Synchronizing Outlook

Subnotebooks are dropping in price by the minute so it's not unusual if you have another computer. And another copy of Outlook. Wouldn't it be wonderful if both your Outlook clients always had identical data? Yes, that is possible and it's called synchronizing.

Outlook by default stores all your data in one big file. If you didn't change it, it's called Outlook.pst. So the first idea one might have is to copy this file over to the respective other computer. And in fact, that's how you can do it. But it's a bit difficult to find the file. Here's how to:

1. Open Outlook

2. Go to the tree with your folders

3. Right-click the topmost item

4. Click on "Properties"

5. Click on the button "Advanced"

Here you can find the full path of your pst-file. You can just copy it to the other computer. If you want to automate the transfer of the file, you can use the Freeware Edition of Easy2Sync for Files. Note that you can only copy / replace this file while Outlook isn't running.

However, one can only copy the file while Outlook isn't running. And whenever you replace the Outlook.pst file, you should know that you're replacing the entire contents. This can be a threat if you changed contacts on both computers since the last copying.

So you require something different. Copying the file isn't enough. You need to synch its contents. Bad news is: You can't do this by copying files. You need a special software to to the job. But the good news is: There's a fantastic software online that does the grunt work for you. It's called Easy2Sync for Outlook. The software is specialised on Outlook sync tasks and does all the work of watching where things have changed and copying the changes. So you don't need to copy files any longer, you only need to run the synch. And you don't need to remember which computer stores the most recent version as the synch software will automatically take care of this for you.

But that's just one of the advantages. This synch software also allows you to exclude a part of your calendar items from the synch, since you're not copying the complete file any more. You can for example exclude folders that you don't need, or limit the synch to your tasks. Or you can synch only the private tasks and so on.

So, a reliable synch software like Easy2Sync can save you lots of time. Manually copying PST files can be an easy beginning for trying things out, but to work every day you need a real synch software.

Thomas Holz is writing software for Outlook several years now. He's published programs to find duplicates, to use text modules in Outlook and to synchronize Outlook.

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