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Synchronizing the calendar with Outlook or a PDA

This page covers calendar access. For use of mail from a Palm PDA, see the RULink Mail System .

If you use Outlook, we recommend the Outlook Connector rather than this sync tool. This causes Outlook to treat Rulink much like an Exchange server. However if you are using an Exchange server in your department, but still want to see your rulink calendars, you may prefer to use the tool described on this page, because Outlook can only treat one server as an Exchange server.

If you prefer to use a web interface for the calendar, and if you have a good web browser for your PDA, consider using the small screen web interface, https://rulink.rutgers.edu/cal/login.php3. You can encode your username and password in the URL. (Normally I don't recommend doing this, but on a PDA it's hard enough to type passwords that it may be a good idea.) To do that use a format such as https://rulink.rutgers.edu/cal/login.php3?uname=xxx&pwd=yyy

Synchronization

This section will describe synchronization. Synchronization software is used to keep two or three different calendars in agreement. For example, if you use a Palm PDA, the synchronization software will compare appointments in your Palm with appointments in the central database, and keep them in agreement. It uses the most recent data from each. Thus if you add an appointment in your PDA, next time you sync that appointment will be added to the central database. Similarly, if someone puts an appointment on your calendar in the central database, next time you sync it will be loaded into your Palm's datebook. Similar synchronization can be done between the central database and a copy of Outlook on your desktop, or a Microsoft Pocket PC.

The only officially released sync tool runs on Microsoft Windows. That tool supports the Sun ONE server (the central database), Outlook, the Palm Desktop, direct synchronization with the Palm (bypassing the desktop), and Microsoft Pocket PC devices. The same program supports all of those devices.

If you are using a Mac, we provide a way to do one-way synchronization for the Mac.

You can download sync tools from this directory: Sun ONE synchronization software. Because this software is only available to Rutgers users, this page will require a login. This directory contains documentation in PDF format and a ZIP file. When you unzip it, you'll find SunONEsync.exe. This is a typical Windows install program. You'll be asked to accept the license, and to choose which devices you want to synchronize to.

If you want to use a Palm handheld, choose carefully between Palm and Palm desktop. I recommend syncing directly to the Palm device unless you specifically want to be able to look at appointments from the Palm desktop program.

NOTE: When you sync directly to the Palm device, the Sun software replaces a couple of the synchronization channels. If you want to go back to using the Palm desktop, you may need to reinstall the Palm desktop.

NOTE: For Palm Tungsten T5 and other new Palm devices, you need the latest version of the sync tool. Older ones won't work.

NOTE: The sync tool supports versions of the Palm desktop < 4.1.2. The database format changed in 4.1.2, and JES does not yet support it. (They say < 4.1.2. I've seen one indication that it might be <= 4.1.2, but I can't guarantee that.)

If you sync to the Palm desktop, you end up with a two-stage operation, where first you sync from Sun ONE to the Palm desktop, and then from the desktop to the Palm itself.

NOTE: If you sync to the Palm desktop, you may need to push the synchronize button on your Palm twice:

Once you have installed the software, you'll see a Sun ONE Synchronization entry in Window's list of programs. If you choose this entry, you'll find documentation, an uninstall command, and an icon for each device you chose. To synchronize, click on the icon for the appropriate device. The first time you do this, you will need to do a small amount of setup so that it can find our server:

You'll get a panel with several big buttons. Select "Settings". From the resulting panel, choose the tab "Translators". Click "Configure". Now fill in the following data:

Choose "OK" twice. Now you are back to the main panel. Choose "Synchronize" to synchronize data between the Sun ONE server and Outlook or your PDA.

The first time you synchronize, it will ask you which direction you want to synchronize. If you have a complete calendar on your PDA, tell it to replace the data on the server with the data from the PDA. Similarly, if you have entered calendar information on the server through the web, and you don't have any current calendar data on your PDA, you can tell it to replace the data on the PDA with the data from the server. You can also tell it to synchronize the data both ways. The software will try to combine the data consistently. This may result in duplicate information. (Once you've started using synchronization regularly, that won't be a problem, but it is the first time.)

It is perfectly possible to synchronize with multiple devices. However the more devices you use the more likely you are to get duplicate events or other oddities. Normally people who use both Outlook and a PDA synchronize between the Sun ONE server and Outlook, and then they synchronize Outlook to the PDA.

There is additional information on setting up Outlook to work with this software. Again, if you're using Outlook, we recommend using the Outlook Connector instead

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