Getting Started

Installing, configuring and synchronizing folders step by step, introduction

This page will give you detailed instructions of all the steps necessary to get OsaSync up and running with the contacts folder synchronized. If you are running Outlook 2000 we will first bring a pre installation check to your attention.
Then we will explain how to make a backup copy of your Outlook.pst file to make sure that if something goes wrong no data will be lost. Most people have only one .pst file (we will tell you more about .pst files later) but some people have more .pst files. OsaSync supports working with multiple .pst files and requires in this case the .pst files to have the same name on all computers so we'll explain how to change the name of a .pst file. If you have only one .pst file you can skip this step.

We continue by explaining in detail how to install OsaSync starting from the file you downloaded from www.vaita.com. After OsaSync has been installed it's necessary to configure OsaSync by running the OsaSync configuration wizard. Configuring means selecting one or more computers in your network that will participate in exchanging Outlook data. OsaSync supports two configuration modes: Peer-to-Peer and Client-Server. We will explain both configuration modes in detail.

When OsaSync has been configured on your computers you start with what you downloaded OsaSync for: exchanging Outlook data. We will show a step-by-step instruction on how to synchronize a folder by synchronizing the Contacts folder with two other computers. We will end these detailed instructions by telling something about syncing the other Outlook folder types: calendar, tasks, notes and e-mail folders. When you are going to synchronize the Calendar folder then you can also take a look at our Calendar synchronization page on which three ways of syncing the Calendar folder are explained.

Contents

  1. Actions to take before we start the installation, configuration and synchronization process:
    a) Pre installation check
    b) Backing up the personal folders file
    c) If necessary renaming the top-level folder name
  2. Installing OsaSync
  3. Configuring OsaSync in peer-to-peer mode using the OsaSync connection wizard
  4. Configuring OsaSync in Client-Server mode
  5. Synchronizing a folder
  6. Synchronizing calendar, tasks, notes or e-mail folders

Actions to take before we start the installation, configuration and synchronization process

In this example we will install OsaSync on three computers named VAITA, VAITA-FS and LAPTOPVAITAW2K.

Pre installation check

If you are running Outlook 2000:
  • check if the Microsoft Outlook security update or the Office 2000  Service Pack 3 has been installed (SP 2 is fine too). OsaSync uses a third party component to avoid the security dialog but this component may cause Outlook to crash when this security patch isn't installed. If you are not sure if this update has been installed look in the Outlook menu help - about Microsoft Outlook. The second line shows 'Security update' if this update has been installed. You can also look at the Outlook build number: 9.0.0.4201 or higher, to check if the security update has been installed; 9.0.0.4527 or higher if Office SP2 has been installed (9.0.0.6627 for SP 3).
  • In the same window check if Outlook is installed in Corporate/Workgroup mode. If Outlook is installed in Internet Mail Only (as in the picture on the right) then switch to C/W mode. See here how to do that.

Outlook build number

Backing up the personal folders file

Outlook stores all contacts, email, appointments, tasks and journal items in one file: the personalfolders.pst file. The default name for this file is Outlook.pst. We start our synchronization example by first making a backup copy of this file. If something goes wrong it's easy to restore our Outlook contents by renaming the backup file.

Backup the .pst file:

  1. Make sure to close Outlook.
  2. Locate the folder with the .pst file. Use the Windows start menu, select Search - For files or folders and type *.pst and click Search Now. On Windows XP make sure to select the option Include hidden files in your search.
  3. In the search results window select the .pst file and copy the file (control-c; control-v; accept the name 'copy of xxxx.pst'.
  4. Repeat these steps on the other computers.
     

If necessary renaming the top-level folder name

By default you will have one personal folders file: Outlook.pst. Inside Outlook you recognize the folder by its top level folder name: Outlook Today - [Personal folders]. Notice that the name of the file on disk Outlook.pst is different from the top level folder name Personal folders displayed in Outlook.
Here is how this looks on one of our computers, computer VAITA-FS:

Our other computers however have top level folders with  different names. Here's how it looks on computer VAITA:

It is possible to work with more than one .pst file. Doing so can help you keeping your Outlook items organized. The snapshot on the right taken from computer VAITA shows two top level folders: Rons mail and RSI info. OsaSync supports working with more than one top level folder. If you use more than one .pst file you will have more top level folders and in this case OsaSync requires the names of the top level folders to be the same, at least if you want to share or sync items within that top level folder (there is an exception).

