Need advice syncing Lotus Notes to datebook

[aym]

Please help me, O fellow Lotus Notes sufferers!

I'm looking for advice. I've been researching replacements to Easy Sync. My problem is that I frequently use the advanced features of Datebk5 (appts over midnight, detaching repeating appt instances, etc), and I keep blowing my sync. I sync Journal, Addresses, and Calendar, but don't need ToDos or Mail. (I have 5.0.9 right now, we'll go to 6 in about 6 months)

I've got 2 different ideas and I'd like input. I haven't tried either because I'm not in the mood to clean up a mess until I'm reasonably sure I've got the right product.

First, I like what I've seen of mNotes. I'm OK with the crud in the note field, and with the setup issues. I like the fact it's the least likely to "lose" it's sense of which appointment matches which between platforms. My one concern is that it will get confused on my personal appointments, and I don't think I can filter to only sync certain appointments.

Second, I could go with either Pylon or Intellisync and overcome their unpredictability by only syncing either public or just work appointments (usually created on the PC anyway) and shielding it from my extremely complex collection of personal appointments. Honestly, keeping my personal appointments out of the hands of my Notes admin doesn't sound like such a bad idea. My main concerns here are the fact neither company seems to offer free (or even good) support or updates and it could get extremely expensive.

I've even thought I could use Datebk5 to archive all personal appointments to the history database, sync, and then merge them back in, but that just seems like it may take more time than it's worth.

Opinions on these issues, or other ideas? Please help!

Aym

PS - if someone can tell me how to back up my Notes calendar to local and then replace it without changing the note IDs I could perhaps be more free to try these things out with a safety net.

[hherbzilla]

Originally posted by aym
PS - if someone can tell me how to back up my Notes calendar to local and then replace it without changing the note IDs I could perhaps be more free to try these things out with a safety net. I'm a happy Pylon user. I'll think more about your questions when I have more time.

As for backing up your calendar: You need to make a local replica of your mail file, if you don't already have one. Then just rename it (e.g., change the extension from nsf to bak) or move a copy into another folder, etc. Then if you have any problems, you can revert back to the copy. I'm not aware of a way to backup ONLY your calendar entries.

If you don't know how to make a replica: go to your Workspace, right click on the server copy of your mail file, select Replication... New Replica...

[MonkeyK]

Maybe you are ahead of me, but I could never get Notes to sync very well with DateBK5.

I used Intellisync, and found that since DateBK5 modifies entries, and Notes considers you the chair of a meeting if you modify it, I was getting set to the chair of all meetings that I was invited to. I tried to get around that by telling Intellisync that all syncing was one way (Notes to Palm), but that wiped out categories.

My company implemented Intellisync as a corporate Palm to Notes syncing solution, but I don't qualify since they will not endorse anything but a few devices made by Palm (and I refuse to downgrade from my T615).

Since I am not allowed to sync to Notes at work anymore, I have not kept up with the solutions, but I seem to recall, Intellisync and Pylon being superior products when I was still syncing (era of Intellisync 4.0). If either product allows you to sync, ignoring the note field, you are probably set.

[addict]

If you back up your Notes DB and want to try IntelliSync PRO,you can download an eval from pumatech.com. I tried out my company standard, Lotus EasySync Pro, and was petrified at what it did to my calendar (the standard POS one). I've been pretty happy w/ ISPro since. You can set filters (for private appt's, maybe), map fields, selectively sync cal/phone/notes/etc. Aside from the support issue (or lack thereof), it's been alright for me.

[aym]

Thanks for the input. I've backed up a replica like hherbzilla explained, and I've backed up the palm separately from my nightly backup. Hopefully that will help me undo anything I screw up if this doesn't work.

Given the recent discussion about someone else having major problems with Intellisync stopping syncing calendars, which is mainly why I'm leaving EasySync, and the overwhelming sense that every player except CommonTime stinks at support, I've decided to test drive mNotes. I suppose Pylon would be my next try if this doesn't work.

I'll report back how it goes.

Fingers crossed,
Aym

[mjhamilton]

Just to add another to the pool.. try XTNDConnect... I am trying this instead of Intellisync at the moment and it seems to working fine at the moment........