Netscape Address Book Sync for Palm Pilot
User Guide
Netscape Address Book Sync allows you to transfer data between
Netscape address books and your Palm Compatible Platform device.
For information on HotSync setup, consult your palm organizer Handbook.
Getting
Started
Getting Started
Requirements
- Netscape Communicator 4.5.
- Any Palm Compatible Platform device (e.g. Pilot, PalmPilot, Palm
III, WorkPad).
Palm Desktop 2.0 or greater installed on your PC. If you have an
older version, get the upgrade from the Palm web site (www.palm.com).
Installing Netscape
Address Book Sync
- If you already have data in your Palm Desktop, you should
perform a HotSync before installing the Netscape Address Book Sync.
This will insure that all your current address book information
will be synchronized with the Netscape Address Book.
- To run the Netscape Address Book Sync Installer:
- Click the Start button to bring up the Start menu
- Select the Programs option
- >From the Programs menu choose Netscape Communicator
- >From the Netscape Communicator menu select Palm Tools
- >From the Palm Tools menu select Address Book Palm Sync
Install and follow the instructions on the screen
- If the HotSync Manager is running, the Netscape Address Book
Pilot Conduit Installer will prompt you to restart the HotSync
Manager. To restart press the Restart HotSync Manager button.
- You have successfully installed the Netscape Address Book Sync
tool. This installation replaces the Palm Desktop Address
Book sync with Netscape Address Book Sync. Know when you
sync using the Palm HotSync Manager your Palm Connected Organizer
will sync directly with your Netscape Address Book. You can
revert to using the Palm Desktop Address Book sync at any time by
following the Uninstall Netscape Address Book instructions below.
Uninstalling Netscape
Address Book Sync
- If you have existing data in your Netscape Address Book that has
not been synchronized you should perform a HotSync before
uninstalling the Netscape Address Book. This will update
your Palm Connected Organizer with the latest Netscape Address
Book information before you disable the Netscape Address Book Sync.
- To uninstall the Netscape Address Book Sync:
- Click the Start button to bring up the Start menu
- Select the Programs option
- >From the Programs menu choose Netscape Communicator
- >From the Netscape Communicator menu select Palm Tools
- >From the Palm Tools menu select Address Book Palm Sync
Install
- Select the Uninstall button from within the Netscape Address
Book Pilot Conduit Installer dialog box
- If the HotSync Manager is running, the Netscape Address Book
Pilot Conduit Installer will prompt you to restart the HotSync
Manager. To restart press the Restart HotSync Manager
button.
- You have successfully uninstalled the Netscape Address Book
Sync tool. Your previous Palm Address Book sync has been
enabled. If at anytime in the future you would like to
enable your Netscape Address Book refer to the installation
instructions above.
Advanced
Features
Configuring
Netscape Address Book Sync
Preparing
Netscape address books for Sync
Synchronizing your
palm organizer for the first time
Limitations
Synchronizing with
different Netscape User Profiles
Advanced Features
Configuring Netscape
Address Book Sync
You can use the "Customize..." feature of the HotSync manager to
configure the Netscape Address Book Sync to synchronize, copy the Netscape
Address Books to the Palm organizer, or do nothing. By default, the
Netscape Address Book Sync is set to synchronize data between your Palm
organizer and Netscape address books. It is also possible to manually
configure Netscape Address Book Sync to ignore specific Netscape address books.
This is done by editing the nabcnd32.cfg file. This file can be found in
the same directory as netscape.exe and is in the format of a standard Windows
.ini file. To exclude specific address books from being synchronized
with the Palm organizer, edit the [SyncExclude] section and add a line for
each address book you wish to exclude. For instance, to exclude the
address books "Top Secret" and "Old Addresses" the
nabcnd32.cfg file should contain:
[SyncExclude]
1=Top Secret
2=Old Addresses
By default, Netscape Address Book Sync attempts to synchronize all Netscape
address books.
Preparing Netscape
address books for Sync
Personal address books do not need any preparation. To synchronize
LDAP directories you must make sure you have configured them for
"Offline" access. To do this, select the directory you want to
sychronize, display the properties for that directory, select the Offline
Settings tab, and check "Select this Directory for download".
Synchronizing your palm
organizer for the first time
- Is your Palm organizer address book empty?
- Follow the instructions for your Palm organizer and synchronize.
Your organizer address book will then contain all of the records from
your Netscape address books. Each Netscape address book will be a
category on the Palm organizer.
- Is your Netscape Communicator address book empty?
- After sychronizing, all "Unfiled" records will be filed in a
category. This is due to the mapping of categories to Netscape
address books. By default, Unfiled records will get added to the
"Personal Address Book" in Communicator and filed in the
"Personal" category on the Palm organizer. If you do not
want these records to get filed in the "Personal" category
then you will need to manually file them before sychronizing.
- Follow the instructions for your Palm organizer and synchronize.