If you have only one top level folder the name does NOT have to be the same as on the other computers and you can skip this step.

In our example we have to change the top level folder name. We do this on computer VAITA-FS by changing the name Personal folders to Rons mail:

  1. Right-click on the top level folder name and choose Properties for "Personal folders" from the context menu:


     
  2. Click the Advanced... button on the Properties window


     
  3. In the Name edit box, type the new name of the top level folder. In our example we type 'Rons mail' and click OK to close this window.


     

Installing OsaSync

We start installing OsaSync on the first computer named VAITA-FS.

In this example we will install OsaSync PRO in peer-to-peer mode. This means there is no central server computer and each computer is equal to each other computer. The steps described are the same when you install OsaSync Lite.

  1. We have to be logged on as an Administrator or as a user with sufficient rights to install programs. Start the installation process by double-clicking the downloaded file OsaSyncProSetup.exe (or OsaSync_Setup.exe for the Lite version). The OsaSync setup process will start:

  2. Clicking Next will show you the licence agreement. Please read this carefully and click Yes to accept.

  3. An information window is shown telling you to make sure Outlook is closed.

  4. Clicking Next brings you to the folder selection window:


    The installation wizard suggests folder C:\Program Files\OsaSync as the installation folder. We accept this folder and click Next

  5. The next dialog will enable you to change the Start Menu folder. The default folder is OsaSync PRO. Here we accept the default.

  6. The next step asks you if you want to create a desktop icon. Default is yes.
    Accepting yes will create the OsaSync icon on your desktop as a shortcut to starting the OsaSync connection wizard:

  7. Click the Install button on the summary page to start the installation process.

  8. After the installation wizard has extracted and installed the OsaSync files the Finish window is shown.. Click Finish to end the installation wizard.

We have now successfully installed OsaSync PRO on computer VAITA-FS:

The next step is to install OsaSync on the other two computers: VAITA and LAPTOPVAITAW2K.

We copy the downloaded file OsaSyncProSetup.exe to both computers and go through the installation steps 1 to 8 again for each computer.

After installing OsaSync on the other computers we can start configuring OsaSync.

note: Make sure your computers are in the same time zone (control panel - regional options) and both use or don't use daylight savings time. Also make sure the computers date and time are the same.

Configuring OsaSync in peer-to-peer mode using the OsaSync connection wizard

OsaSync has to know with which other computers in your local network you want to exchange Outlook items. Running the connection wizard will point OsaSync to these other computers. If you are running OsaSync PRO you can configure OsaSync to run in Client-Server mode. This means that each computer running Outlook (= the Client computer) is configured to 'see' only the central server and doesn't have to 'see' all other computers.

If you are logged on as an administrator make sure to log off and logon again as the OsaSync user.

  1. We start the OsaSync connection wizard on computer VAITA-FS by clicking the OsaSync connection wizard icon on the desktop:
    You can also start the wizard from the Start Menu: Programs - Outlook Sharing - OsaSync connection wizard.

    Note: All OsaSync operations are logged to log files in the folder \ProgramData\OsaSync on Windows Vista (\documents and settings\all users\application data\OsaSync on Windows XP). If the logged on OsaSync user has no Write access to this folder this will result in errors and the connection wizard won't run. See here how to solve this.
     
  2. The connection wizard starts with a welcome dialog:


     
  3. Clicking next will show you the Installation Mode mode dialog. If you are running OsaSync Lite this step is skipped and you'll see the connecting dialog described in step 4.



    If you have a central server in your network that is always running whenever other computers are online, it is best to configure OsaSync PRO in Client-Server mode. Configuring computers in C/S mode is more easy and some OsaSync processes will run faster. Click here to read more on C/S mode.
    If you have no central server or you are running OsaSync Lite then choose Peer-to-Peer mode. This example continues with the peer-to-peer mode. This means there is no central server computer and each computer is equal to each other computer.
     

