<snip - from James Pelton>
Finally, though I've not heard of anyone doing this, there is at least
one other way, in theory, to sync with Outlook. Outlook can be made to
sync with an Access database. The Newton database app Leverage claims to
be able to sync with Access databases as well. I've heard of people
using Leverage to sync with Filemaker, but haven't yet heard of anyone
doing so with Access -- maybe Leverage's claims are exaggerated. Someone
truly ambitious could use Leverage to implement the entirety of
Outlook's functionality -- maybe -- and then sync with Outlook through
an intermediary Access database. File that idea under crackpot schemes.
</snip>
Not so crackpot as you may think - OutLink does indeed use an Access
intermediary. Go into Program Files/OutLink and you will find an Access
file called, amazingly ;-), Outlink. You can use Access to open the file
and rummage around, but beware, you are messing with your next attempt at
synchronizing. It's best to make a copy and play with the copy, since
OutLink is ticklish about file modification dates.
I use OutLink mostly to synchronize my calendar, since the Names synch is
not predictable. The main problems with Names synchronization I have found
are as follows:
OutLink can't distinguish very well between Newton's Company and Person card
types, so you often end up w/ one of each if your company card has an
Affiliate assigned.
OutLink can't distinguish phone types, so often cards w/ many phone numbers
do not transfer well. The pager slot seems to be a total loss. Multiple
instances of almost any slot will confuse OutLink.
Contrary to some of the posts I have seen, OutLink does synch the Notes
portion of Names.
Attempts at synchronization frequently end prematurely w/ a -1006 comm error
at the PC end, leading the PC to think that you have deleted all Newton
cards after that point - BEWARE of the auto delete setting under
preferences.
The main piece of advice I have for any of these programs is that you should
operate pretty much in the slave/master mode, and make modifications to only
one database - synchronizing, in the strict sense of the term, is still too
problematic for the complex cases presented by cross-platform and
cross-application, and, as previously mentioned on NTLK, the stupid
selection in OutLink of the Name slot as the sort key doesn't help at all.
Regards,
Paul
******************************************
This month's NewtonTalk brought to you by:
EVOTE.COM, the ultimate Political Junkie site on the 'Net.
The Clinton Administration, the George Bush
2000 Campaign, and almost every other major
U.S. politician has said something nasty
about us at some time. Find out why at:
http://www.evote.com
******************************************
Need Subscribe/Unsubscribe info?
Visit http://www.planetnewton.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Feb 01 2000 - 00:00:45 EST