[RESOLVED] Set synch direction, using only MPE and phone

[RonCam]

I've only seen references to setting this parameter 'in [MS] Outlook' but have found none that relate to just using MPE and its Android client -- without Outlook synching.

When using (only) these two, just MPE and client together, which one is the master? I suspect it's the phone, but can't find an authoritative statement confirming this.

If it's the phone, by default, is there any option for changing this, say, to make MPE -- globally -- the master? Again, this is without using [MS] Outlook.

[RonCam]

In looking at the sync logs, I see the direction of the sync, and it does change, from one entry to another.

Right now, I have the calendar on the computer edited the way I want it.
How can I sent that to the phone, and make sure the reverse doesn't happen?

[RonCam]

If what follows solves my problem, my apologies for not figuring it out sooner:

If the user who's not running MS Outlook wants to control sync direction, simply create an iCal file, sync to that, and you then have full control over the sync direction between that file to the PC and to the phone client. There's no need to install other software just for this purpose.

This is probably in the FAQs or already answered on the forum in a post my search couldn't locate. If there's anything wrong with the above paragraph, please reply, as I'm a MPE 'newbie' (about a week or so) and just 'feeling my way around'. Wouldn't want to mislead the other users with half-baked information ...

Until there's a reply, may we assume it's correct, as it stands?

[FJ]

To understand the process in behind:
For te sync with targets like Outlook MyPhoneExplorer needs the whole dataset of the phone, cause of this MyPhoneExplorer does sync first between MyPhoneExplorer <-> Phone and then in the next step f.e. with Outlook. This is also the reason why there is no priority exception on the internal sync, it would require 2 sync confirmations then.

The internal sync is bidirectional, changes on the phone will be adapted in MyPhoneExplorer and changes in MyPhoneExplorer will be adapted on the phone. On conflicts MyPhoneExplorer is the winner. If a entry is deleted on the phone and edited in MyPhoneExplorer before sync then MyPhoneExplorer will create a new entry in the phone.

If you want to ensure that MyPhoneExplorer will NOT make any changes on the phone then click on the second button in the toolbar "Download entire".

[RonCam]

Thank you very much for your informative reply. I am sure this will be useful to others with the same question, who search the Forum. It is a great help to better understand the operation of MPE.

Using the ical file has given me the functionality that I now use, and have been using for years, when synchronizing local data on my PC with my (quite old) Sharp PDA. I am very pleased that I now know how to see similar messages during a sync, as to what is going where, and giving me the choice of confirming what it to be done.

I was wondering why ical-based syncronization could not be presented to a new user as the default mode of operation -- should they do not choose to sync MPE with another program (Outlook, etc.) already running on their system?

[FJ]

iCal-File based sync is a good thing cause its plain and universal, you are not bound to any additional software and it can be also the bridge to sync several devices to each other. But the iCal-File is also a third database like Outlook (just to understand the process: Phone<>MyPhoneExplorer<>iCal File)

[RonCam]

Thank you again, for the following quoted crystal-clear explanation of the 'sync-process':

To understand the process in behind:
For te sync with targets like Outlook MyPhoneExplorer needs the whole dataset of the phone, cause of this MyPhoneExplorer does sync first between MyPhoneExplorer <-> Phone and then in the next step f.e. with Outlook. This is also the reason why there is no priority exception on the internal sync, it would require 2 sync confirmations then.

The internal sync is bidirectional, changes on the phone will be adapted in MyPhoneExplorer and changes in MyPhoneExplorer will be adapted on the phone. On conflicts MyPhoneExplorer is the winner. If a entry is deleted on the phone and edited in MyPhoneExplorer before sync then MyPhoneExplorer will create a new entry in the phone.

If you want to ensure that MyPhoneExplorer will NOT make any changes on the phone then click on the second button in the toolbar "Download entire".

May I suggest that this be preserved in the F.A.Q. section -- since I have just checked again, and there's now nothing there that could give the user this insight into the program's operation?

Also, I agree about the advantages of the intermediary ical database, after seeing how it changes (improves) the user-experience. MS Outlook-users would be unaware of this, of course.

For users coming to MPE with experience of syncing between the PC and a traditional PDA, what they will observe during the ical-sync will be much more familiar (and perhaps, eliminate many questions!) compared with what they will see during the direct MPE <-> Phone sync process. Just an idea, perhaps ...