  4. Unless you configure OsaSync PRO to run in Client-Server mode, you have tell OsaSync in which folder OsaSync can store all temporary data files. This data folder has to exist on a SHARED folder or disk. OsaSync uses temporary files to exchange outlook information between computers so other computers have to be able to 'see' these files. Therefore these files have to reside on a share. You can recognize a shared folder or disk by a hand symbol:

    OsaSync in peer-to-peer mode expects to use a shared folder called OsaSync_Data so the select folder wizard step enables you to select or create this folder:

    In the drive box a local drive can be selected (default is drive C:). A drive on a network share cannot be selected because the drive has to reside on the local computer. Double click the directory list to navigate to a folder on a share in which the OsaSync_Data folder can be created and click Create OsaSync_Data folder. OsaSync creates the folder and tests if it can create a file in this folder. This OsaSync_Data folder has to be selected by other computers when your run the OsaSync connection wizard on those computers so make sure that the OsaSync_Data folder is on a share  accessible via My Network Places.

  5. Clicking Next brings you to the connecting dialog:



    Clicking Next will have the wizard search the local network for connected computers. If you have a large (e.g. corporate) network, the searching of the network can take a lot of time. In this case you can fill out the name of the computer in the edit box in order for the wizard to skip the network search. In this example our network consists of three computers so we just click Next to have OsaSync retrieve the computer names.
     
  6. The Network Computers dialog shows the computers found by the wizard. The name of  the computer the wizards run on, is NOT shown so here we see the computers VAITA and LAPTOPVAITAW2K. First we are going to configure the laptop so we select LAPTOPVAITAW2K and click next. If you fill out the computer name in the previous window, this wizard step will be skipped.


     
  7. If your network requires you to logon to the selected computer the username and password dialog will be shown enabling you to fill out the username and password. The username has to be a valid user with sufficient access rights on the selected computer.
    If you are already connected to the selected computer this step will be skipped.


     
  8. If the selected computer has more than one shared folder or disk, the next step will ask you to choose the share with the OsaSync_Data folder (= the folder where OsaSync on computer LAPTOPVAITAW2K saves it's data). If your computer has only one share this step will be skipped.



    We select the share 'C_schijf' in this example and click Next.
     
  9. In this Select folder step we have to select the OsaSync_Data folder on computer LAPTOPVAITAW2K:



    During the previous Select folder wizard step (step 4) we selected the OsaSync_Data folder on this computer and now we have to select or create the OsaSync_Data folder on LAPTOPVAITAW2K. If we would have run the connection wizard already on LAPTOPVAITAW2K then the OsaSync_Data folder would already exist on LAPTOPVAITAW2K. Because so far we only installed OsaSync on LAPTOPVAITAW2K but didn't run the connection wizard yet the OsaSync_Data folder does not exist yet so we will create it now. After clicking the Create OsaSync_Data folder button the wizard displays:



    OsaSync has created and selected the OsaSync_Data folder on computer LAPTOPVAITAW2K. In red a message is displayed telling to make sure that this same OsaSync_Data folder has to be selected when the connection wizard is run on computer LAPTOPVAITAW2K. So when we run the connection wizard on LAPTOPVAITAW2K and come to step 4 we have to select this same folder!

    If you click Next the wizard will check if the selected folder is indeed the OsaSync_Data folder.
     
  10. OsaSync uses the concepts of sharing and synchronizing and it is important to understand the differences between them. This dialog gives an explanation and an input box to fill out a friendly name for the selected computer. In this example we use 'Laptop' instead of the computer name LAPTOPVAITAW2K.


     
  11. Clicking Next brings us to the Next computer dialog asking us if we want to configure another computer. If you have only 2 computers connected in your LAN (and see only one in the Network computer dialog) this dialog will be skipped because there is no other computer to configure.



     
  12. In this example we still have to configure computer VAITA so we choose Yes in the dialog. This brings us back to the Connecting dialog of step 3.
     

    We click Next, get to the Network computers dialog again, select computer VAITA in the list box and continue the above steps till we arrive again at step 11, the Next computer dialog. This time we choose No because we are done configuring both computers.
     

  13. The final step is the Ready dialog. Clicking Finish will save all the configuration info the wizard has gathered to the Windows registry.



    That's all for configuring OsaSync on computer VAITA-FS.

