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Take Control of Syncing Data in Leopard
Is your data stuck on your Mac? Learn how to sync it with another Mac, iPhone, iPod, mobile phone, or PDA!
With clear directions and a humorous touch, Take Control of Syncing Data in Leopard explains how to sync data from a Mac running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard with a variety of devices from Apple and other companies. Whether you want to sync phone numbers between your Mac and your mobile phone, share calendars and keychains between Macs, or move only new podcast episodes to an iPod, syncing expert Michael Cohen has the answers. You'll learn what software and gear you need and the best ways to move data between devices. The ebook also explains how syncing works under the hood and provides troubleshooting advice in case your sync engine throws a rod. Covers iTunes 9 and iPhone OS 3!
Free sample with Table of Contents, Introduction, Quick Start, and section starts.
About the Author
Michael has worked as a teacher, a programmer, a Web designer, a multimedia producer, and a certified usability analyst. He's the author or co-author of several books, including The Xcode 2 Book and AirPort and Mac Wireless Networks for Dummies.
This ebook explains how Leopard "thinks about" syncing, and shows you how to take advantage of its syncing capabilities, and how to go beyond them when they fall short. It was written by Michael E. Cohen, edited by Don Sellers (with help from Tonya Engst), and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc.
Introduction
Once upon a time I wrote a book called Take Control of Syncing in Tiger. The book that you have before you is the direct descendant of that one, but, like all children, it is more than just a revised version of its ancestors. The Tiger book described how to take control of syncing both files and other stuff in Mac OS X 10.4. This book, though it incorporates much information from the last one, barely glances at file syncing and focuses just on the other stuff.
"Wait, what?" I hear you exclaim. "Since when aren't files data?" Well, yes, files are data, but the kinds of data I want to explain how to sync are those kinds of data that are not (for the most part, anyway) nicely corralled in individual, well-named, user-created, easy-to-drag-around files. The kinds of data with which this book deals are stored in places on your Mac where it is perilous for users to tread, and which may involve the contents of more than one file.
Take a podcast in your iTunes library. When you sync it with your iPod, you sync not only the audio or video file itself, but stuff like the number of times it's been played, its current play position, and so on. Some of this stuff is separate from the media file itself, and is stored elsewhere on your Mac—and is stored in inaccessible places on your iPod. This is not a drag-and-drop-friendly state of affairs.
In this book, I call these kinds of data "managed data." They include your contacts, calendars, bookmarks, application preferences, keychains, iTunes songs and video, Dashboard widgets, and more. They are the kinds of data you want to get at from other Macs, and from other devices, too, such as your phone or your PDA or that annoying Windows machine that they shackle you to at work. And they're the kinds of data you want to keep current on all of those devices, whenever you make a change on any of them.
Leopard (and its recently released descendant, Snow Leopard) has a rich set of features that allow you to sync such managed data. But because managed data is, well, managed, it's not always clear just which data are being managed, and how and when it happens. This book attempts to dispel those mysteries, and to help you exploit Leopard's syncing features with a minimum of fuss and confusion.
Your book pointed me to the solution for my problem within 5 minutes of purchasing it. The $10 price was more than worth the money and made me give you this full endorsement for a "Job Well Done"! —Michael Clarke, referring to the Tiger edition
Quick Start to Syncing
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard provides great synchronizing capabilities to help you share your information between devices—unfortunately, to a casual observer those capabilities may seem to be confusingly scattered all over. In fact, though, there's order in the chaos: to take control of syncing you need to learn a few simple concepts; make a decision or two; and, usually, follow a few short steps.
Understand what syncing is:
Take A Briefing on Syncing for basic syncing concepts.
Check out Syncing Managed Information to find out what kinds of information Leopard syncs.
Syncing vs. Backups: learn the difference.
Get your stuff together:
The Information You Can Sync helps you choose what to sync.
Learn about The Devices You Can Sync, and then Connect Your Gear.
Get synced:
Discover how to Sync an Apple Device with iTunes. Or, learn about iPhone and iPod touch Push Syncing.
If Apple didn't make your gear, read Sync a Handheld Device with iSync.
Sync Your Mac with MobileMe to help multiple Macs think as one.
Expand your syncing options when you Sync with Third-Party Software.
Avoid trouble:
Solve conflicts with The Conflict Resolver, keep your data from getting Lost in Translation , and read Appendix A: If Things Go Wrong for simple steps to make things right.
Finally, always remember to Think Before You Sync.
What's New in Version 1.1
Most of the revisions in this version of the book address syncing changes and improvements provided by Apple’s continuing development of its MobileMe service, by Apple’s latest iPhone software (version 3.1 as of this writing), by iTunes 9, and by third-party developers (especially Google, which has furiously been enhancing its syncing capabilities).
