Overview

The synchronization feature in DAISHO allows the user to sync DAISHO with various devices and applications via a shared synchronization server which is normally found on the internet or internal business network. The Sync Server acts as a central repository for the user's data and all synchronizations occur between the server and one of the users devices.

Using a central sync server solves many problems that were prevalent with the older system of syncing from device to device - once you have more than two devices, things quickly become complicated. When syncing with the sync server, the server always has the most up to date data after each sync which makes keeping track of changes much simpler.

The other benefit of using a sync server is that any type of device or application that speaks the language of the sync server (SyncML) can interact with it. The number of devices which can interact with a SyncML Sync Server is huge. Almost every mobile device and many well known applications can interact with these servers. DAISHO is one of them!

The image below should provide a better overview of how the synchronization with a sync server works. Devices are synced one at a time with the server. On each sync, the device sends its changes to the server and the server sends changes from other devices back. We recommend that you sync whenever you make any changes to your data so that the server is always in an up to date state.

This help article contains detailed information about how you can set up DAISHO to work with your preferred sync server. DAISHO officially supports the Funambol Sync Server and we recommend you use that type of server when syncing DAISHO. Daisho Blacksmith also provides a sync server DAISHOSYNC for you to use with a focus on privacy and reliability.

If you don't find the information you're looking for in this help article, please visit the DAISHO Support Community.

Setup

Sync Preferences

To quickly get started syncing you'll need three things:

the URL of your sync server (e.g. "http://my.sync.server.com/sync")
your sync server user name
your sync server password

If you're missing one of these items please check your details on your sync server portal. If you don't have an account on a sync server, we recommend the Daisho Blacksmith Sync Server.

<NOTE: link to daisho sync server>

Open the DAISHO sync preferences via Window>Preferences>Synchronization and enter this data. Press OK to save your sync configuration.

You can now try and sync your data via File>Synchronize>Contacts.

If you have trouble syncing please consult the Trouble Shooting section at the bottom of this article or read the following section, Sync Sources.

Sync Sources

When you sync with your sync server, the different types data you have (contacts, events, tasks & notes) are stored separately on the server. Each separate area for the data types is called a sync source.

There are three pieces of information associated with each sync source that you might want to configure:

the next synchronization type (sync type)
the sync source name (remote name)
the format of the data (data format)

Detailed information about these configuration options can be found in the following articles.

For the sync to work correctly, this information needs to match the configuration of your sync server. The standard configuration of DAISHO is usually correct, but sometimes a server operator may decide to use different settings for some reason.

The Sync Source Preferences allows you to configure DAISHO to match your sync server. Generally these configuration details will be available in the Help pages of your sync portal. If you can't find this information, please contact your sync server operator.

Sync Type

The Sync Type refers to how the next sync that occurs with your sync server will be done. There are two options:

Slow
Two-way

The slow sync always occurs the first time you sync with a sync source and sends all data to the sync server. As DAISHO sends data to the sync server, the server compares it to the data currently on the server and attempts to map the incoming data to the existing data. At the same time it makes changes within each synced contact, event, task or note to make sure all the data is properly combined on the server. Any additional information on the server will be sent back to and imported by DAISHO. In essence, the slow sync allows the server and DAISHO to agree on the contents of and a reference to each item which will be used during subsequent synchronizations.

The two-way sync is much faster since the server doesn't have to do any detailed checking on the incoming data. This will only happen after DAISHO and the sync server have successfully performed a slow sync. At this point, both DAISHO and the server have been in a synced state with one another and all that needs to be exchanged is modifications (new items, updated items and deleted items) from either side.

We recommend you leave this setting as two-way since it provides much faster syncing.

Remote Name

The name of the sync source (remote name) can be thought of as the name of a folder where your data will be stored. Data of different types is stored in different folders and to differentiate between the folders they need unique names.

By default DAISHO uses the standard names for these sync sources which are:

card (for contacts)
event (for meetings, calls & whole day events)
task (for tasks)
note (for notes)

These names tend to be the standard names on most servers. However, some server operators may use different names. If your server operator requires you to use a different sync source for one of the four data types, you can change that in the remote name field on the sync source configuration dialog.

Data Format

When your data is synced with the sync server, it needs to be sent in a format that the sync server can recognize. Depending on what type of data you are syncing (e.g. contact, event, task or note) there may be some alternative data formats at your disposal.

Generally the difference between the data types is not noticeable to the user, however different sync server operators might choose to use different data types and we try to support the widest possible range of servers.

Usually the default settings in DAISHO are correct however if your sync server requires a different data type, the possibility is there.

Using Sync

Syncing is a simple task in DAISHO.

To sync one of the four available data types from DAISHO, select File>Synchronize> and the type of data you would like to sync. DAISHO will check if it can connect to the sync server and then open a sync wizard to guide you through the steps of syncing your data.

This is normally a five step process:

changes are fetched from the server
the user selects the new items to import
the user selects the modified items to update
the user selects the deleted items to purge
local changes are sent to the server

It is possible that steps 2 to 5 do not happen if there are no changes on the server or there are no local changes.

The contact sync is a little bit different since it allows you to map new incoming contacts and merge changes from updated contact rather than completely overwriting your contact data which is a problem with many other sync clients. This is explained in more detail in the Syncing Contacts section.

Ignored Items

The sync wizard for each data type offers you the option to ignore certain changes from the server. Often you don't want to incorporate certain changes or you just don't care about some items.

On each of the pages (steps 2 - 4) of the sync wizard, you have the option of choosing which items changes should be applied to your data and which should be ignored. Simply uncheck the items you would like to ignore and the changes they contain will not be applied.