Your Netscape Communicator address book will then contain all of the
records from your Palm organizer. An address book will be created
for each category on the organizer.
- Do you have records in your organizer and in your Netscape
Communicator address books?
- Categories & address books
- Netscape Address Book Sync will only attempt to synchronize the
first 15 address books due to the Palm organizer limit of 15
categories. Before you synchronize you need to make sure that
the total number of categories + the total number of Netscape address
books you want to synchronize does not exceed 15. Categories
with the same name as Netscape address books will be merged and you
should only count them once.
- A common problem is that all 15 categories on the Palm organizer are
used and when you synchronize there's not any room to add the Netscape
address books. You can fix this by either removing categories
from your Palm organizer or by making sure that the Netscape address
books you want to synchronize are named the same as an existing
category on the Palm organizer so that they get merged.
- After sychronizing, all "Unfiled" Palm organizer records
will be filed in a category. This is due to the mapping of
categories to Netscape address books. By default, Unfiled records
will get added to the "Personal Address Book" in Communicator
and filed in the "Personal" category on the Palm organizer.
If you do not want these records to get filed in the
"Personal" category then you will need to manually file them
before sychronizing.
- Be aware that records that exist in a category and in a Netscape
address book with the same name will get duplicated. The most
common occurrence of this is records in your Netscape Personal Address
Book and in your Palm "Personal" category. It is your
choice whether to avoid this before synchronizing by deleting/refiling
records, or to clean up duplicate records after the synchronization.
- If you have an offlined LDAP directory that has the same name as a
Palm organizer category, all of the Palm records in that category will
get re-filed in the "Personal" category and added to the
Netscape Personal Address Book. To avoid this, rename the category
on the Palm so that it is different from the LDAP directory name.
- Follow the instructions for your Palm organizer and synchronize.
All records on the Palm organizer will be copied to Netscape
Communicator and all Netscape Communicator records will get copied to
the Palm organizer.
- LDAP directories that are not offlined cannot be synchronized.
- A maximum of 15 address books will be synchronized.
- All Netscape fields with the exception of the Notes and Address fields
cannot contain multiple lines. When synchronizing, field values on the
organizer that contain multiple lines will be changed to single line entries
with each line separated by ", ".
Synchronizing with Different
Netscape User Profiles
Once you have successfully synchronized using a specific User Profile, there
are 2 choices for synchronization when you change to a different User
Profile. You will be given a choice during sync to decide which type of
synchronization you desire. You may choose to synchronize with the new
profile and merge all of the Pilot records with the Netscape address books in
the new profile - this employs the same logic as Synchronizing
your palm organizer for the first time. If you have existing records
in your new profile, this may cause duplicate records which you will have to
manually delete. The second choice is to copy the new profile to the
Pilot. This will ERASE ALL records from the Pilot device and copy the
address books from the new user profile to the Pilot.
Troubleshooting
HotSync
Problems
I cannot get my palm organizer to HotSync with
the Netscape Address Book.
- Make sure your PC's HotSync Manager (Start > Programs > Palm Desktop
> HotSync Manager) is on.
- Make sure that Netscape Address Book Sync is installed. You can verify
this by selecting "Customize..." from the HotSync Manager menu or
by running NSABPPIN.exe.
- Close all HotSync windows on your PC (e.g. HotSync Log, Custom menu).
- Verify that your palm organizer is placed properly in its cradle.
- Make sure the Netscape Address Book HotSync Custom settings are not set to
Do Nothing.
- Verify the Serial Port settings using the Setup dialog box (opened when
you click the HotSync manager icon on your PC's Taskbar and choose Setup).
Make sure no other programs are using the same Com Port as HotSync.
- Close the HotSync Manager and then open it again.
The HotSync keeps timing out.
It is possible for HotSync to time out while waiting for Communicator to
launch. If this is occurring, make sure Communicator is running before
synchronization.
The HoySync is taking too long.
You can cut down the time it takes by doing the following:
- The first time you synchronize can take a long time. 3000 records
can take up to 20 minutes depending upon the speed of your PC.
Subsequent synchronizations will be much faster.
- Set unused applications to Do Nothing in the HotSync Manager Custom menu.
- Exclude unwanted address books from the synchronization - see Configuring
Netscape Address Book Sync.
Record Problems
Some palm organizer
Records do not appear in Netscape after synchronizing.
- Make sure the record did not get filed in the default address book (usually
the Personal Address Book). This can occur if the Palm record was
Unfiled or filed in a category corresponding to an offlined LDAP directory.
Some Netscape Records do not appear in the
palm organizer after synchronizing.
What happens to a record that has been
modified in both Netscape and the palm organizer when I perform a HotSync?
When a HotSync is done and the Custom menu setting for Netscape Address Book
Sync is Synchronize the files, you will notice that the record has been
duplicated (for more information about the duplication, open the HotSync Log).
