Synchronization Options

[Jonathan]

All,
Is anyone here successfully using USB key storage of the My Notebook folder
to allow movement from one computer to another for OneNote work on the same
file? (By "file" I mean work and information, in short, all I might do in
OneNote.)

Or - as an alternative - is it practical to move a shared copy over my home
wireless network after I finish work on a file? I would be the only user of
OneNote at the house where the the desktop sits, so I can't imaging changes
occuring to the file while I am at school teaching.

My third alternative is to upload to my web space but I am always in a rush
to get out the door and that might hit snags that would make me crazy (and
late to work!) This last alternative seems to be what I read in Microsoft's
documentation, except for one article on the MS OneNote materials that
hjighlights a university-level use of OneNote for teaching. However, at my
small-town elementary school net access can go down, so I could upload on the
way out the door and not be able to get my file to the laptop at the
classroom. No, that won' work...

So, I hope someone will share their "one-person" synchronization schemes in
detail.

Thanks, in advance.
Jonathan

 

[Paul]

Take a look at the SyncToy powertoy, it is a great little program for that.
Or look at FolderShare. Both can be found on the Microsoft web site.

 

[Ben M. Schorr - MVP]

Hello Jonathan,

Yes, I've done that. Just locate the OneNote folder you want to use on your
USB device and make sure that device is insterted and recognized by your
computer before you start OneNote. Also helpful if your USB device uses
the same drive letter (F: or G: or whatever) on each machine.

Works fine.

-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP
Roland Schorr & Tower
http://www.rolandschorr.com
Microsoft OneNote FAQ: http://www.factplace.com/onenote.html

 

[exciter]

I have tackled with the same deal a while ago.
People recommended sync tools but the easiest way, as Ben also indicated,
is simply to copy the notebook file on a usb.
Then indicate the right drive in the "open and save" option in
tools/options.
Wroks without any problem and you dont need to install and tacklewith all
those
sync programs which I have never been sucessful in.

The only thing, I sometimes forget my usb at home, but I guess this is my
problem =)

 

[Jonathan]

Thank you, everyone.

How would integration with Outlook affect my choice among these options?
It's clear that Outlook is now and will be even more with v2007, a big
multiplier of OneNote benefits.

With Outlook and wireless on my laptop (and new tablet when there are more
dual-core options) I am likely to do a lot of e-mailing while away from my
home desktop workstation. (I don't plan to leave my desktop on all the time
and make a secure connection to it over the internet -- but perhaps I should
examine that option...) I want replication of my activities on the desktop
because I will interact with clients on that machine.

So can I arrange all those extra bfiles and folder requirements on USB, too?

What are the *advantages* of these mentioned utilities and tools?

Thanks, again, everyone, for your input. Mahalo, Ben, from the big island.
Come visit my elementary school and turn on some more folks to the benefits
of broad adoption of OneNote in an organization.

Aloha
Jonathan

 

[Ben M. Schorr - MVP]

Aloha Jonathan,

Putting Outlook folders on your USB would be somewhat more problematic, I'm
afraid. You might be able to create a separate PST file and locate that
on your USB drive but those can get pretty big and I think you may encounter
some other issues that will make that a less-than-optimal experience.

You can still use Outlook and OneNote together (with the right versions)
even if you're using OneNote data off a USB drive, but syncing your PST between
different machines (while doable) is a little harder. You might check here
for some ideas: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/sync.htm

Nice to see a fellow islander here and using OneNote.

-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP
Roland Schorr & Tower
http://www.rolandschorr.com
Microsoft OneNote FAQ: http://www.factplace.com/onenote.html

 

[exciter]

I have a notebook and a pst file on usb.
On the pst file I have the calender, contacts and 3 email accoutns.
The size for pst has never exceed 20 mb and my notebook is around 35 mb.
Given the droped prices of 1gb, 2gb usbs, i dont think there will be a
problem.
SYN for outlook is also not a problem at all.
Outlook 2003 checks and locates automatically the destination drive and
works fine.
I did nto encounter a single problem.
bye

 

[Patrick Schmid]

Hi Jonathan,

get OneNote 2007
Joking aside, ON 2007 supports usage of the same notebook from multiple
computers. You can read all the details about that here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/chris_pratley/archive/2005/09/27/474299.aspx

Personally, I do the following (or rather did with ON 2003). I have a
desktop on which I store all my notebooks in my My Documents folder there. I
shared My Documents completely with Windows. Then on my tablet, I redirected
My Documents there to that share (so that my tablet and my desktop use the
same My Documents foler), and told Windows to keep it completely offline
using Windows Offline Files. My network at home is a wireless LAN using a
LinkSys router, so pretty a much a standard home environment. Depending on
how big your My Documents folder is, the initial sync can take a while and
it does take discipline to avoid conflicts (e.g. I need to force a
synchronize on the tablet every time I want to leave, because changes made
on the desktop are not automatically synced to it. The reverse is true
though). My Documents folder is 6.7 GB in ~22,00 files and a full sync can
now take 5-10 mins, depending on how many changes I made.
If you need detailed instructions on how to do this, just say so. Let me
know though which Windows XP version (Home or Professional) you are running
on your desktop.
You could sync your Outlook PST file that way as well, but I would NOT
recommend it. I think by default Windows Offline Files actually won't let
you do this. PST files are surprisingly fragile and using the same file with
multiple computers can end up badly.
I would recommend looking into other ways of syncing Outlook information.
For example, you could sync all your contacts, appointments, tasks and
Outlook notes using Plaxo (www.plaxo.com). It stores that information on a
server on the Internet and you can sync any number of computers you want
with it. It's also free. I use it personally and it's very convenient. You
don't have to press a sync button normally, because it just does it
automatically in the background and will ask you if there are any conflicts
or if things were deleted on the server.
If you want to keep emails across multiple computers, you should look into
using an IMAP email account. With IMAP, emails are stored centrally on a
server and you can access them at the same time from any number of
computers. Outlook can also download all messages into a local PST file, so
you still have full access to your emails even if you don't have an Internet
connection (although you can't move messages while offline). I autoarchive
my IMAP email account into a PST that I actually do keep offline on my
tablet with Windows Offline Files. However, I hardly ever open that file
with Outlook on my tablet. It serves more backup purposes and also enables
me to get to archived email if I don't have any means of getting to my
desktop via an Internet connection (e.g. I am on vacation and my desktop is
switched off).

I hope this helps,

Patrick Schmid