When you mark certain items as ignored, they will remain ignored for all synchronizations until you choose to stop ignoring them. At that point, the latest version of the ignored item will be applied to your data.

If you accidentally ignore any sync items and change your mind about it later, simply run the sync again and you can choose to incorporate the changes at that time.

Syncing Contacts

As has already been mentioned, syncing contacts has two extra features that the other data types do not have:

contact mapping
contact merging

Contact Mapping

Often when you're syncing contacts, you will have two contacts that are not connected from the perspective of the sync server and DAISHO. This could result in duplicate contacts and a maintenance nightmare.

DAISHO allows you to map new contacts from the sync server to existing contacts in your contact database. Once a new contact from the server is mapped to an existing contact from your contact database, all changes from the server for that contact will be applied to your selected contact.

As shown on the image above, the contact mapping page has three tables:

unmapped new contacts (from the server)
unmapped existing contacts (in your contact database)
mapped contacts

Initially, DAISHO will suggest some mappings that you may want to use. It compares the names of your contacts and if they're the same, it will suggest a mapping. You can remove the mapping by pressing the "Unmap" button below the mapped contacts table.

If DAISHO doesn't find a mapping that you would like, you can create one by yourself. Select the matching contacts in the unmapped contact tables and press the map button. If you make a mistake, you can easily undo your change by selecting the bad mapping and pressing the unmap button.

It's also important to note that you cannot map more than one contact to another contact.

Once you've created all the mappings you would like, press next to continue. It is not necessary to map all your contacts. Your mapped contacts will now be treated like updates to the existing contacts and the changes to be incorporated can be selected on the merge wizard page.

Merging Contacts

You might find that occasionally you receive changes from the sync server that are not what you want. Many mobile handsets lose contact information due to limited storage or other applications modify your data in ways that you do not want. The contact merge page is there to solve this problem.

The contact merge page compares changes from the server to your existing contact and allows you to choose which changes to incorporate. It ignores fields which haven't changed and only shows the fields that have changed in the current sync.

The page consists of five tables:

updated contact list
modified field list
original data list
updated data list
result data list

The updated contact list is a list of all the contacts in your database which have received changes from the server. Select the first contact to see the modified data.

The modified field list is a list of all the fields that have been modified in the contact. Things like phone number, address, name etc are all included here.

The original data list is a list of all the data that exists in the contact in your database which might be modified during this merge. Note how it is aligned to the Field table so you can tell what type of data is on each row of the table.

The updated data list contains all the updated data that could be applied to your existing contact. This table is also aligned to the Field table.

Finally, the result table shows the result and final contents of your contact. Initially the wizard will make a best guess and try to use the updated data. If the updated data is empty then DAISHO will prefer the original data since it always tries not to lose any data.

You can choose which field should end up in your resulting contact by selecting items from either the original or updated columns. As you select items in either column, note that corresponding item in the result column is updated to that selection. In this way you can choose which fields in your contact should be updated and which should not. Once you're happy with the state of the data in the result column, press the Apply button to apply the changes for that contact. Repeat the process for each contact.

Supported Contact Data

DAISHO supports the following information with contact sync:

name
address
telephone
fax
mobile (cell) phone
website
email address
skype address
position
company
department
birthday
note

Syncing Events

There are no special steps required for syncing events. Please refer to "Using Sync" above.

Supported Event Data

DAISHO supports the following information with event sync:

title
notes
dates (start & end)
whole day events
location
priority
organizer & attendees
repeat series*
alarms

* some very uncommon repeat series are not supported by DAISHO. You will be notified during sync if your repeat series is not supported.

Syncing Tasks

There are no special steps required for syncing tasks. Please refer to "Using Sync" above.

Supported Task Data

DAISHO supports the following information with task sync:

title
notes
due date
duration
location
priority
organizer & attendees

Please note: syncing repeat tasks is NOT supported by DAISHO.

Syncing Notes

There are no special steps required for syncing notes. Please refer to "Using Sync" above.

Supported Note Data

DAISHO supports the following information with note sync:

note

Syncing with other Devices and Applications

It is beyond the scope of this article to provide detailed help about syncing other devices with the sync server, however, we wanted to provide some information to get you started syncing with your other devices.

DAISHO supports the Funambol Sync Server which has the capability to sync with just about any mobile handset and several well known applications, notably:

Microsoft Outlook
Mozilla Thuderbird
Apple iPhone
Google Android
Windows Mobile
Symbian

You can find more information about the devices that Funambol supports here.

You can download applications for your device here.

You can download sync clients for your desktop applications here.

If you have any problems you can view the Funambol documentation here.

Finally, please be aware that Funambol is not the only provider of tools for syncing with the Funambol Sync server. There are many other applications available for syncing devices, especially on the iPhone App Store or the Android Marketplace.

Trouble Shooting

Following is a list of common problems that you might encounter during sync. It is by no means a complete list and if you cannot find a solution to your problem here, please visit the DAISHO Support Community.

Can't connect to the server

Before syncing begins, DAISHO attempts to connect to your sync server. If DAISHO cannot establish a connection with the sync server, a message will be displayed.

Possible causes:

you are not connected to the internet (if the server is on the internet)
you are not connected to your local network (if the sever is on your local network)
The address of your server is incorrect

The provided sync source could not be found

This occurs if the sync source for the data type in DAISHO does not match the sync source on the server.

Open the sync source for your specified data type via Window>Preferences>Sync>Sync Sources and confirm that the "Remote Name" is the same as that required by the server.

Please consult your sync server help documents to find the "Remote Name" or "Sync Source" for your data types.