Simply delete the unwanted record (either on your palm organizer or in
Netscape) and HotSync again.
I filed a record in different category on my
organizer and it got re-filed in it's original category when I synchronized.
Netscape Address Book Sync does not support this change. You must move
the record in Netscape and perform a HotSync to change its category.
I created an Unfiled record on my
organizer and I can't find it.
The Unfiled category is not supported by Netscape Address Book Sync. All
records in the Unfiled category will be moved to Netscape's default address
book, usually the Personal Address Book, and filed in the corresponding
category.
I keep getting multiple copies of my records.
- If you modified a record in both the palm organizer and Netscape, records
will be duplicated when you do a HotSync and the Netscape Address Book Sync
setting in the Custom menu is Synchronize the files. Simply delete the
unwanted record (either on your palm organizer or in Netscape) and HotSync
again.
- If a HotSync gets stopped with an unexpected error, power loss, etc., it
is possible that the next time a HotSync is performed some records will be
duplicated.
Changes I made to a record in my palm
organizer were not transferred to Netscape.
- Make sure the field you modified is supported. See Fields.
- Change the Netscape Address Book Sync setting in the HotSync Manager
Custom menu to Synchronize the files.
Some palm organizer record fields appear in a
different order after synchronizing.
The order of the phone fields on the Pilot will be reset during sync. On
the Pilot, there are 5 phone fields and you can choose the label for each
field from the popup menu. When you synchronize, the order of these
fields is reset according the current field mapping. For instance, if
you set the first phone field to be "Home" and the second to be
"Work", after synchronization the order will be "Work",
then "Home".
Fields that contain multiple lines get changed
when I synchronize.
All Netscape fields with the exception of the Notes and Address fields cannot
contain multiple lines. When synchronizing, field values on the
organizer that contain multiple lines will be changed to single line entries
with each line separated by ", ".
Other Problems
How do I delete Netscape Address Book Sync?
Run NSABPPIN.exe and select Uninstall.
Addendum - Field Mapping
This section describes the conversions that occur when transferring data
between the Netscape Address Book(s) and your palm organizer's Address Book.
Apart from the special conversion rules that apply to specific fields, some
general rules apply:
- Text fields are cut to the maximum allowed length on the destination
platform.
- Text fields that can contain multiple lines on the Pilot but not in
Netscape will be changed to single line entries with each line separated by
", ".
- Fields that are available in Netscape but not on the Pilot and vice versa
will not be modified during synchronization.
Address records are filed in Categories on the Pilot, in Netscape, records are
stored in Address Books. Netscape Address Book Sync matches categories
and address books. After a successful synchronization, each category on
the Pilot will have a corresponding address book in Netscape. Pilot
categories can onlt be 15 characters long so Netscape Address Book names are
truncated on the Pilot. Following is a description of what happens to
categories and address books during synchronization.
|
Netscape Address Book action
|
Pilot category action
|
Synchronization
|
|
New address book created
|
n/a
|
New Pilot category created IF there is an available category. The
Pilot can only contain 15 categories. If the maximum has been
reached then this address book will not be synchronized.
|
|
Address book deleted
|
category not changed,
category renamed, or
category deleted
|
All of the records from this address book will be deleted and if the
category still exists it will be deleted as well - even if it was
renamed.
|
|
n/a
|
New category created
|
A new address book with the same name as the category will be created in
Netscape. All new records filed in the category will be created in
the new address book.
|
|
n/a
|
Category renamed
|
The category will be renamed to match the address book it corresponds
to.
|
|
n/a
|
Category deleted
|
The category will get re-created and all appropriate records re-filed
into the category.
|
Fields
|
Netscape field
|
Pilot field
|
Notes
|
|
First name
|
First name
|
|
|
Last name
|
Last name
|
|
|
Display name
|
|
There is no Pilot field for Display name. The Pilot can be
configured to list records by Last name, First name or Company, Last
name
|
|
Email Address
|
E-mail
|
|
|
Nickname
|
|
Not synchronized
|
|
Title
|
Title
|
|
|
Organization
|
Company
|
|
| Department |
|
There is no corresponding Pilot field for Department. |
| Notes |
Note |
Multiple lines are allowed in this field. |
| Address |
Address |
Multiple lines are allowed in this field. |
| City |
City |
|
| State |
State |
|
| Zip |
Zip Code |
|
| Country |
Country |
|
| Work phone |
Work |
|
| Home phone |
Home |
|
| Fax |
Fax |
|
| Pager |
|
Only 5 phone fields are available on the Pilot. Work, Home, Fax,
Email, and Mobile are synchronized. |
| Cellular |
Mobile |
|
| Prefers to receive rich text (HTML) mail |
|
Not synchronized. |
| Conferencing |
|
No Conference fields or settings are available on the Pilot. |
Table of Contents | Installing
and Operating | Troubleshooting | Addendum
- Field Mapping
|