    Now we have to visit the other computers, start the connection wizard and repeat all steps above.
    So computer VAITA will have to be configured to point to computer VAITA-FS and VAITALAPTOPW2K and computer VAITALAPTOPW2K will have to be configured to know the machines VAITA and VAITA-FS.


    14. If another computer has already created the OsaSync_Data folder (in step 9) then make sure to select this same OsaSync_Data folder in step 4.
     

Configuring OsaSync in Client-Server mode

You can read more on what OsaSync's Client-Server mode means in What is Client-Server mode? on the FAQ page.

Installation and configuration of OsaSync in Client-Server mode is simple:
- Install OsaSync on the client.
- There is no need to install OsaSync on the server (unless you want to use the server also as a client computer). The server is only used as an external hard disk into which the OsaSync temporary data files are saved.

The first 3 steps are identical to the first 3 steps as described above in Configuring OsaSync in peer-to-peer mode:

  1. Start the connection wizard
  2. The wizard starts with the Welcome to the OsaSync connection wizard dialog.
  3. In the Installation mode dialog choose Client-Server mode
     
  4. The next dialog offers the possibility to fill out an alternative computer name:



    Working with an alternative computer name is only necessary when you configure OsaSync for another user on the same computer or when running Terminal Server. Otherwise leave the computer name field empty and click Next >.
     
  5. During the Server connection step you choose if you only want to connect to a server on your Local Network; if you want to connect to a FTP server on the internet or both:



    In this example we choose server on the LAN and click Next >.
     
  6. In the Connecting dialog fill out the name of the server or have OsaSync browse your network after which you can select the server name from the list of computers.
    If you use the server also as a client then fill out the name of the server.



    Here we use a LAN server called VAITA-XP. This server is not dedicated but also used as a normal workstation so Outlook and OsaSync has been installed on this computer. If we are running the connection wizard on computer VAITA-XP then we have to fill out the name in the server name to connect to field. If we leave this field empty then the connection wizard will list all network computers but exclude the name of the computer it is running on..
     
  7. If your network requires you to logon to your server then the username and password dialog will be shown (same as P2P mode configuration, step 6).
     
  8. On the Select sharename dialog choose the shared folder or disk into which you want the OsaSync folders to be created.. If there is only one share on the server then this step will be skipped (same as P2P mode configuration, step 7)..
     
  9. Navigate to the folder called OsaServer (or OsaSync). If this is the first time you point the wizard to the server then the OsaServer folder does not yet exist. Select a folder in which the OsaServer folder can be created and click create OsaServer folder. OsaSync will create the folder OsaServer.



    Select the OsaServer folder and click Next >. The connection wizard will now create subfolders in the OsaServer folder for your current computer. Here is how the folder structure looks like on the server after you have configured 3 client computers A, B and C:

    \\servername\sharename\..\osaserver\A\B
    \\servername\sharename\..\osaserver\A\C
    \\servername\sharename\..\osaserver\B\A
    \\servername\sharename\..\osaserver\B\C
    \\servername\sharename\..\osaserver\C\A
    \\servername\sharename\..\osaserver\C\B

    note: \..\ can be any folder structure.
    Each folder on the lowest level will also have a 'Compare' subfolder.
     

  10. In the next step, Local OsaSync folder, you have to select or create a folder on your local computer into which OsaSync can store its files whenever the network server is not available. In this case OsaSync will run in so called Local Mode.



    By default OsaSync will suggest the folder OsaSync_local. Double click the directory list to navigate to a folder in which the OsaSync_Local folder can be created and click Create OsaSync_local folder. This folder cannot be created on a network share so the drive box will not allow the selection of a network drive.
    When Outlook and OsaSync is started after the wizard has finished then OsaSync will create subfolders in this local folder for all other computer that are configured on the server.
     
  11. Fill out a friendly name for your current computer during the Friendly name wizard step. This friendly name will be displayed by other computers in the OsaSync menu 'Share with friendlyname' (same as P2P mode configuration, step 10).
     
  12. On the Ready dialog click Finish to save save all the configuration info the wizard has gathered to the Windows registry.

Configuring a FTP server

During the Server connection step you can choose to configure a FTP server on the internet. All computers configured on the FTP server can synchronize Outlook folders with each other no matter where the computers physically reside.

