen slightly more pleasing.

The Harmony field mapping screen lets you specify where data from the H/PC is placed in the desktop PIM, and vice versa.

I prefer synchronization that "just happens" like the Pocket Outlook/desktop Outlook synchronization described above. However, if you are going to have to "press a button" to start synchronization, I think that Harmony's approach is reasonable. Chances are you have the PIM program open most of the time. It's not too much bother go to the PIM screen on your desktop, pull down the HPC menu and initiate the synchronization.

On the other hand, I don't feel particularly comfortable with programs that modify other programs. In fact, I had problems getting Microsoft Outlook to run when Harmony was installed on my Windows 95 machine. This may not necessarily be a failure of Harmony, since I have found Outlook to be somewhat unreliable all on its own.

Harmony supports:

A new version of Harmony is promised, which adds Goldmine 97, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, and Novell Groupwise to the mix.

With all these "groupware" programs to be supported, this new version should make Harmony very attractive to enterprising users of handhelds.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Randsoft is also coming out with version of 2.0 of Randsoft Harmony 97. According to Randsoft, its "Rapid Transfer" technology is at least twice as fast as competing products. Randsoft Harmony can be customized using a new Toolkit so that ODBC PC/Server databases can be synchronized with any database in the H/PC. Version 2.0 features Fast sync, multi-user capability, and provides support for custom solutions. For more information contact Rand Software Company; Phone: 888-726-3763; Web: www.randsoft.com.]

Desktop To Go: The seamless method

The final entry in our trio of synchronization programs is Desktop To Go from DataViz. This program integrates itself into Handheld PC Explorer (on Windows CE 1.0 H/PCs).

Desktop To Go configuration menu for Lotus Organizer.

In the HPC Explorer, you can define specific file filter programs that can convert files as they are transferred to and from the H/PC. Desktop To Go uses this feature so that, once you have defined the filers to use, you can simply drag your files from the HPC Explorer window to your desktop or back, and Desktop To Go handles it from there. This works the same way that dragging a Word document over to the handheld currently converts it to Pocket Word format automatically.

Desktop To Go is the only program of the group supporting files other than the PIMs. You can convert to/from Pocket Word and Pocket Excel, and desktop programs such as Word Perfect, Ami Pro, Lotus 1-2-3, among others.

Desktop To Go seems most adapt at working with Lotus Organizer, and seems to have the most options for working with this program.

The all-important field-mapping dialog is not as clean in Desktop To Go as with the other two programs. I prefer the style that has the arrows or lines to assist in aligning the fields on one side of the dialog with the ones on the other side.

The Desktop To Go field mapping screen lets you specify where data from one device is sent on the other.

Unfortunately, Desktop To Go does not yet support the new Windows CE Version 2.0 machines. I would expect that this would be corrected soon, since DataViz indicates on their web site that Version 2.0 support is being worked on and was planned for release around the first of the year.

When Windows CE 2.0 is supported, this should be an excellent program. Version 2.0 of Windows CE has a new feature called Active Sync, which allows files to be stored in a special synchronization directory on the H/PC and on the desktop. Whenever the two computers are linked, Active Sync automatically synchronizes these files. With a helper program such as Desktop To Go, Active Sync should allow you to easily keep your files up to date.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: DataViz is also coming out with an upgrade of Desktop To Go for Windows CE 2.0 users. They will release it in the second quarter of 1998. For more information, contact DataViz; Phone: 203-268-0030; Web: www.dataviz.com.]

Get synchronization software that works with Windows CE 2.0

All of these programs offer utility to users of Windows CE and each outshines the others in certain areas. All are planning versions to support Windows CE 2.0, which should be available by the time you read this article. If they are not available, I suggest waiting until they are.