These sections are new or substantially updated:
Sync an Apple Device with iTunes
iPhone and iPod touch Push Syncing
Sync Managed Information without MobileMe
Sync Exchange Directly
Further, the Sync Keychains section has been revised to include modified advice.
Also, though this book is about syncing with Leopard (yep, I just checked—that’s what the title says), I’ve also included some occasional tips and notes about things you can expect to find changed if you update to Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
Additional changes and enhancements are sprinkled liberally throughout the text of the book. Sync you very much!
How do I find the PocketMac coupon?
After you download and unzip your ebook, open it in a PDF reader (typically Apple's Preview or Adobe Reader). You'll find the coupon on the last page.
A lot changed while Leopard was the current OS. How updated is this "Leopard" ebook?
Good news! The current version of this ebook, version 1.1 was revised in mid 2009 and thus covers iPhone OS 3 and iTunes 9. Snaps to author Michael Cohen for a lot of perseverance on this 1.1 update, which was free to everyone who'd bought 1.0.
Does this ebook cover Tiger?
This ebook doesn't much cover Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. For information about syncing in Tiger, see Take Control of Syncing in Tiger, but note that that ebook does not cover MobileMe syncing.
I want to sync files, like iWork documents or the contents of my user's Documents folder. Will this ebook help?
Sorry, no go. This ebook doesn't cover that topic. Here at Take Control headquarters, however, we are really liking the Dropbox file synchronization utility. If you have a reasonably fast Internet connection, check it out!
Will this book help me sync a handheld PDA with a Macintosh computer and a Windows PC?
Well... not so much... Someone once wrote in with a question about this— here's the question and Michael's answer:
Question: I'd like to synchronize my Palm TX with my many Macs running OS X, and my work PC running Windows XP. I already do this, but would like to use iSync/iCal/Address Book instead of the moribund Palm Desktop on the Mac. Does this book talk about the pros and cons of this approach?
Answer: Generally speaking, you should not sync a handheld device (mobile phone, Palm, etc.) with more than one computer. Syncing with more than one computer vastly increases the possibility of sync conflicts between all the devices involved, and can increase the chances of data corruption as well. Apple includes this warning in its iSync help: "IMPORTANT: You should sync your phone with only one computer. If you sync your devices with more than one computer, your information may not sync correctly (you could see duplicates or wrong information)."
Things can only get even more confused if you sync a single Palm device between both a Mac OS computer and a Windows XP computer, which have rather different ways of syncing information.
The book does not talk about syncing handheld devices with Windows (the title, is, after all, Take Control of Syncing Data in Leopard).
Ask a Question
Feel free to ask us if you have a question about this book!
Send Us Your Comments!
How could we not publish such kind words? If you'd like to send us your comments (good or bad, though we hope they're all good), just click the Feedback link on the cover of your copy of the ebook. Be sure to let us know if we can publish your comment. Thanks!
Update Plans
October 2009 -- because Leopard is no longer the current version of Mac OS X, it is unlikely that we will update this ebook again.
Take Control reader J.S. wrote in, asking if Take Control of Syncing Data in Snow Leopard explains how to sync an iPhoto library between an iMac and a Mac laptop. Although the ebook does not explain how to achieve this feat, the email exchange about the topic has some good suggestions. The suggestions build on one another, so read to the end before trying anything.
Listen to MacVoices #9107 and find out what author Michael Cohen has been working on lately, and why about 95% of the Syncing Data in Leopard ebook will appear in the Syncing Data in Snow Leopard ebook. Michael discusses what managed data is, and he pulls aside the curtain to help you understand how data syncs between your Mac and other devices.
Home Sharing, a new feature in iTunes 9, makes it possible to easily sync purchased iTunes Store media among family members (or any group where everyone is authorized on the same iTunes Store account). While the feature is a clear win for sharing around iPhone apps, several Take Control authors have been perplexed by Home Sharing, either because the feature didn't perform as they'd expected, or because it's very difficult to concisely explain the differences between it and the old iTunes Sharing feature. Thankfully, Take Control author Ted Landau's recent Mac Observer article tackles the subject with detail. If you're interested in gaining a deeper understanding of how to share media in iTunes, check it out!
Google announced the availability today of Google Sync for iPhone. This service allows you to sync your Google Calendars and Contacts with your iPhone wirelessly, using push technology. The service requires you that you set up an Exchange account on your iPhone and that your iPhone is running the version 2.2 firmware or later.
You can see the instructions here, and you can see a list of known issues and limitations with the beta here.
Michael has worked as a teacher, a programmer, a Web designer, a multimedia producer, and a certified usability analyst. He's the author or co-author of several books, including The Xcode 2 Book and AirPort and Mac Wireless Networks for Dummies.