Choosing the FTP configuration option will extend the connection wizard with two steps:

  1. The FTP server step where you specify the name of the FTP server and your username and password used for this connection:



    Clicking Next > will make OsaSync connect to the FTP server and retrieve a directory listing which is shown in the second step:
     
  2. Selecting or creating the OsaServer folder on the FTP server:



    OsaSync list all folders in the root folder on the FTP server. There are two connection modes to a FTP server: active mode and passive mode. OsaSync will first try to connect in active mode and then automatically switch to passive mode if active mode fails.
    Now you can select the OsaServer folder on the FTP server or, if this is the first time you are connecting to the FTP server, have the wizard create the folder. In the latter case, navigate to the folder in which you want the OsaServer folder to be created and click Create OsaServer folder. Make sure to select the OsaServer folder and click Next >.  OsaSync will now create a folder structure in the OsaServer folder identical to the folder structure created on a LAN server (see step 9).

    The wizard will now continue with the Local OsaSync folder step (see step 10) if you have not configured a LAN server or it will continue with the Friendly name step (see step 11) if you already configured the LAN server.

Read more on FTP server configuration information on the FAQ page in:

When you are done configuring computers in Client-Server mode you can start synchronizing folders. There is no difference in synchronizing folders or sharing items between OsaSync configured in Client-Server mode or OsaSync in peer-to-peer mode so continue with the 'Synchronizing the Contacts folder' chapter to get started with your first synchronized folder.

See the Frequently Asked Questions page for more details about Client-Server mode:

Synchronizing a folder

So far we have:

Now we can start using OsaSync for what we want to do: synchronize folders between all three computers. In this example we will synchronize the contacts folder. There is no difference in syncing a contacts folder or a calendar; tasks, notes or e-mail folder so we could have chosen another folder type for this example. However if you want to sync the calendar folder then you can also take a look at our Calendar synchronization page that explains three Calendar syncing scenarios.

OsaSync keeps all items in a folder in sync after a folder has been prepared for synchronization. This preparation has to be done only once and on only one computer. After this preparation OsaSync takes care of synchronizing all changes without any required action from your side.

The synchronization process merges the contents of the selected folder during the synchronization process if this folder already exists on the target computer and is not empty. If the folder does not yet exist on the target computer then OsaSync will create the folder. In this example we synchronize the default contacts folder and this folder exists on both other computers so OsaSync will merge the contents of all three contacts folders.

The synchronization process assigns a unique OsaSync ID to each contact. The unique ID is needed for OsaSync to identify a contact on two computers as being the same contact. In case you have a contact named 'John Smith' on your desktop and also a contact 'John Smith' on your laptop OsaSync has to know if this is the same person or if it is another person with the same name.

We can start the actual synchronization process on computer VAITA-FS (it does not matter if Outlook is closed or if it is running on the other computers):

  1. From the Outlook menu we choose OsaSync - Prepare folders for synchronization...:



    Note: If the logged on OsaSync user has no Administrator rights it is possible that OsaSync doesn't start when Outlook is started. To solve this follow step 4 outlined here.
     
  2. The folder synchronization wizard starts with a welcome screen.



    Clicking the Tell me more link will start your default browser and display this Getting Started page.
     
  3. Clicking the Next > button brings us to a dialog window showing message to:
    a. make backup copies of your .pst files
    b. rename the top level folder name (this message only shows if you have more than one top level folder).
    In our example we only have one top level folder ('Rons mail') so the second message isn't displayed.



    We have already done this so we click Next >.
    If you check the Do not show this message again box this wizard step will be skipped the next time you run this wizard.
     
  4. The Synchronization mode dialog offers you the choice to synchronize in Standard mode or in Advanced mode:



    Standard mode is the normal mode and recommended for most users. In standard mode the synchronization wizard will create a temporary data file for each item in the folder that has been selected for synchronization. These temporary files will be imported on the target computer after which the target computer looks for items not present on the source computer and creates temporary data files for those items found. This merging process ensures that the synced folder will have the same content on all computers. If you are going to sync a folder with 2000 items with 5 computers then OsaSync will have to create 10000 temporary files and this process can take quite a while.

