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maelcum · 08/19/2005, 05:46 AM

Hello,

that is a very thoroughly overview of what can be done.

And eloquently phrased (at least to me, a non-native english speaker).

Please allow me to add my own experience:

I do need a full sync of my address book, with everything there is.
That means - of course - more than one address, up to three, but also a lot of telephone and fax numbers, all correctly identified (not the work ones as private and the like), and a slew of information like name of spouse, im-names, notes etc. etc.

Neither the Palm Desktop/HotSync Manager/iSync-Team, nor Mark/Space MissingSync synchonize this type of information correctly. That has been proven by people more experienced than I ever will be.
Still, I did find a workaround. As with all workarounds, to some it will be a complicated one, for some it might not work and above all, an integrated solution would certainly be preferable, but then - it works. And thats all that matters to me. Plus the elegance of having, what I need...

I am using Super Names as my address book ... um ... addition. The nice thing about Super Names is, that it works with the built in address book. So anything that's synchronized via iSync or HotSync Manager is accessible. And anything (on my palm) that relies on the internal address book still works. Thats important (in my eyes). For example, the telephone application of the treo shows only "telephone" numbers (vs. fax numbers) when it is searches the address book. If the address book were an external application, that might not be possible. But you don't neccessarily need Super Names. It has nothing to do with the synchronization. It is just a very nice way to see the additional info.

Ok, so I do have an application that could show me more information than the internal address book, that integrates with the internal address book so I won't have to miss that one, and I have a meticulously looked after address book on my mac with lots of additional information.
The only thing I need is a way to transfer these informations.

For that I have written a (bash) script. It writes all the information that is not sync'ed by iSync/HotSync Manager in the notes of a contact (retaining the information already there). From then on, a "normal" sync with whatever application (iSync/HotSync Manager; MissingSync; ...) transfers this information to the palm.
If you are not using any other address book addition, then the information is - at least - in the notes of the contact.
If you *do* use something like Super Names, then the notes are interpreted and displayed nicely just like in the mac address book. Hey, it really looks good. After having experienced that, I've chosen to change the hard button on my Treo to start Super Names instead of the built-in address book.

The script has grown. I am sync'ing the field names of the mac address book to the palm, converting all sorts of weird characters from the mac to the palm (like the umlaute or the french accents [öäüÖÄÜéèê...]) and in general am having a good time. I just wonder why that isn't picked up by somebody like Mark/Space and added in a professional way. (I'm just doing this for fun, and consider myself in no way a programmer.)

As mithras has said: Here are complicated work-arounds for some of these issues, but none can be directly fixed using only iSync and HotSync/Missing Sync.

Cheers.

08/19/2005, 05:46 AM	#15 (permalink)
maelcum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Posts: 17 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	*Workaround for sync'ing Palm with Mac Address Book and receive all* information** Hello, that is a very thoroughly overview of what can be done. And eloquently phrased (at least to me, a non-native english speaker). Please allow me to add my own experience: I do need a full sync of my address book, with everything there is. That means - of course - more than one address, up to three, but also a lot of telephone and fax numbers, all correctly identified (not the work ones as private and the like), and a slew of information like name of spouse, im-names, notes etc. etc. Neither the Palm Desktop/HotSync Manager/iSync-Team, nor Mark/Space MissingSync synchonize this type of information correctly. That has been proven by people more experienced than I ever will be. Still, I did find a workaround. As with all workarounds, to some it will be a complicated one, for some it might not work and above all, an integrated solution would certainly be preferable, but then - it works. And thats all that matters to me. Plus the elegance of having, what I need... I am using Super Names as my address book ... um ... addition. The nice thing about Super Names is, that it works with the built in address book. So anything that's synchronized via iSync or HotSync Manager is accessible. And anything (on my palm) that relies on the internal address book still works. Thats important (in my eyes). For example, the telephone application of the treo shows only "telephone" numbers (vs. fax numbers) when it is searches the address book. If the address book were an external application, that might not be possible. But you don't neccessarily need Super Names. It has nothing to do with the synchronization. It is just a very nice way to see the additional info. Ok, so I do have an application that could show me more information than the internal address book, that integrates with the internal address book so I won't have to miss that one, and I have a meticulously looked after address book on my mac with lots of additional information. The only thing I need is a way to transfer these informations. For that I have written a (bash) script. It writes all the information that is not sync'ed by iSync/HotSync Manager in the notes of a contact (retaining the information already there). From then on, a "normal" sync with whatever application (iSync/HotSync Manager; MissingSync; ...) transfers this information to the palm. If you are not using any other address book addition, then the information is - at least - in the notes of the contact. If you do use something like Super Names, then the notes are interpreted and displayed nicely just like in the mac address book. Hey, it really looks good. After having experienced that, I've chosen to change the hard button on my Treo to start Super Names instead of the built-in address book. The script has grown. I am sync'ing the field names of the mac address book to the palm, converting all sorts of weird characters from the mac to the palm (like the umlaute or the french accents [öäüÖÄÜéèê...]) and in general am having a good time. I just wonder why that isn't picked up by somebody like Mark/Space and added in a professional way. (I'm just doing this for fun, and consider myself in no way a programmer.) As mithras has said: Here are complicated work-arounds for some of these issues, but none can be directly fixed using only iSync and HotSync/Missing Sync. Cheers.