Outlook horror stories
Published: 24 Sep 2004
The two-headed monster
Recently a user complained to us -- twice, of course -- of his dual-personality problem: 'I'm running Outlook on my office PC and my home computer, and keeping them both in sync is giving me ulcers. I have too many calendar items to update manually, and don't even get me started on syncing my email messages. How can I tame this two-headed beast so that it works for me, not against me? And how do I keep from trashing all my Outlook data in the process?'
Keeping two machines on the same page with Outlook is a tough job. The brute-force solution that many people use is to transfer Outlook's main data file (a Personal Folder file that's typically named Outlook.pst) from one system to another. Sure, copying the file between your two systems should theoretically keep them in perfect sync, but the file itself can get to be huge: even a modestly sized mailbox can have a 150MB or larger PST file. For most people it's too big a file to move back and forth. And if you do, and do it wrong, you'll lose important data.
Can this nightmare be banished? Try these synchronisation tips:
Note: We strongly recommend that you use only sync utilities (such as those listed below) that let you review changes before they're made; otherwise, you run the risk of wiping out your precious data in one fell swoop.
1. Exchange users: just go online
If you have a corporate installation of Outlook -- that is, you use an Exchange email server -- Outlook actually does a very good job of keeping the Inbox in two machines up-to-date. However, this method doesn't work for your archive folders. So...
2. Sync your PST files
Syncing up every Outlook contact, appointment and email between two PCs sounds like a daunting task, but we found a couple of utilities to ease the pain. OutlookSync scans just about every Outlook item, including all of your mail folders, appointments, tasks, notes and contacts, and it creates a relatively small data file (in our tests, the file was about a tenth the size of our Outlook PST file). You then copy the file to a CD or a flash drive and transfer it to another PC that has OutlookSync installed; the program will sync all of your calendar items, to-dos, and address cards. Need your email synced as well? Try Easy2Sync, a program that compares the Outlook PST files for your two PCs, copies over new messages and even syncs up any changes to your mail folders.
3. Sync online
If you need to keep only your appointments, contacts and to-dos synced between two machines, consider using Intellisync for Yahoo to sync up your Outlook info with Yahoo's calendar, contacts, notepad and tasks. Intellisync features a series of conflict resolution options and will check in with you before deleting, adding or otherwise changing your contacts and appointments. Once you've synced your office PC with Yahoo's services, you can sync up the Yahoo info with your home PC. The only challenge is remembering to sync up at the beginning and end of each session with your respective systems, lest you erase any changes by mistake.
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