WOES: iSync, Palm Pilot, iCal, Missing Sync, Palm Desktop, Ericsson Phone

Where to start? Maybe with some background about the synchronization process.

What Apple hasn't explained outside of the developer community is that you are not actually synchronizing applications [like iCal or the Address Book] or servers [like .Mac] or devices [like your mobile handset or a Palm organizer] when you initiate a synchronization. What you are really doing is triggering an interaction with one or more of these and the SyncServices engine, which maintains what is termed the 'truth database'—or simply, the 'truth'—to which is pushed, or from which is pulled, the current state of data maintained in fields and records for one or more specific data types. Because of the way this process works, it is not necessary to have all synchronized devices available or attached when a synchronization event occurs.

You can synchronize your SONY Ericsson S710a, a process which exchanges the most current data maintained in the truth with it, and hours later, plug in your iPod, an action which will trigger iTunes to pull the latest data from the truth and write it to the iPod, updating your contact and calendaring records. The same is true for other applications, servers and devices.

While it all seems clumsy and confusing, it is actually a huge step forward in making synchronization nearly automatic, almost transparent, and virtually mistake proof. It's clear that there is some distance to go before those objectives are achieved, but SyncServices is actually a huge improvement over the prior synchronization technology in iSync 1.5 and earlier.

That said, there are bugs in SyncServices, and in the applications written by several developers to take advantage of it, along with issues in at least iCal, and probably the Address Book, that complicate what you are trying to achieve. It's possible to do, and once working, should work nearly flawlessly. But, it takes some planning to get there.

First, a word about backing up your data. It's a good idea to periodically back up contact and calendaring records using the facilities built into iCal and the Address Book which appear in the File menu of each application. These options make easily restorable local snapshots of your data. Should something go terribly wrong with a synchronization event, you can immediately restore your iCal or Address Book data from these files. In addition, it's a good idea to have a more comprehensive backup plan in place, using Backup and .Mac, Backup and rewritable media, and so on.

To synchronize photos, music and other media files, you'll need to use the Missing Sync for Palm OS. iSync just does not support anything beyond contact, calendaring and task data. To begin the process, you should simplify your device pool, initially concentrating only on getting a complete, accurate set of contact, event and task records pushed to the truth from the Address Book and iCal, and onto your Palm.

You will have to take an inventory of where the best records reside, and insure that you get them into iCal and the Address Book before attempting to synchronize your Palm, because to do it properly, initially, you will have to overwrite the data on your Palm, replacing it with records from iCal and the Address Book. If you're going to edit them by making additions, changes and deletions, perform all of those in iCal and the Address Book until you have synchronized your Palm device or devices with them. Backup before performing the initial synchronization, and be sure to overwrite each Palm device the first time.

If you want a historic snapshot of the data on either Palm device before doing this, first follow the instructions provided by Mark/Space to use the standard Palm conduits instead of Mark/Space Contacts, Events and Tasks, and be sure to set each Palm conduit to Palm overwrites handheld in order to transfer the data from your Palm Vx and Zire 72 to the Palm Desktop. Once there, those records can be exported as vCard and vCal files, and easily imported into the Address Book and iCal if you wish to do that. Edit them as you see fit, once they have been transfered. If you elect to do that, you must thereafter turn off these Palm conduits and reconfigure the Missing Sync to use the Mark/Space conduits, again choosing to have your computer replace the contents on each Palm device on the first synchronization.

Once you've achieved a 'balance' with the records in iCal, the Address Book and your handheld organizers, you can reset the records on your mobile handset. iSync alone performs this function, and later synchronization events with your SONY Ericsson S710a will always be manually triggered, and performed using iSync, not the Missing Sync. Reset once, and subsequently synchronize.

Anything else you want to add to the mix—.Mac Sync, for example—you can then add, initially performing a reset of your .Mac data, then subsequently synchronizing.

Synchronization of your iPod is handled by iTunes and only pulls data from the truth, so it need not be reset, as it cannot write changes to the truth which would adversely affect your other devices.