    In order to improve the performance when synchronizing multiple large folders, the advanced syncing mode has been created. In advanced mode OsaSync will NOT create temporary data files for the target computers but only assign a unique OsaSync ID to each item in each folder being synced. This runs much faster (between 4 and 5 minutes per 1000 items) . A big difference with normal syncing mode is that in advanced mode you have to manually copy the .pst file with the synced folders to the target computers after the wizard has finished.. This means you cannot merge the contents of two different .pst files and your starting point for synchronization will be the same .pst file on all computers. A scenario where this can be feasible is syncing your desktop with your laptop. On our FAQ page you can read a step-by-step instruction for syncing in advanced mode.

    In this example we will sync in normal mode so we can accept the default choice and click Next >.
     
  5. The 'Choose folder' dialog is shown:



    This list box shows all folders that can be synchronized by OsaSync sorted on folder type. On the right side the folder path in Outlook's folder hierarchy is shown. In this example there are several contacts folders that have already been prepared for synchronization. This is indicated by the 'SY' prefix. Now we want to prepare the default Contacts folder for synchronization, so we select it with a single mouse click.
    By default this wizards syncs one folder at a time. This has several reasons:
    - When the data has been prepared for syncing a review step is shown inviting you to inspect the sync data preparation results for this folder.
    - Syncing the contacts folder and the calendar is best done in two steps, first the contacts folder and second the calendar folder.
    - If the syncing process is canceled this affects only one folder.
    - Syncing multiple folders at once can take a long time meanwhile blocking the normal use of Outlook

    An exception to syncing one folder at a time is made for e-mail folders. When you sync an e-mail folder you will be presented with a dialog which enables you to indicate if you also want to sync all e-mail subfolders of the selected folder.

    If you are an experienced user you can sync multiple folders at once after checking the box Enable selection of multiple folders in the sync wizard on the OsaSync Advanced Options page.
     
  6. After selecting the Contacts folder and clicking Next we are presented with the possibility to specify an alternative name for the contacts folder on the other computers:



    In our example we specify the alternative name 'Ron's contacts'. When the other computer will import the sync data it will create a new contacts folder called 'Ron's contacts' if this folder does not exist. In this way the user on the other computer can clearly distinguish between contacts originating from computer VAITA-FS and his own contacts.

    In the beginning of this paragraph we stated that preparing a folder for synchronization has to be done on only one computer. Contrary to this guideline there is an exception in the following scenario:
    Lets say we have two users, Ron and John
    - User Ron wants to see John's contacts in second Contacts folder called 'John's contacts'
    - User John wants to see Ron's contacts in a Contacts folder 'Ron's contacts'
    In this case we have to run the synchronization wizard for the Contacts folder on both computers and fill out the alternative name to be used on the other computer.
     
  7. The next step shows a dialog for selecting computers with which the folder has to be synced:



    This list box shows all computers that have been configured by the OsaSync connection wizard. By default all computers are selected already. We now want to sync the contacts folder with computers VAITA and LAPTOPVAITW2K so we first click the Deselect all button and then select both computers again. This is how the dialog looks before we click Next:


     
  8. The next dialog gives us the possibility to mark the selected folder as more than  on one or more of our previous selected computers:



    If a folder is marked as Read-Only on a computer then the user can only view the contents of that folder and cannot make any changes. If the folder is marked as Read-Only already this is indicated by the prefix 'RO'.
    In our example we do want the Contacts folders (which will be called 'Rons Contacts' on the other computers) to be writeable in order for the other users to be able to change contacts so we do not select a computer.

    Clicking OK starts the synchronization process.
     
  9. OsaSync shows the progress of the data preparation in the next dialog:



    It is possible to cancel this process after which all data already prepared for synchronization will be deleted.

