Synch Issues

[Stan Winikoff]

Have just purchased a new notebook and it would be great to
synchronize OneNote on both computers on a regular basis.

Any suggestions as to how this can be done (easily, I hope) or what
other software is needed to do this. Our office uses Novell and not
MS Exchange Servier.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Stan Winikoff

 

[Grant Robertson]

Have just purchased a new notebook and it would be great to
synchronize OneNote on both computers on a regular basis.

Any suggestions as to how this can be done (easily, I hope) or what
other software is needed to do this. Our office uses Novell and not
MS Exchange Servier.

There are plenty of options available. I have found that Windows Off-Line
Files feature does not seem to work with OneNote. Perhaps it has been
fixed in either the latest OneNote or Windows service packs. If so, I'm
sure someone will jump in and correct me.

Personally, I use SureSync from www.softwarepursuits.com to synchronize
my files. It is very configurable, fast, and reliable.



Some additional notes:

If you only sync your .ONE files and not the .ONETOC files then each
computer will remember which files you had open on that individual
computer. I find it makes more sense for me than to have my tablet open
to the last file I used on my desktop.

You can create a separate file to use for the Side Notes on each computer
and assign it in the options {Tools / Options ; Open and Save ; Paths ;
Side Notes Section | [Modify]}. Then, if you forget and add a Side Note
on both computers without syncing, you won't end up with a conflict that
you have to resolve manually. I call the file on my desktop
'In-Desk.ONE' and the file on my Tablet PC 'In-Tablet.ONE'. It's OK to
have them both open on both computers but only add notes to the
appropriate file for each machine. When it comes time to process the 'In
Boxes' and sort things where you really want them, you can just do it on
your desktop to make things easier as long as you synchronize just before
and after processing.

 

[Erik Sojka]

Don't forget the good ol' briefcase (the precursor to Offline Folders)
from NT4 and eariler...

Have just purchased a new notebook and it would be great to
synchronize OneNote on both computers on a regular basis.

Any suggestions as to how this can be done (easily, I hope) or what
other software is needed to do this. Our office uses Novell and not
MS Exchange Servier.

There are plenty of options available. I have found that Windows
Off-Line Files feature does not seem to work with OneNote. Perhaps it
has been fixed in either the latest OneNote or Windows service packs.
If so, I'm sure someone will jump in and correct me.

Personally, I use SureSync from www.softwarepursuits.com to
synchronize my files. It is very configurable, fast, and reliable.



Some additional notes:

If you only sync your .ONE files and not the .ONETOC files then each
computer will remember which files you had open on that individual
computer. I find it makes more sense for me than to have my tablet
open to the last file I used on my desktop.

You can create a separate file to use for the Side Notes on each
computer and assign it in the options {Tools / Options ; Open and Save
; Paths ; Side Notes Section | [Modify]}. Then, if you forget and add
a Side Note on both computers without syncing, you won't end up with a
conflict that you have to resolve manually. I call the file on my
desktop 'In-Desk.ONE' and the file on my Tablet PC 'In-Tablet.ONE'.
It's OK to have them both open on both computers but only add notes to
the appropriate file for each machine. When it comes time to process
the 'In Boxes' and sort things where you really want them, you can
just do it on your desktop to make things easier as long as you
synchronize just before and after processing.

 

[Grant Robertson]

Don't forget the good ol' briefcase (the precursor to Offline Folders)
from NT4 and eariler...

Actually, I try very hard TO forget that thing. I tried for weeks to get
it to work reliably and it was just worthless. If you don't mind jumping
through a half dozen hoops every day just to transfer your files I guess
you could call it OK.

 

[Chris_Pratley \(MS\)]

Since I view my job in life to correct or extend what Grant says ,

This sync tools sounds great - you should use it if you like it. The ability
to sync the *.one files and not the *.onetoc files is a nice touch. there is
no harm in doing this ince the onetoc files contain only information that
can be regenerated if necessary or non-critical usage info like "last page
viewed" and "order of sections in folder". Noe that fi you do not sync the
Onetoc files and decide to rearrange your noebook sections, you'll have to
repeat that on both machines.

With Sp1 of OneNote, we have managed to work around many of the issues with
Windows offline folder syncing, so it works quite well now. We also made
changes to OneNote to try to modify files less often so you will get fewer
conflicts. Note that as with any sync system, if you make changes to the
same file in two places, you will have a conflict. We're working on
addressing that next release somehow (hard because Onenote is not doing the
sync, and any syncing program does not know about the internals of the files
it is syncing).

Chris Pratley (MS)
OneNote design team

Have just purchased a new notebook and it would be great to
synchronize OneNote on both computers on a regular basis.

Any suggestions as to how this can be done (easily, I hope) or what
other software is needed to do this. Our office uses Novell and not
MS Exchange Servier.

There are plenty of options available. I have found that Windows Off-Line
Files feature does not seem to work with OneNote. Perhaps it has been
fixed in either the latest OneNote or Windows service packs. If so, I'm
sure someone will jump in and correct me.

Personally, I use SureSync from www.softwarepursuits.com to synchronize
my files. It is very configurable, fast, and reliable.



Some additional notes:

If you only sync your .ONE files and not the .ONETOC files then each
computer will remember which files you had open on that individual
computer. I find it makes more sense for me than to have my tablet open
to the last file I used on my desktop.

You can create a separate file to use for the Side Notes on each computer
and assign it in the options {Tools / Options ; Open and Save ; Paths ;
Side Notes Section | [Modify]}. Then, if you forget and add a Side Note
on both computers without syncing, you won't end up with a conflict that
you have to resolve manually. I call the file on my desktop
'In-Desk.ONE' and the file on my Tablet PC 'In-Tablet.ONE'. It's OK to
have them both open on both computers but only add notes to the
appropriate file for each machine. When it comes time to process the 'In
Boxes' and sort things where you really want them, you can just do it on
your desktop to make things easier as long as you synchronize just before
and after processing.

 

[Grant Robertson]

Since I view my job in life to correct or extend what Grant says ,

Is that anything like 'Embrace and Extend'? ;^)

Note that if you do not sync the
.Onetoc files and decide to rearrange your notebook sections, you'll have to
repeat that on both machines.

Very good point. I kind of knew it but don't notice it much because I
tend to use different sections on my Tablet PC and desktop. So, in
synchronizing these .OneTOC files one would have to decide which is more
important to them: Having all their sections arranged the same or each
machine remembering where the user was the last time they used that
particular machine.

With Sp1 of OneNote, we have managed to work around many of the issues with
Windows offline folder syncing, so it works quite well now. We also made
changes to OneNote to try to modify files less often so you will get fewer
conflicts.

That's very nice. I haven't really tried Off-line files with OneNote
since I ran into that bug and found an alternate solution so I'm sorry if
I mislead anyone. I still prefer SureSync because I can control exactly
where the synchronized files go and they all get their real file name.
You don't have yet another convoluted thing sitting in the background
interfering with how your programs access the files. But that is a topic
for a different newsgroup.