With the bandolier of gear that many of us now carry -- laptops, cellphones, PDAs, and iPods -- it's pretty clear that no Mac is an island. We trust devices other than our computers to keep such important information as our contacts, calendars, and to-do lists. Yet with this plethora of peripherals, it's easy to lose track of just where you've stored some of this data.

Apple brings a measure of sanity to this situation with iSync, a utility for synchronizing contacts, calendars, to-do items, and even browser bookmarks between your Mac and cellphone, Palm device, iPod, and, with a .Mac account, another Mac. On today's "Call for Help," I'll offer you some tips for making the most of iSync.

1. Make a commitment
   ISync was designed to work in league with Apple's Address Book, iCal, and Safari. If synchronization is of paramount importance to you, you might consider switching your PIM from Entourage, Palm Desktop, or Now Contact/Up-to-Date to the Apple apps. Granted, Apple's offerings are not nearly as feature-rich as these other applications, but they offer a level of integration that the others can't touch.
   
   
2. Switch off unnecessary synchronization
   It's cool to pack all your synchable devices -- your iPod, Bluetooth phone, Palm device, and .Mac account -- into iSync. However, there are times when you won't want to synchronize all of them -- when your iPod isn't around or you're not connected to the Internet and so can't synch with .Mac. In such cases, click on the devices that you don't want to synch and disable the Turn on Synchronization option.
   
   
3. Use the hidden power of the Devices menu
   iSync's Devices menu holds some commands that could help in a pinch. When you invoke the Back Up My Data command, iSync creates a backup of your contacts, calendars, and Safari bookmarks information. You can use this command to save your ideal collection of contacts, calendars, and bookmarks. Should you wish to one day return to this collection, simply invoke the Revert to Backup command.
   
   The Revert to Last Sync command isn't exactly the same thing. Rather, it's for those situations when you synch your devices and realize that you've accidentally deleted some important contact or event. Revert to Last Sync tells iSync to forget about that last synch and restore your devices, Address Book, and iCal to the settings prior to that synchronization.
   
   
4. Cull your contacts
   When synching your phone, enable the Only Synchronize Contacts With Phone Numbers option. As its name implies, this option keeps iSync from cluttering up your phone (and gobbling up its limited storage space) with contacts that lack a phone number.
   
   To save additional space, create specific groups in Address Book and calendars in iCal that contain only the information you need on your phone. Configure iSync so that it copies only these groups and calendars to your phone.
   
   
5. What happened?
   It can be difficult to tell exactly what iSync has done by following its progress bar. To get the scoop, select Sync Log from the iSync menu. A window will appear that provides details about previous synchronizations.
   
   
6. Synch with one Mac only
   Unless you're a .Mac member who has chosen to synchronize multiple Macs, do all your synching on a single Mac. If you don't, you're likely to wind up with a hodgepodge of contacts and appointments, some from one Mac and others from another. Your devices won't know which are current, and you'll waste time resolving conflicts and deleting out-of-date entries.
   
   
7. Bluetooth is cool, but the cradle is faster
   OK, we know Bluetooth is groovy. It's also dog-slow. If you're using a Bluetooth-enabled Palm device with iSync, you'll find that it takes about five times as long to synch wirelessly than it does with the Palm's cradle and a USB connection.

With these tips in hand, you'll find that your devices are far more cooperative than they once were. You'll find more information about iSync and a link to download the latest version here.

TechTV's "Mac Daddy" Chris Breen pens Macworld magazine's Mac 911 column; is author of the best-selling "Secrets of the iPod, Third Edition" (Peachpit Press, 2003); and writes, directs, and stars in "Breen's Bungalow," a video tutorial that appears each month on the disc bundled with newsstand copies of Macworld.

For more Mac 911 goodness, check out my updated-when-I-have-something-useful-to-say weblog. Those interested in an RSS feed can use this address.


"Secrets of the iPod, Third Edition" (Peachpit Press, 2003)