    After the synchronization data has been created the results of this process is shown:



    The synchronization process has now created sync data for all contacts from VAITA-FS for synchronization with computers VAITA and LATOPVAITAW2K. The results dialog shows:
    - The Contacts folder has received the unique OsaSync folderID VAITA-FS0021
    - The Contacts folder has 164 items. Sync data files have been created for 137 items so 27 items are skipped. The reason of this is:
    - One item is skipped because it is a distribution list and distribution lists are not supported by OsaSync Lite.
    Note: OsaSync PRO 5.0 and higher does support distribution lists!
    - 26 items are skipped because the are marked as being private:


    Private items are only skipped if told so explicitly on the OsaSync advanced Options page, tab Outlook Item Options tab, tab Contacts (same for the Appointments and Tasks tabs) :


     
  10. The next dialog asks if we want to prepare another folder for synchronization:



    If we select Yes clicking Next will brings us back to the folder selection step enabling us to select another folder to sync. Now we are done so we accept the default No and click Next.
     
  11. This last step tells us we are ready:



     
  12. To complete the sync process the prepared sync data has to be imported on the other computers. This will happen automatically when the time period for checking the other computers for changes has elapsed (or when we choose check for changes on other computers from the OsaSync menu). This period defaults to 10 minutes and can be changed in the OsaSync options page.

    We start Outlook on computer VAITA and click check for changes on other computers in the OsaSync menu.
    OsaSync will now perform two consecutive steps if the folder already contains contacts:
     
    1. Importing all contacts that have been prepared by the source computer.
      For each contact to import OsaSync checks if this contact is already present in the folder. If so then the contact will not be imported (and gets the same unique OsaSync ID as the contact on the source computer).
      OsaSync matches a contact as the same contact as on the source computer if the following contact properties are the same:
      - first name
      - last name
      - company
      - email address
      OsaSync will show the next progress window during this import phase of sync data from computer VAITA-FS:



      During this importing process we will see all contacts appearing in the 'Rons Contacts' folder.
       
    2. Merging the contents of the folder by looking for contacts that are not present on the source computer VAITA-FS. If OsaSync finds contacts that were already present on computer VAITA then these contacts will be copied to the other synced computers. During this merging phase OsaSync will show the following progress window:



      If the folder 'Rons Contacts' on VAITA was empty or didn't exist yet then off course the merging phase will be skipped.

    After the data has also been imported on computer LAPTOPVAITAW2K the synchronization process is ready.
     

  13. Verification.
    OsaSync has now marked the contacts folder on VAITA-FS for syncing with computers VAITA and LAPTOPVAITAW2K.  We can verify this by:
    - Right-click on the contacts folder in the folder list.
    - Access the OsaSync PRO tab:



    Here we see computer LAPTOPVAITAW2K and computer VAITA listed so OsaSync has successfully marked the contacts folder for syncing with both computers. We also see the alternative name used for the Contacts folder on both other computers: Rons Contacts as well as the unique OsaSync folder ID: VAITA-FS0021.

    We verify this also on both other computers: on computer VAITA we see the contacts folder synced with computers LAPTOPVAITAW2K and VAITA-FS and computer LAPTOPVAITAW2K shows VAITA and VAITA-FS in the computers list box. Note that the folderID is the same as on computer VAITA-FS!

    The contacts folder is now synchronized between all three computers and OsaSync will keep track of all future changes and make sure all changes are copied to the other computers.

Synchronizing calendar, tasks, notes or e-mail folders

Preparing a calendar, tasks, notes or e-mail folder for synchronization is exactly the same as described above for the Contacts folder. OsaSync will also merge the contents of the synced folder if the synced already exists on the target computers. While merging OsaSync assumes an item is identical when the following item properties match:

To read more on Calendar syncing see the Calendar synchronization page.

For differences in how OsaSync handles calendar, tasks, notes and e-mail items compared to contact items please read: Does OsaSync PRO handle the other Outlook items in the same way as it does contacts? on the FAQ page.

Important:

Note:
It is also possible to start the synchronization process for a selected folder from the folder properties window:

  1. Right-click the folder you want to synchronize in the Outlook folder list
  2. Choose Properties
  3. Click the OsaSync tab
  4. Click the button Start synchronizing this folder
  5. The synchronization wizard starts directly with step Folder name and the procedure continues as described above from step 5.

Note 2:
If OsaSync encounters problems during the creation or importing of the synchronization data read The sync.log file indicates errors during importing sync data on the technical support page www.vaita.com/techsupport.asp.

If you want to resynchronize a folder then please read How to prepare a folder for synchronization again on the technical support page www.vaita.com/techsupport.asp.