How to synchronize Pocket PC with Mac

Using PocketPC with Windows is very easy, assumed that you are using Outlook. Synchronization is straightforward, works out of the box. If you are keeping your contacts in other software than Outlook, you can often find 3rd party software that does the synchronization – or at least provides the plugin. The selection of the solutions is fairly large.

On Mac, you are in similar situation if you want to use Palm based PDA. With Pocket PC synchronization, selection is limited. For direct synchronization between Mac address book and iCal, you have basically 2 options (or more precisely, at least two options): PocketMac or The Missing Sync. Both will do the job, but the Missing Sync seems to be more modern: it supports Intel processors on Mac side and Windows Mobile 5. Also the Web site of the Missing sync has more professional, Mac-like look. I found the review of both, but little bit dated …

If you need synchronize contacts between Mac, Windows and Pocket-PC, it is more complicated. What worked for me was using on-line Contact repository http://www.plaxo.com/. As long as you are willing have your contacts on-line, you can use this free service. Great feature of Plaxo is that is has plugins for both Outlook and Thunderbird as well as Mac Address Book. This way you can keep contacts in your email clients synchronized and have a Web access to your contacts on-line. I was using this setup before I started to use Mac to keep multiple address-books on multiple machines in sync – one Outlook, two Thunderbirds – as well as synchronize with Pocket PC. Actually, using Pocket PC was main reason to keep using Outlook. Now with Missing Sync, I can re-evaluate the need and maybe get rid of it.

Explore posts in the same categories: lifehacks